Dray (vehicle)

“ Our men set their shoulders to the wheel, and the dray was soon righted, no damage being done. The master of the teams was the driver of the horse-dray on which our property was deposited. He seemed to be a quiet inoffensive fellow, but the driver of the bullock team was an old man, with a face that had not seen water for many a month, and although almost everybody had a beard of some sort, his was enough to terrify any new chum. ”

“ The freight house in this terminal city is one of his biggest problems. His biggest local freight yard is in a narrow valley between high hills; and these, together with fearful realty values, absolutely circumscribe its area. The traffic is growing all the while, and all the local freight for his road—running in strongly competitive territory—comes to this terminal. Three hundred and fifty cars must be despatched every night for different points, and yet a dray coming into the yard must be able to find any one of those cars without an instant’s delay. ”

“ He and Jerry had taken a party to the great railway station over London Bridge, and were coming back, somewhere between the bridge and the monument, when Jerry saw a brewer's empty dray coming along, drawn by two powerful horses. The drayman was lashing his horses with his heavy whip; the dray was light, and they started off at a furious rate; the man had no control over them, and the street was full of traffic.
One young girl was knocked down and run over, and the next moment they dashed up against our cab; both the wheels were torn off and the cab was thrown over. ”

“ Of course we wanted to start immediately, but how were we to get the croquet things there, to say nothing of the delightful excuse for tea out of doors which immediately presented itself to my ever-thirsty mind. A dray was suggested (carriages we had none; there being no roads for them if we had possessed such vehicles) ; but alas, and alas! the proper dray and driver and horse were all away, on an expedition up a distant gulley getting out some brush-wood for fires. "There's Jack," some one said, doubtfully. ”

“ Similarly, the hauling of raw materials and finished goods to and from the factories, warehouses, docks and railroads generated a tremendous volume of truck and dray traffic. Outside of the industrial areas, city dwellers depended on their streets for deliveries of coal, ice and groceries.
A typical 3-horse truck of the 1890’s weighed 7,000 pounds empty and could carry a 10-ton pay load, and horsedrawn trucks and drays capable of hauling 18-ton net loads were fairly common in large cities. These vehicles ran on steel tires which pulverized all but the hardest pavement surfaces. ”

“ Cheap one-story frame buildings were following these extensions of new and old streets, as fast as piles could be [Pg 180] driven for them, so that a famous clattering of hammers was going on on every side from morning to night.
The two friends soon had an exciting experience. Just ahead of them, a dray was being driven down the wharf at a rapid rate, making the loose planks rattle again. ”

“ Through the glass walls of the signal-box above the bridge Drake could see the men in a blaze of light working at the levers, and from the Surrey end there came to him a clink, and at that distance a quite musical clink, of truck against truck as some freight-train was shunted across the rails. ”

“ The outside guard rail is laid on the surface of the ground close to the main track and is securely braced from the outside by means of posts sunk into the ground or it may be spiked to the main pole or to the ties. When running with the trailer on this narrow type of road, the guard rail is very necessary.
After the poles have been laid, the sub-grade should be ditched in the center deep enough to carry away the water that falls in the middle of the road. The success of the road depends to a large extent upon good drainage. ”

“ Suddenly the dray stopped and a man got down and opened the gate of a drive on the right-hand side of the road. The constable melted into the hedge some fifty yards behind and remained motionless. Soon he heard the dray move off again and the hard, rattling noise of the road gave place to the softer, slightly grating sound of gravel. As the constable crept up along the hedge he could see the light of the dray moving towards the right. ”

“ A dray, with eight, ten, or twelve bullocks in it, according, to load, will travel thirty miles a-day. When the folks travel, they take no shelter in a house or hut for the night. When night approaches, they alight, and tie their horses to a stump; they draw down some of the thick branches of the gum-tree, and peel off the bark of a large tree, kindle a fire with a match, or, for want of this, rubbing two sticks together, get up a blaze, and fall to sleep beside it. If the traveller be accompanied by a dray, the tarpauling, is drawn round, and he sleeps beneath it. ”

“ Even when the road is in the best possible condition, the concussion is found so great as materially to interfere with the action of the machinery; and if the road be slightly muddy, or sandy, or newly gravelled, the draught will be double, or even treble what it is on the same road when free from dirt or dust. The author of the Treatise on Draught, accordingly, concludes against the use of steam-carriages on common roads, chiefly on account of their want of uniform hardness and smoothness, and the consequent wear and tear of the coach. ”

“ The record of a single shipment of freight will illustrate methods, so far as limits will permit. A shipper sending freight for shipment sends with each dray-load a "dray ticket" in duplicate, showing the articles, weight, marks, and destination. If he has prepaid the freight, or advanced any charges which are to be paid at destination, it is also noted on the dray ticket. When the drayman reaches the outbound freight depot with his load, he is directed to a certain spot where all freight for the same destination is being collected for loading. ”

“ These cars naturally jolt very much. There is nothing to take hold of, and it requires some care to avoid being thrown out. The draught consists of three horses abreast; over the centre one a wooden arch is fixed, on which hang two or three bells, which continually made a most disagreeable noise. In addition to this, imagine the rattling of the carriage, and the shouting of the driver, who is always in great activity urging on the poor animals, and it may be easily understood that, as is often the case, the carriage arrives at the station without the travellers. ”

“ It was all over in an instant. A scream of brakes, a loud splintering of the wooden barrier. The speeding automobile struck the side of the steel bridge, spun sideways and careened down the bank to bury itself in the water. ”

“ The secret of all good road-making, whether railways or common roads, lies in thorough drainage. Until our railways are well drained, it is of little use to try to improve the condition of the track. "In an economical view," says Mr. Colburn, "the damage occasioned by water is far greater than the utmost cost of its removal. The track is disturbed, the iron bruised, the fastenings strained, the chairs broken, the ties rotted, the resistance and thereby the consumption of fuel increased, and the whole wear and tear greatly enhanced."
Next to drainage in importance is plenty of good ballast. ”

“ Those ascenseurs are supposed to be as nearly perfect as such mechanism can be made. It was thought that nothing could possibly happen to them. They operate on what is known as the ‘water balance’ system. As one car goes down243 the other goes up; and there is a water tank under each car. Before a car starts from the top, its tank is filled with water by an engine that forces the water up through a pipe, and the added weight of the water makes it so much heavier that it easily draws the other car up. ”

“ All unnecessary rises and falls should be avoided, but a dead level is unfavourable for drainage, and on this account 1 in 100 to 1 in 150 is the fiattest gradient that is desirable. Such slight rises and falls are probably rather favourable than otherwise to ease of draught by horses. In transverse section, roads in the United Kingdom generally consist of a carriage-way, with spaces on each side, on one or Cross both of which there may be a footpath, and fences and ditches. The width of the carriage-way may be from 1 5 ft., which allows of the easy passage of two vehicles, to 30 or 50 ft. ”

“ Vehicles seek the center of the road when the crown is high both for comfort and safety but two passing vehicles can not be there at the same time. On hard pavements a quarter of an inch per foot will [364] furnish ample drainage, and that is all the crown is for anyway.
Embankments and Guard Rails. —Too many roadways are built on narrow embankments and often there are no guard rails. The embankment should always be wide enough to accommodate the traffic with an ample factor of safety. It is not uncommon for vehicles to slide off embankments with fatal results. ”

“ The way was blocked, and all passage by cars and teams prevented while a number of men, with great effort, by the aid of blocks, rollers, and windlass, drew the huge mass of iron onto the platform of a stout dray by which it was to be transported to its destination.
Of course passers-by wondered and queried as to the purpose and possible use of a safe of such unusual form and dimension. But the curiosity of the questioners remained unsatisfied; no one standing by knew, and the merchant with his employees was too busy to answer those who ventured to interrupt with their inquiries. ”

“ The water at times will roll down in a solid wall ten or twelve feet high. There had been a cloudburst here, and suddenly the driver saw the sagging rails hanging over a deep ravine. The bridge was gone, and there was no possible show for them. "Jump!" he shouted, and the fireman leaped out into the prairie, and the engine plunged head first into the stream, now almost dry. The three or four outfit cars piled in on top of the engine, and filled up the gap, while the caboose, breaking her coupling, leaped over the wreck, and was thrown out on the plain beyond the washout. ”

“ If he has a perch, a pole, and four wheels, that is enough; with a little ingenuity, he makes it carry stones, hay, earth, or anything he wants, by putting a plank at each side. When he wants a carriage for pleasure, he fits it up for that purpose; his moveable perch allows him to make it anything. I counted seventeen grown persons sitting side by side, looking most happy, in one of them, drawn only by a pair of small horses, and in this hilly country."
Drays.--Two-wheeled drays, and not wagons, are used very generally in Australia. ”

“ The condition of the surface will naturally deteriorate rapidly during the first season it is used unless the road receives the constant maintenance that is a prerequisite to satisfactory serviceability. The road drag is generally recommended for this purpose, and if a drag is properly used it will serve to restore the shape of the surface as fast as it is destroyed by traffic.
Good results with the drag depend upon choosing the proper time to drag and upon doing the work in the right way when using the drag. ”

“ No wires seemed to have broken, the current was good, the vibrator buzzed when the contact was made and there was plenty of gasoline in the tank.
“Put in a new spark plug,” suggested Jack.
“New ones went in to-day,” answered Dray. “They can’t have sooted already. It isn’t there.”
“Give her a little more air,” proposed Walter. “I think she’s getting too rich a gasoline mixture.”
“I’m not going to touch the carbureter!” declared the young owner of the Dixie. “It was trouble enough to get her fixed before. Hand me that talcum.” ”

“ Hydraulics and hydrology, simply stated, are sciences developed to control the deleterious effects of water. There is adequate evidence that ancient cultures constructed amazingly elaborate conduits, aqueducts and other drainage structures to control the flow of water. In the early development of rail transportation, bridges and culverts were certainly an integral part of the design. With the advent of the automobile and accelerated highway construction programs, drainage and water problems became more critical. ”

“ The black draymen standing erect on their two-wheeled craft, like Roman chariot racers, would whirl their mules down the levee at a perilous gallop, scattering the gravel every which way, and our leisure class—boys and darkies—and a good many of the business men, would come down to the foot of Main Street to see her land and watch the rousters swarm off ahead of the bellowing mates and eat up the freight piles. ”

“ Thereupon, despite the noise from the exhaust of the switch engine, without looking back to see whether any train was approaching, and without having received any signal to dismount from the switch engine for any purpose whatever, and while the switch engine was in motion entering upon the southbound line, Driggers stepped off the right end of the footboard in the space between the northbound and southbound lines and swung or was thrown into the pilot sill of the engine of the passenger train on the southbound line, which was passing at that moment, and was instantly crushed and killed. ”

“ The King split-log drag was a surprisingly effective maintenance machine. After a little instruction and practice, an average farmer could easily drag 6 to 8 miles of road per day and could keep a well-graded dirt road in good shape for light traffic for as little as $8 per mile per year. The appearance of the King drag coincided with Director Page’s decision to place greater emphasis on earth and sand-clay roads in the object lesson road program, so Page decided to promote dragging as well. ”