From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Operational use, overloading, and maintenance of lorries, with a focus on Bedford trucks.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 158\3\ scan0034 | |
| Date | 7th February 1940 | |
| To Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/AA.{D. Abbot-Anderson}11/B.7.2.40. Re: LORRIES. During last week end, and Monday and Tuesday, I got in touch with people I knew who run fleets of vehicles - some transporting gravel, etc., General Contractors, and others building Contractors to the War Department and Air Ministry. The latter, of course, have at the moment got the hardest work, and Mr. Basil Crosby of Messrs. Crosby & Co., tells me that they run Bedford trucks entirely all over the south of England. The smallest vehicle they use is 30 cwt. and the largest, 7 tons. The whole range of vehicles is engined by one size of engine. In every instance I was told that the only limitation was really the load that could be applied to the springs - the engine never failed to cope with the work. The usual practice appears to be that they run an engine for, say, 50,000 miles; its upkeep is then increasing slightly due to ware, so it is removed from the chassis and a reconditioned engine is fitted at an approximate cost of £15. A certain amount of maintenance takes place as regards steering joints, etc., at regular intervals - otherwise little is done. In practically every case overloading takes place - a 30 cwt. lorry carries as much as 3 tons; a 3 ton lorry as much as 4/5 tons, and a 7 ton going to 8 1/2 tons. I am attempting to get a copy of a service chart as supplied with Bedford vehicles. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/AA.{D. Abbot-Anderson} | ||