Modular bodies for Telecom
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AN INCREASING demand for demountable body equipment for vehicles built to gross weights of 3.5 tonnes and 7.5 tonnes is reported by Modular Distribution Systems International of Peterborough which indicates that it is having some success with its electro-hydraulic demount systems in these weight categories.
The MDS 205 system, as it is called, employs four electro-hydraulic, stabilised and guided lift/lower posts, controlled by one man using a hand-held pushbutton console on a wander lead. The posts are trolleymounted for ease of movement as a self-contained unit and each incorporates wheels in the base, to facilitate manual positioning. The lift posts' independent electro-hydraulic power packs are linked up to the chosen power supply — 12/24V mobile storage batteries, the vehicle's own battery or 230V single Managing director R. J. Rowley says that the interest is particularly corning from public authorities like British Telecom and gas and electricity boards on the one hand and firms with a distribution requirement who like to pre-load bodies ready for pick-up by a powered vehicle. There is a further sub-division being found here; demounts are being bought to handle dedicated loads.
With this concept the dedicated body retains the exclusive identity of one product or products of a particular customer. There are, of course, savings to be made on the bodywork itself; one body can last for three or four chassis.
One depot-based set of demount equipment is sufficient for several bodies, the ratio of equipment to bodies depends upon the nature of the operation. A merit of it is that it does not add to vehicle unladen weight because the demount equipment is kept at the depot. There are four models available, capable of lifting 1.5 tonnes, 2.5 tonnes, 5 tonnes and 10 tonnes respectively.
An approximate cost figure for equipment to handle bodies for operation within 5.5 tonnes gvw is £2,300; within 7.5 tonnes gvw it would be around 'E4,000.
Although the MDS 205 trans
fer system was, MDS explains, developed primarily for depot use, further possibilities are opened up by towing it on a trailer behind a vehicle carrying a container or cabin. This can then be off-loaded wherever it is required for shortor long-term site use. Independent operation of the four lift/lower posts is particularly useful here, in overcoming uneven ground conditions, MDS points out.