The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1920-06-03
MOTOR TRUCK DAM
AGE OVERESTIMATED

"a better understanding of what
good roads mean has come to the pub
lie" declares E. A. Franz, of +. A.
Franz Co.. local distributor of made
in Chicago Master trucks. land with
this understanding is coming realiZa-
tion that to no class does road improve
ment mean so much as 1t does TO the
farmer.
However, there is a tendency on
the part of those near the more thickly
populated centers, who have not
thought deeply on the subject, to fos-
ter the idea that the greatest wear
TO roads comes from the use of the mo-
tor truck. Not so many years ago the
automobile met with this condemna-
ton, but it is now so commonly used
that condemnation on this score IS sell
dom heard. The motor truck is rapid
lv becoming the country's freight car
rier.
"There has been some restrictive
legislation against motor trucks as a
result of the attitude mentioned.
However. with motor trucks hauling
millions of tons of farm products each
wear, the people can hardly sit by and
allow false ideas to hit at the very
source of their life supply. OF all We
hicles using the roads the motor truck
probablv causes the least damage IN
proportion to the service it renders.
"There are two things that cause
road damage: One is the impact of
weight; the other is wear to the sur
face. With a substantial roadbed the
IMPACT of weight does little damage.
If the roadbed is faulty, and there is
much road mileage in this country that
is faulty, weight tends to break it. but
with bard-surafced road and moderate
speed. motor trucks will not break the
roadbed.
"Perhaps the greatest destroyer Of
road surfaces and the least condemned
| is the steel tire. The steel tire hits
! the roadway with an absolutely unglv-
! ing impact. It's constant hammering
crushes the stones and skaters all par
ticles that project from the surface of
the road. Steel tires are usually mar
row and they wear and cut deep ruts.
They pulverizing the surface so that
automobiles moving at moderate speed
suck up the dust that is formed and
scatter it to the winds.
"The motor truck with its broad, flat
rubber tires and slower speed, causes
practically no damage to the surface.
Providing the road can stand the
weight, there is no abrasion and no
suction to solid tires. If the truck is
equipped with pneumatics regulated
speed will cause less damage from sue
tion than will an automobile moving at
a higher speed.
GAS to the weight the truck imposes
upon the roads, this is largely taken
care of by the width of tires used. For
example, take the Master p ton.
Here the chassis weight is approx
mately A, 500 pounds. The truck is de
signed to carry 5000, but suppose the
truck is subjected to an overload that
will bring the load up to $500 pounds
the combined weight of the load and
truck would be 10, 600 pounds. The
tires in front being 4-inch with 7-inch
IN the rear, and with a trifle of over
two inches of the circumference OF
each tire touching the ground, would
distribute the weight over approximate
i50 square inches. giving weight OF
about 200 pounds to the square inch.
"Any demand which arbitrarily linn
it's the carrying capacity of trucks
simply adds to the cost of transporta-
ton and increases the cost of living,
hence motor truck restrictions should
be intelligently formulated. "