NEW DEVONPORT WHARVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19857, 30 January 1928, Page 10

NEW DEVONPORT WHARVES

THE LOADING OF VEHICLES. MUCH IMPROVED APPARATUS. Rapid progress is being made with the installation of the electrical apparatus which will operate the adjustable landing stage at the new vehicular ferry wharf at Devonport. It is expected to commission this part of the reconstruction work in about three weeks' time. It will then bo possible to proceed with the demolition of the remainder of the old wharves and expedite the completion of th«s new passenger section in concrete. Ferry steamers will have the use of this some time between the end of April and the middle of May. In the interim, the length of concrete passenger wharf already constructed, is being roofed over, the steel frame already in position indicating the spaciousness of the causeway which will this winter' afford passengers complete protection from the weather from the time they leave their land conveyances until they board the steamers. The electrical apparatus which will adjust the hinged end of the vehicular wharf to the level of the tides, is a complicated but highly effective example of engineering. Under the present system of a movable flooring resting on a pontoon which rises and falls on the tides, much oscillation results when vehicles, especially of the heavier type, are being driven on' to, or off, vehicular ferries. The system now being installed relies upon a widely different, principle, which eliminates practically till the movement resulting from the pontoon system arid makes the handling of heavy vehicles > a simple matter. A small float about 3ft. in diameter sets in motion one of two,. 40. h.p. electric motors, which automatically keep the sloping stage at the correct tide level. Only one of the motors is operated at a time, and in the event of a mechanical failure the other automatically takes up the load, while a boll rings to indicate that the first, motor is out of action.