Motor Road Transport For Commercial Purposes
(Liquid Fuel, Steam, Electricity)

178 MOTOR ROAD TRANSPORT bodies. In this way the owner can always start his van on its journey with the proper load, and need not handicap himself by carrying dead weight in addition. On the occasions when the maximum load is to be carried the total weight of the detachable bodies will, of course, be in excess of that of the ordinary type of body, and it is for the trader to determine whether his van will be usually run fully loaded or only par- tially so. If the former, the multiple box body system may not help, but for the firm whose delivery loads vary, presuming the nature of the goods carried allows of it, a reduction in the annual main- tenance bilis will be effected by the adoption of this arrangement. Semi-Automatic Loading and Unloading. In addition to tipping bodies—dealt with hereafter— there are two kinds of apparat us specially designed for time and labour saving which are worthy of description. The first of these consists of a detachable body mounted on a truck. The latter is of a four-wheeled skeleton design, and can be manoeuvred by hånd, horse, or motor by means of a draw bar, the front wheels being steerable. The motor chassis is backed up to the truck, con- nection is made by a special method, and with the help of cables and rollers the detachable body is run off the truck on to the lorry. The whole operation can be done by one man in less than a quarter of an hour ; in faet, it is claimed that a load of 3 tons has been transferred single-handed in six minutes. While the body is on the motor it is locked by a cam movement against motion, vertical, lateral and longi- tudinal. A point to be observed is that the weight