NEW COMMERCIAL LORRY

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 9, 5 October 1927, Page 15

NEW COMMERCIAL LORRY

An interesting demonstration was given on Monday on the banks of the Hutt River by Messrs. A. Hatrick and Company with a Thornycroft A 3, rigid six-wheeled lorry. It is the only one of its kind in New Zealand, but it showed in a convincing manner why some seventy or eighty are in use in Australia and many more in India, arid also in Africa, where they are extensively used for transport in open desert country. The chassis is different from that of the ordinary lorry in so far as it is provided with three axles and six wheels, two of the axles being situated in the rear. The object of this arrangement is to ensure greater adhesion to the road and greater braking power. The four rear wheels are driven from the engine, which, in this model, is rated at 36—40 b.h.p. The engine has shown itself entirely capable of handling its stipulated load by climbing up Port Street (off Majoribanks Street) on loose metal with a four-ton load, where a light car at the time refused to go. These lorries are built bv the Thornycroft Company in two sizes, a three ton, rated at 36—40 h.p., and a five-ton lorry rated at 50—60. The four rear wheels, all driving wheels, are operated through two differentials, and are all braked. The larger lorry has brakes on all six wheels, while the driving wheels are dual tired All the six-wheeled lorries have eight gears forward and two reverse, enabling them to travel at a pace ranging from one mile an hour up to thirty-five, besides having exceptional power for hill climbing. The lorry being demonstrated on Monday passed some remarkable tests with a load of 2 tons 16cwt. Travelling on the loose shingle bed of the river, it climbed banks, travelled through water, and, by reason of its four pneumatically-shod driving wheels, went with ease where an ordinary lorry would never have attempted, to go. The driver backed it up a loose shingle bank o£ a grade of about lin 2j. The performance was the more remarkable when it was taken down on the banks of a nearby stream, its driving wheels in soft grass-cov-ered earth, and it climbed without the slightest difficulty back on to the road. On the level the lorry was driven on to two blocks over four inches high, so that the right-hand front and driving wheel was resting on one, and one of the left-hand rear wheels on the other. Thus no two axles were anywhere near align., nt, but while in "this position the four rear wheels were all under power. The lorry can be fitted with chains, so that it has a caterpillar traction for work in loose, soft ground. An outstanding fact about the machine is that it could not only be driven over any type of ground, but also driven on the Hutt Road, loaded at a pace of thirtj-five miles an hour.

Over desert country, from Beirut to Bagdad, a representative of the firm explained yesterday, a standard lorry averaged nine and a half miles to the gallon, as against nine miles to the gallon registered by eight-cylinder American touring cars of a wellknown make.

Those present confessed themselves to be amazed by the vehicle’s capabilities for travelling over rough country, its speed, and smoothness of running over extremely rough ground. Amongst those present were Messrs. L. Lonergan (manager of Hatrick and Company), Dykes, and Bennett (Public Works Department), Munt, Marshall, O’Brien, Lamberg, and Coutts.— (Published bv arrangement.)