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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 1816.PDF
(Above) A Mercury Model 30P tractor in use at Zurich—one of the 114 Mercury vehicles operated by Swissair (Left) Two "Wrigley" 30cwt airport luggage trailers by Wessex Industries (Poole) Ltd (Right) "Hylo" loader by Aviation Traders (Engineering) Ltd Cargo and Baggage Handling Cargo handling is steadily, if slowly, movingtowards planned automation, and Short Bros & Harland Ltd have completed an interestingstudy for a freight terminal that will make maximum use of the advantages offered by thetwo-deck, swing-nose civil version of the Belfast. Freight arriving at the terminal by road isunloaded directly onto a powered roller conveyor system which carries it to loadingpiers or holding bays. En route it is automatic- ally weighed on built-in weighbridges in theconveyors, then sorted, stacked and secured to pallets or in freight cages in readiness forloading into the aircraft. Turntables in the conveyor allow the direction of the palletizedloads to be changed. Power-operated loading piers travel on railsparallel to the front of the terminal. Each pier is some 90ft long, with a 25ft adjustableextension to permit latitude in positioning the aircraft, and has two decks, freight beingcarried to and from the upper deck by means of a lift installed in front of the receivingand dispatching platform. A loaded Belfast arriving at the terminal would simply open itsswing nose and transfer its palletized cargo onto an empty pier. This pier would then beshunted aside on its rails, and a pre-loaded pier moved into position so that the out-going cargo, again in the form of a "chain" of pallets, could be loaded into the aircraft.It is estimated that a complete loading and unloading operation could be carried out inabout 30min. Existing equipment in the cargo and baggagehandling field includes devices ranging from hydraulically operated scissors-type high-loading platforms down to simple four-wheel baggage trucks for hand propulsion or towingbehind tractors. Aviation Traders (Engineering) Ltd make a scissors-type loader which caneither be tractor-hauled or self-propelled; six self-propelled versions are being supplied Model of part of Short Bros & Harland's automated cargo-terminal project. A Belfast is shown taking on cargo from a power-operated pier for use in conjunction with the Carvairs ofChannel Air Bridge Ltd. Mercury Truck & Tractor Co Ltd make a three-ton high-loadingtruck elevating to lift 3in, and a completely new development by this company—inconjunction with Fourways (Engineers) Ltd— is a truck-mounted baggage-loading con-veyor. Other manufacturers of high-loading equipment include Access Equipment Ltd,Dennis Bros Ltd and F. L. Douglas (Equip- ment) Ltd. Rootes Motors Ltd supply equip-ment of the high-lift type on Karrier and Commer vehicles. (Photographs: page 901)Among specialized types of baggage-loading vehicle is the Cargomaster low-level loadermanufactured by F. L. Douglas (Equipment) Ltd. Wessex Industries (Poole) Ltd make numer-ous types of baggage trailer, and other manu- facturers of trailers include Edghill EquipmentLtd and Mercury Truck & Tractor Co Ltd. Two unorthodox approaches to cargohandling which merit mention in this section are the "Aircon" air transportable containersdeveloped by Airtech Ltd and the collapsible- pallet system (enabling pallets to be easilyremoved from under the load in the aircraft hold) manufactured by King Aircraft Corpora-tion. Aird Miles Ltd have recently introduced adrop-side truck, primarily for use by building and runway contractors, but suitable for manyapron duties; it is built on the standard Land- Rover short-wheelbase chassis, and the sideand tail boards fold down independently Passenger Steps Very completely equipped passenger stepsare made by Edghill Equipment Ltd and have been supplied to a number of well-knownoperators. Known as the Autostair, this self- propelled equipment is hydraulically adjust-able through a wide range and incorporates such refinements as flush lighting, destinationboards and a shelter roof. Edghill also make a variety of simpler steps. The Type 280 steps manufactured byMercury Airfield Equipment Ltd are of par- ticularly clean design, can be adjusted hy-draulically from 6ft 6in to 12ft 3in, and have flush lighting. The mobile stairs made by C. F. Taylor (Metal Workers) Ltd are in two models (13and 15 treads) which can be elevated hydrauli- cally to 10ft 5in and lift 6in respectively.Equipment includes illumination. (Illustration on facing page.) Other manufacturers of airline passengersteps include Heston Aircraft & Associated Engineers Ltd, Red Devon Ltd and SpnrlingMotor Bodies Ltd (illustration below). Toilet Servicing Norstel & Temple wood Hawksley Ltd nowmanufacture the range of loilet servicing equipment formerly made by A.S.T.; anothermanufacturer of such equipment is Edghill Equipment Ltd; and servicing hose is made byBell's Asbestos & Engineering Ltd. Passenger steps by Spurting Motor Bodies Ltd
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