A Handy and Efficient
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LIGHTWEIGHT VAN
The Singer 9 h.p. 5-cwt. Van, Designed with an Eye to Traders' Requirements, Behaves with Complete Satisfaction under Strenuous Test
Conditions
ALTHOUGH small commercial vehicles are usually considered as being most suitable for ancillary users who maintain one or two motors for general delivery work, there seems to be no reason why large fleets of such machines should not be employed by big operators for the collection and delivery of light parcels.
In other words, vehicles such as the one under review—a 5-cwt. van produced by the well-known car manufacturer, Singer and Co., Ltd., Coventry—definitely fill a niche in the commercial-vehicle market and as the machine is soundly constructed, efficient and laid out on practical lines, operators should be able to run and maintain either an odd vehicle or a fleet, with little trouble or expense.
In designing the Singer -van, it is obvious that the requirements of small traders have been carefully
studied, for entry and exit to and from the cab are relatively easy, and, as both near-side and off-side doors are fitted, the driver and his mate (if one be carried) can get out of the vehicle at the same time, thereby saving seconds, which become so valuable when a. large number of calls has to be made.
Another point worth recording concerns the layout of the interior of the body ; the squab for the seat is
high enoigh to give reasonable comfort for both driver and passenger, yet it is low enough to allow parcels to be extracted from the interior, thus avoiding the need for opening the rear doors. Without encroaching upon the driven compartment, an effective loading space of 46 cubic ft. is available the interior length being 3 ft. 9 ins., and the width and height 3-ft. 6 ins. each. The rear doors open to the full width of the body. s Although during our test weather conditions were warm and, in consequence, favourable for easy engine starting, the manner in which an immediate response was invariably obtained at a touch of the starter button, appeared to us to be a good augury for starling in the winter. The engine, furthermore, warms up to its work quickly, so that if the vehicle be left standing in the open between suc6essive journeys it should not take a long time for tho
power 'mit to regain its normal working temperature. This characteristic should minimize cylinder wear.
One soon realizes that, even with a full load, the Singer van behaves more like a private car (from a performance point of view) than a commercial vehicle. The engine is sufficiently powerful to give a good allround top-gear performance, whilst in the matter of braking, steering and general controllability there is little difference from the corresponding characteristics of the lighter type. The suspension, too, is pleasantly soft, yet even when travelling at high speeds on rough road surfaces, there is no undue swaying, rolling or pitching.
We conducted our trials over a course in the Midlands, which involved a fair amount of hill-climbing and included a " colonial " section to test the springing. Good roads obtained for the early part of the run, and it was obvious that so far as speed was concerned the maximum legal limit could easily be main
The maximum is over 50 m.p.h. and there is plenty of power in hand at all speeds likely to be maintained in service. Realizing, however, that
main-road work was unlikely to form a large part in the general usage of such a vehicle when in the hands of a trader, we completed about 10 miles, doing nothing else but pulling up and starting away again, five stops being recorded to each mile.
Although we were not by any means gentle in handling the clutch, accelerator or brakes, the vehicle seemed to be quite unaffected by such treatment. The engine did not become unduly hot, nor did the brakes show signs of losing any of their efficiency due to heating of the friction surfaces.
Our acceleration graphs give some idea of the machine's hill-climbing capacity. On top gear 30 m.p.h. can be reached in about 18 seconds from a datum of 10 m.p.h,—good per-final-lance for a 9 h.p. chassis carrying a gross load of over half a ton— whilst a gradient of about 1 in 18 can be climbed at a constant speed of about '30 m.p.h.
This must be regarded as creditable when the high maximum speed is remembered, for no attempt has been made to obtain an especially good top-gear performance by employing a low ratio. In second gear a. gradient of about 1 in 11 can be climbed at a steady speed. This gear, again, is not specially low, for a road speed of over 35 m.p.h. can be reached without the engine exhibiting signs of distress.
During our test we took the vehicle into the Cotswolds, where many hills with single-figure gradients are to be found. On one acclivity, which does not boast a name, but has a known gradient of 1 in 6, we were able to make a restart in first gear without difficulty, despite the fact that, at the chosen point, the surface was broken. A long pull up a gradient of 1 in provoked no symptoms of overheating. Later we made a top-gear climb of Red Hill on the .AlcesterStratford road. It was necessary to lush this incline, as the gradient at the top approaches 1 in 9; however, travelling at the foot at 50 m.p.h., we breasted the summit at 12 m.p.h.
In amplification of our foregoing remarks about the suspension system, it should be stated that, with a reasonably well-distributed load over the floor of the vehicle, there is a marked steadiness at practically all road speeds. Under certain conditions, however, if waves in the road surface be traversed at a critical speed, it is possible to develop recinrocal pitching, but by altering the speed, even slightly, this phenomenon can always be avoided.
So far as the suspension affects the steering mechanism, little interaction can be detected, for the hand wheel remains steady however rough the surface happens to be. At high speeds there is ample castor action, whilst at the lower end of the range the wheel movement is so light that when parking or dodging in and out of traffic the vehicle is pleasant to handle.
The brakes are well up to their work, both hand and foot controls being connected by separate linkages to shoes operating in drums on all four wheels. The foot brake is more easily applied in an emergency, but, even so, the difference between the stopping distances afforded by the two systems is not great.
Our fuel-consumption figure of 24.8 m.p.g. is good, for it included. bill climbing, braking, acceleration, and stopping and restarting tests. As the vehicle was not spared throughout our run, it may confidently be pre-supposed that, under more favourable conditions, an even better figure could be obtained.