The loading of a motor truck is very much the same proposition as the loading of a flat-car. The principal difficulties that trucks have had to contend with have been poor roads and inefficient methods of loading. In loading, the main trouble has been in regulating the yarding so that a supply of logs is always on hand. The use of the gin pole and crotch line operated by the straw drum of the yarding donkey ties up the yarding until the truck is loaded. This is being overcome by using a separate engine with the high lead for yarding and doing the logging independently of the yarding as is done in the case of railroad logging. In this way the yarder can keep ahead of the loading engine and there will be no delay at the landing.
Most of the larger companies load with the Duplex loader and use tongs. This is a safer way to load than with the crotch line as the logs can be more easily controlled. The danger of dropping a log through the truck or of knocking off the top of the truck or the driver’s seat is greatly lessened.
In pole and piling timber where a skid road and horses are used, loading is done by hand or with a team. A landing is built of cribwork and the logs are simply rolled on the truck with peavies or cant hooks, or a parbuckle system with skids and horses is used. This works fairly well for small operations in small timber.
Loading a motor truck and trailer through the use of a boom.
The latest development in loading is the boom. An illustration of this method is shown [above]. The boom itself is a fifty to sixty foot pole about eighteen inches in diameter at the base and is attached to the spar tree by means of a metal strap with two lugs which are fitted into holes bored in the spar to keep the strap from slipping. The base of the boom is fitted with a metal joint which moves freely on an upright pin set in the metal strap. (See A, [above].) The whole rig is set high enough on the tree so that it may be swung in a semi-circle and clear the loaded truck by several feet. A light line (B) from the haulback drum of the donkey passes through a block attached low on the spar tree and thence to another block on a stump to the right of the landing. From here it passes through a third block at the end of the boom and back to the stump again. This secures the needed pulling power from the haulback drum.
The lifting line from the mainline drum passes through a block half way up the tree and thence through a free swinging block (C) and back to the tree again. On the second block is a ring to which two one inch lines (D) are attached. These lines pass through the boom stick on rollers (E) about fifteen feet apart. On the ends of these lines hooks are attached. These two lines should be so arranged that the hooks remain parallel to the ground. Two three-quarters inch cables (F) with an eye splice in each end are attached to the hooks. These lines, or chokers, are then wrapped around the log and it is lifted clear of the ground by means of the block hold in the main line.
The haulback line (B) from the donkey is slacked and the boom travels over to the truck by means of a line (G) attached from the boom to a dummy log running on a special guy line. A log two feet in diameter and sixteen feet long is wrapped at each end with a cable and fastened to a pulley. The two pulleys and attached dummy log travel up and down the guy line as the boom moves. A line is attached to the boom and runs through a pulley attached to the dummy log and extends back to the boom again. This pulls the boom over above the truck as the dummy log travels down the guy line. The logs are held parallel to the ground above the truck and the truck is run under the boom to the location designated by the head loader. With this system the logs will not drop suddenly on the trucks as the log will fall off while being carried over to the truck if there is any danger of its falling at all. After the log is placed, the boom is pulled back to the landing by the haulback line. This system has worked with success in a number of motor truck operations and is a safer method than loading with tongs because the logs cannot accidentally drop and injure the truck. However, the loading situation should be studied carefully. The most efficient loading device for the particular needs of the operation may be installed as any loss of time in loading seriously affects the output of the operation.
Most of the truck loggers unload their logs into water; either into a lake, a river that can be driven, or into tide-water. A few, however, unload directly into the log pond at the mill or at the log yard in case the mill has no log pond.