The Gallows
CZ- 'The Gallows', article reprinted from Canada Lumberman, December 1961
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'The Gallows" saves CZ truck time
A simple log structure developed and built by CZ truck loggers has resulted in more efficiency in trucking and a good saving in round-trip trucking time
The merits of capital punishment in preventing crime may be debatable, but there is little doubt that the "gallows" in CZ Canada's logging division at Courtenay, B.C., is getting results.
The gallows is a simple log structure consisting of two up-rights and a cross-beam. It gets its nickname from the fact that three empty log trailers can be suspended free of the ground from the crossbeam.
Purpose of the gallows is to :illow log truck drivers to pick up trailers for "piggy-back" loading and to deposit them without help. Otherwise it is a two-man job.
Log truck drivers" back their cabs underneath the trailers and with the aid of the "fifth wheel" lift mechanism on the trucks, pick up or hang their trailers from the gallows.
Fifth wheel is key
The gallows was built recently as another step in the load transfer system of log hauling which is taking hold here. Courtenay division superintendent Mike Poje explains the system by saying "the truck that brings in a load of logs from the woods will not necessarily be the truck that dumps them in tidewater."
Mr. Poje said the system provides more flexibility for the hauling and dumping operations of the division. It is keyed to the fifth wheel or hydraulic lifts with which some log trucks are now equipped.
The hydraulic system is used to lift and lower the trailers so that a truck can be backed in or driven out from under. The drivers alone can handle the legs of the trailer when its weight is supported by the lift.
Without the hydraulic fifth wheel, a crane or other means of hoisting the trailers is needed for coupling and uncoupling. Drivers must also have the guidance of another man for this operation.
As an illustration of the usefulness of the gallows and the load transfer system, Mr. Poje said that a loaded log truck arriving at the divisional centre about 3 p.m. could not dump his logs and return in time to make another trip to the woods.
Big step forward in logging
"It's 10 miles return to the dump at Royston," he said, "and by the time he got back here it would be too late to complete a trip for more logs."
Under the new system, however, the driver lifts up his trailer-load of logs with the fifth wheel, puts down the logs and leaves the load standing.
He then drives out from under the trailer and over to the gallows, where he takes on an empty trailer, again with the aid of the fifth wheel. Now he is all set for a trip to the woods and another load of logs.
His first load, meanwhile, can be hauled to the dump by another truck — either the same afternoon or later.
The load transfer system was introduced into the woods several years ago and has been tried out at a number of operations on the west coast of Canada and the United States.
It has been described as the greatest forward step in logging since the advent of truck logging.
Although more elaborate methods of suspending pre-load trailers are in use elsewhere, idea for the simple yet effective gallows at Courtenay belongs to Pete Rennie, mechanical supervisor of the timber department.
It was built by Courtenay's master mechanic, Larrv Lehtonen and truck foreman Garry Grant. •