The Pneumatic Tire in Heavy Transport

Abstract

The last seven years have seen the beginning of a new era in heavy transport. Hitherto road transport had been confined to services where it was not economical to lay down a railway track, where the distances were comparatively short and loads comparatively light, and where the lorry could handle goods in special ways not possible on the railway, e. g., in the removal of merchandise direct from gate to gate of factories without wasting time. Today the situation is quite different. The reduced profits of railway companies are ascribed to the competition of road transport and those companies are extending their sphere of operation, not so much by building new tracks, but by the simpler and less costly expedient of running road vehicles. There can be no doubt that the tire manufacturers have been largely responsible for this revolution. Their production of the giant pneumatic tire was the first step, for without this accessory, modern road transport, and modern types of road vehicles, would be unthinkable. The technical reasons for this provide interesting study to engineers, and should indeed be properly understood by all who are interested in the engineering and operating sides of transport problems, if the fullest advantage of tire equipment is to be obtained.