Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-06-16
NATURE ENTERS INTO
MAKING OF TRUCKS
Universal Propensity of Ovcrloading
Is Big Problem which REQ Co.
Is Forced tO Contend With.
DRIVERS FROM OLD SCHOOL
Overloaded Horse Driven Vehicles
and Can Not Learn to Operate
Motor Driven Car Differently.

I'VE have n peculiar problem In
human nature with which to contend
in the making Of motor trucks" says
Horace T. Thomas, chicr engineer
Of the REQ Motor car company.
THAT is the propensity which is
almost universal, TO overload the
truck
"Any maker who would mako a
trucl; whose maximum load capacity
was I,5OO pounds and then label It
a three fourth-ton vehicle would
find he had a mighty short lived
truck Not once in fifty times would
the load be three-fourth ton or less
IN many cases it would be fully
twice tnat.
an trying to figure out the oaugo
for this / came TO the conclusion
that a large percentage of truck
drivers have graduated from the old
horse vehicle. or course, horse
drawn vehicles at one time had n
capacity rating but 1t was so long
ago nobody remembers II.
Experience Teaches.
"Tho driver gradually got to know
by experience, or by a Kind or IN
stinct how puch his horses could
pull over certain section OF road
and he loaded to that capacity He
did not know or did not care whether
II was one ton, two tons or five tons,
II the horses could get away wit.l
II, he considered that all sufficient.
when the same man was given
- tNR N q
applied similar principal but with
this difference. that II the truck
could not pull II on high, 1t could
hn intermediate, and II 1t could not
manage on intermediate 1t could do
It on low gear. Only when the strain
tore out the gears or twisted off driv-
Ing shafts did the suspicion enter
his mind that he had perhaps over
loaded the truck.
Capacity Marked In Vain.
'Tt was In vain you marked the
capacity Of the truck on a hand
some brass plate and put that con-
spicuously on the dash In plain view.
II the truck was rated at two tons.
he seemed 20 figure that II he
started out with four-ton load and
came hack empty, the average had
been two. and, therefore, must be
all right so far az he was con-
cerned II WAS albright II the truck
got away with II at all
"In the earlier days, we engineers
all wrestled with this problem OF
making trucks and rating them al
their actual capacity, and somehow
hoping to change human nature.
FINALLY we REQ folk gave II up,
We made up our minds we could
not change human nature and so we
might better change our standards
ndd safety factors in all mechanical
parts-shafts, springs. bearings. etc.
to compensate for the peculiar
Safe 10 Overload REQ.
Nowadays It is perfectly safe TO
overload n REQ truck 100 per cent.
"Of course, we do not advocate
this, but we tell the owner he may
do so at his own option. always with
the understanding that he will get
n certain amount OF service out OF
the truck one way or another-half
n life for a truck with 100 per cen
overloaded; normal life for q truck
with normal load, and the life Of the
truck will be greatly increased and
cost OF upkeep greatly reduced by
Just so much as no may save II in
this regard
"Our familiar phrase, 80 per cent
oversize Pin all vital parts is
not merely a sales slogan--it Is an
engineering fact. The standard was
adopted ms insurance against n force
that was bigger than ourselves and |
which we. therefore. could not con-
troll, namely. Old Human Nature"