Automobiles, Military; World War, 1914-1918 -- Transportation
As regards final drive, some degree of standardisation is possible so
far as the axle arms and bushes are concerned. The bearings of the
front wheels are standardised so as to make the wheels interchangeable,
and the diameters of both the front and rear wheels are fixed. Makers
and users are left with a fairly free hand as regards the type of
body to be fitted to a subsidy machine, but in general this must be a
lorry body with detachable sides and ends at least two feet high, and
carrying a frame to take a complete overhead cover. Use is also found
for a certain number of box vans.
Many provisions are made in the subsidy scheme with a special view
to making the vehicles suitable for working in convoy. In the first
place, it is stipulated that all engines shall be fitted with governors
which shall automatically control their speed to 1,000 revolutions
per minute. This prevents drivers from racing their engines and
over-speeding their cars when running light, and also determines a
definite top speed, which should be almost exactly equal for all
subsidy machines, as it were. Coupled with this, are the provisions as
regards change-speed gear. The engine governor having limited the speed
of the 3-ton type to 16 miles per hour, and the speed of the 30-cwt.
type to 20 miles per hour, the next step is to secure that, when road
conditions require the use of lower gears, the whole of the vehicles
in the convoy will need to change gear practically at the same point,
and when on lower gears will run practically at the same speeds. With
this object in view, it is stipulated that the ratio between top and
bottom gear shall be about five to one, giving bottom speeds of about
three and four miles per hour respectively for the two classes. This
provision, taken in conjunction with the stipulated engine dimensions,
should secure that every vehicle is capable of tackling a gradient of
one in six on normal road surface whether fully loaded or empty. It
will be seen that the point kept in view has been the desirability of
arranging everything so that drivers of a large number of machines
working in convoy--that is to say, running along the same road at short
intervals behind one another--shall not have any difficulty in keeping
their proper distance, and so in preventing any risk of collisions.
For similar reasons the fitting of a ground sprag is made compulsory.
The object of the sprag is to prevent a vehicle from running backward
if, for example, the driver misses his gear on a steep gradient. The
fitting is not necessary on ordinary commercial machines, since the
brakes will almost certainly hold the car before it has run more than
a few yards, but in the case of one vehicle in a long convoy, those
few yards may mean a collision with the following car, and a hopeless
muddle causing serious delay. In view of the possibility of some one
car failing, every chassis has to be fitted with towing hooks at
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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