I might have mentioned this elsewhere in another post… Fading memory cells and all that
I recall working for Lambert Brothers in Eastleigh in the early seventies. ( that’s 1970’s not 1870’s )
The whole fleet, Atki and ERF , were fitted with a mechanical recorder on the rear cab interior. It worked on the motion of the vehicle. A thin scratched line for stationary and a thicker red line for movement.
We had to hand these in with our time sheets and log book records. There was no legal requirement for this , just a way of keeping tabs on the drivers and their booked hours for wages purposes.
I never came across these things before or since…
Anyone else have input on these contraptions
As I recall they were fairly easy to scribe your own lines on , but obviously I never did.
Baldrick1953:
I might have mentioned this elsewhere in another post… Fading memory cells and all that
I recall working for Lambert Brothers in Eastleigh in the early seventies. ( that’s 1970’s not 1870’s )
The whole fleet, Atki and ERF , were fitted with a mechanical recorder on the rear cab interior. It worked on the motion of the vehicle. A thin scratched line for stationary and a thicker red line for movement.
We had to hand these in with our time sheets and log book records. There was no legal requirement for this , just a way of keeping tabs on the drivers and their booked hours for wages purposes.
I never came across these things before or since…
Anyone else have input on these contraptions
As I recall they were fairly easy to scribe your own lines on , but obviously I never did.
Hi Baldrick,
Servis recorder? did it look like this?
Baldrick1953:
Hi Pete… That’s the puppy mate!
Were they in regular use back then??
Cheers… Balders .
I can remember my Dad telling me when they fitted them to some of the lorries at a Mill he worked at, one of the Albions there was boot marks wear he had kicked the back of the cab in to try and damage the recorder and one of the drivers had got hold of the key, so he used to open it and move the clock back but the give away was the greasy thumb prints all over the chart! They was fitted to Albion like the one below to make sure they weren’t swinging the lead at Liverpool so the motor got back for night man to do another Liverpool, don’t think they lasted long! Cheer’s Pete
I remember these well! When I worked for Beresford Transport in the mid-60s a Saturday morning job was to go around the various parked up lorries in the yard and remove the used cards from these recorders. The Beresford fleet then was predominantly ERF and Foden (with a few Dodge, Albion etc) and I can vividly recall jumping out of the cab of a Foden and spilling an armful of these cards on to the wet, muddy ground!
It’s over 50 years ago now but I still remember trying to gather up the spilled cards and cleaning them up. I don’t remember the reaction of the traffic office manager but I’m sure it wasn’t good.
I don’t know how true it is but I seem to recall a driver telling me that you could reverse the vehicle up to a wall and keep the engine running and the vibration would mark the card as if the vehicle was still working. If this is true I guess it was common practice. Why drive when you can just let the lorry tick over and get paid.
W.W Hall’s builders merchants on Elgar Road in Reading had them fitted in their BMC’s back in the 60’s. I doubt that they were used much by them though.
They were in all Wyatts Mk3 AECs. Theirs didn’t have a clock on the face, just a brass blanking plate with some writing on it. Don’t recall any of the drivers paying them any regard. Most of the lorries also had a mileage recorder on the off-side front wheel hub. Johnny Wyatt once said “If the load gets there on time, at the right temperature and I get paid, then we’ve employed the right man and there’s no need for me to keep looking over his shoulder”. He had a habit of asking the most awkward questions about times and places long after events took place, and best you had the answers he wanted to hear at hand. Jim.
jmc jnr:
They were in all Wyatts Mk3 AECs. Theirs didn’t have a clock on the face, just a brass blanking plate with some writing on it. Don’t recall any of the drivers paying them any regard. Most of the lorries also had a mileage recorder on the off-side front wheel hub. Johnny Wyatt once said “If the load gets there on time, at the right temperature and I get paid, then we’ve employed the right man and there’s no need for me to keep looking over his shoulder”. He had a habit of asking the most awkward questions about times and places long after events took place, and best you had the answers he wanted to hear at hand. Jim.
Hi Jim,
Like this one? Also found pic of the innards, Cheer’s Pete
My late Great Uncle Isaac Smiles the founder of Smiles for Miles Had them in the 30s, All his tippers were fitted with them, The platforms on long haul work didn’t Unless the driver was caught out having a dodgey , When I worked there in the 60s one of the drivers was caught out going away on a Sunday night to London instead of going on the Sunday morning, Anyway his brother in Law worked for The I C I, Dry Ice division & if he met him on his travels he would give him some, He then put some on the clock casing & secured with strips of cloth, This resulted in the clocked freezing up for a while, The bloke that wound these 9 day clocks up was in fact Bob Smiles one of the sons & a right ■■■■■ He even changed the clock several times but never knew how the driver did what he did, Then the Co said that all their wagons would have to use them & several drivers told them to stick there job & left, These ERFs had them in, Regards Larry.
I had an Albion Reiver at C H Prestons Sheffield,it was secondhand and came with Servis Time Recorder. it was soon oiked out by our shop steward.
I think it was Caudles in Sheffield that gave drivers a stamped addressed postcard to post when they got to their destination at night,so that the gaffer could see the time on postmark. It stopped them loading in a morning and taking wagon home and away down the road at midnight or whenever. Of course if postcard missed last collection then it would have next morning’s postmark,so defeated object really.
Thanks Pete. Never seen inside one, but that looks like it’s the one. As I remember they were made out of bakelite and fixed to the back wall of the cab next to the control box behind the driver’s seat. Always wondered what its guts looked like. Jim.
I suppose the postcard thing has other parallels. When I was doing European tramping work, I used to send my CMRs from immediately previous trips back to base by post from whichever country I paused long enough in to find a post office! It depended on who I was working for - some companies were happy to wait, but small outfits wanted to avoid cashflow problems. I suppose that today drivers must do all that instantaneously and electronically - ie a laptop in the cab job. Can anyone fill me in on that one? Robert
Sutton & Son (St. Helens) had these on the back of the cabs in the 50’s and 60’s although they looked exactly the same I seem to remember these being made by Gents of Leicester. While us Shunters totally ignored these so did the four London based Trunkers much to Alf Suttons ire and threats, the Trunkers were on Trailer change over at Bobs at Streatam. The St. Helens Trunkers had to drive to 30mph and to enforce this the general manager at St. Helens would take all the mileage readings at St. Helens and then Drive in his car down to London and check the mileage readings again, this was to stop the Trunkers from motoring around Birmingham to put time on the clock this he done on a regular basis…Tony.
jmc jnr:
Thanks Pete. Never seen inside one, but that looks like it’s the one. As I remember they were made out of bakelite and fixed to the back wall of the cab next to the control box behind the driver’s seat. Always wondered what its guts looked like. Jim.
I think the Servis ones were an aluminium casting, Jim. Ours were used during the 1950s but fell out of favour in the 1960s although the guv’nor left the clocks in the cabs so that those of us without watches would know the time without searching for church clocks!
robert1952:
I suppose the postcard thing has other parallels. When I was doing European tramping work, I used to send my CMRs from immediately previous trips back to base by post from whichever country I paused long enough in to find a post office! It depended on who I was working for - some companies were happy to wait, but small outfits wanted to avoid cashflow problems. I suppose that today drivers must do all that instantaneously and electronically - ie a laptop in the cab job. Can anyone fill me in on that one? Robert
I started just like that, carrying special envelops to put the cmr’s in, however the guv’s said not to post them if I was too far south due to unreliable postal services… Later on we were asked to fax 'em through if we could find such a device… nowadays it’s a simple matter of taking a pic with your phone and send it via email… er… the joys of modern life eh…
robert1952:
I suppose the postcard thing has other parallels. When I was doing European tramping work, I used to send my CMRs from immediately previous trips back to base by post from whichever country I paused long enough in to find a post office! It depended on who I was working for - some companies were happy to wait, but small outfits wanted to avoid cashflow problems. I suppose that today drivers must do all that instantaneously and electronically - ie a laptop in the cab job. Can anyone fill me in on that one? Robert
I started just like that, carrying special envelops to put the cmr’s in, however the guv’s said not to post them if I was too far south due to unreliable postal services… Later on we were asked to fax 'em through if we could find such a device… nowadays it’s a simple matter of taking a pic with your phone and send it via email… er… the joys of modern life eh…
Baldrick1953:
I might have mentioned this elsewhere in another post… Fading memory cells and all that
I recall working for Lambert Brothers in Eastleigh in the early seventies. ( that’s 1970’s not 1870’s )
The whole fleet, Atki and ERF , were fitted with a mechanical recorder on the rear cab interior. It worked on the motion of the vehicle. A thin scratched line for stationary and a thicker red line for movement.
We had to hand these in with our time sheets and log book records. There was no legal requirement for this , just a way of keeping tabs on the drivers and their booked hours for wages purposes.
I never came across these things before or since…
Anyone else have input on these contraptions
As I recall they were fairly easy to scribe your own lines on , but obviously I never did.
Yes, a short sharp blow with the flat blade of a shovel and there was no need to worry about it ever again.
)
