Wipers for Individual Coach Designs
Page 57
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WINDSCREEN wipers for individual coachwork designs are being offered by Trico-Folberth, Ltd., Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex. An example is that made for the Duple Elizabethan coach. Plane and curved screens can be catered for.
Windscreens on current coaches arc often nearly 3 ft. deep. Electric motors are scarcely powerful enough satisfactorily to drive an arm and wiper of requisite length and the company have marketed the new heavy-duty TP1'vf airpressure wiper motor for such requirements. There is also the FPK model, which has a higher torque and may be fitted to vehicles for operation in climates where precipitation is severe and more power than the TPM develops is needed.
Trico-Folberth. Ltd., co-operate with coachbuilders during the design stage to ensure the best installation of the equipment Arms of pantograph pattern, by means of which the blade remains vertical throughout the stroke of the arm to allow an area of sweep a third larger than otherwise to be traversed. may be supplied for motors mounted either at the top or the bottom of the screen.
Pantographs were originally intended for top mounting. The effect of gravity and the inertia of the arms meant that when they were fitted at the bottom the width of the sweep was greater than when they were installed with the driving spindle at the top. This characteristic has been studied and alternative fittings can now be made with precise data of the width of sweep to be obtained.
The company are also producing a new range of air-pressure horns for export vehicles. They are being fitted to heavy Leylands and Scammells being made for overseas.
An interesting application of TricoFolberth wiper motors of normal pattern has been for ringing fire bells. Swansea Fire Brigade desired to convert hand bells on their appliances to mechanical operation. As the bells were of good quality, it was thought uneconomic to discard them. Small wiper motors with a gong fitted to the arms oscillating in the mouth of the bells worked perfectly and have been adopted.
Trico-Folberth, Ltd.. also have a range of winking-light indicators.