A PROMINENT MAKER'S NEW TRACTOR-LORRY.
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The Latest Production of the Albion Company Designed to Transport Two-ton Loads.
SEVE11..4 prominent British manufacturers have already directed their attention to the design and manufacture of a tractor-lorry, either min g standard productions slightly modified for the purpose or constructing suitable primemovers with special features of design. It will occasion little surprise to our readers, therefore, to learn that. the Albion Motor Car Co., Ltd. Scotstoun, Glasgow, have just joined the ranks of those important manufacturers who, foreseeing considerable potentialities for the . tractor-lorry, have produced a vehicle of this type.
• We illustrate the new Albion vehicle en this page. Before proceeding to a brief description of it, we should mention that it can be used as. a four-wheeled vehicle without the trailer attachment or as a six-wheeled combination vehicle,. M which case the two-wheeled trailer is brought into use.
The chassis of the prime mover is the company's Model 24 25-cwt. type, with • • a, wheelbase of 10 ft. 9 ins., an it, includes special springs in its design in order to enable varying loads to be ac
commodated. The -chassis is fitted at tbe rear with a spring drawbar of the standard type as accepted by the War Office for subsidy vehicles. .The road wheels are of the disc type and of caststeel, . and they carry straight-sided giant pneumatic tyres of 34-,in. by 7-in. dimensions, which are mounted directly on the rim of the wheel with two loose side rims and a lucking rim.
When the chassis is used as an ordinary vehicle it is fitted with an easily detachable lorry body, the platform height, when loaded, being 3 ft. 2 ins. The platform is approximately Sit. long and 5 ft. 6 ins, wide, although it can be slightly modified to suit individual needs.
When the chassis is used as part of a six-wheeled combination vehicle the at platform body is removed and a turntable fitted above the rear axle, and on this rests the platform of the trailing unit, the rear part of which carries a dead axle fitted with -wheels and tyres of the same type as used on the prime mover. The rear end of the trailer plat. form is also mounted on a turntable, and provision is made for steering the third axle so that it tracks with the rear axle of the four-wheeled chassis, this construction being of .considerable advantage when the vehicle is used in rough country, where roads are often worn into ruts of a considerable depth.
The laded platform height of tha
tractor-lorry is approxiznately 3 ft. 8 ins., and to enable the vehicle to be steered in •a reasonable turning circle, wheel arches have been omitted. The platform length is 16 ft. And its width 5 ft. 6 ins. The foremost turntable can -readily be detached when the trailing unit is not required for service. The load capacity of this Albion chassis is, as we have said, 25 cwt., and of the complete tractor-lorry 2 tons. The vehicle is one of a number which the company are supplying. to the Crown Agents for service in the Gold Coast, where, we understand, the carrying capacity of a motor vehicle is limited to 2 tons.
The estimated axle weights of the vehicle with a full 2.ton load on the trailer platform are as follow :—Front axle, 20* cwt.. • centre axle, 464 cwt. ; rear aide, 401 c-4. No provision for an additional brake on the rearmost axle is made, the tractor-lorry being braked by the . standard equipment used on the 25-cwt. chassis.