Straker-Squire Stand 36.
Page 32
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On the Straker-Squire stand is a vehicle that should be of more than usual interest to furniture removers and others whose business demands a v ery roomy body with a broad deep well at the back of the vehicle. The vehicle in question is a 4e) h.p, pantechniecm, the chassis of which has been specially designed for Jibe purpose. The side members of the frame at the rear have an outward set so as to admit of a very wide well between the channels of the frame. The body is a capital example of pantechnicon construction. The side panels are of mahogany. and these are protected inside by broad slats so as to prevent dam
age. Other complete vehicles on the Straker-Squire stand include a very striking box-van body on a F22 h.p. chassis for thc makers
of Wright's coal tar soap, a highsided wagon with removable canvas canopy over the driver on a 30 h.p. three-ton chassis for Joseph Baker and Sons, Ltd., the engineers of Willesden Junction, and a 20 h.p. private station bus. The whole of these have worm-driven live back axles, and two examples of the Straker chassis construction are also staged. One of these is a 20 h.p.
30 cwt. lorry, and the other is a 40 h.p. four-tonner.
The general construction of these two chassis follows the same lines. In both cases the four-cylinder engine is mounted 'under the distinctive Straker bonnet. the smaller one being of the monobloc type, whilst tiff! latter has its cylinders east in pairs. Reverting to the 30 cwt. chassis, a cone clutch and a threespeed-and-reverse gearbox are employed, and a doubly-universal,y jointed cardan shaft connects the gearbox to the worm-driven live back axle. The front half of the rear bearing springs takes both torque and thrust through to the drive. The load-bearing axle is a solid forging at the top of which is a stout east-st:?el casing that carries the worm, worm wheel and differential gear, and both sets of brakes are arranged side by side to act directly upon the back wheels. Precisely the same type of construction has been followed on the larger model, except so far as concerns the footbrake, which is of the locomotive type, thedrum for which is mounted just behind the gearbox ; the fort ward end of this gearbox is provided with a conical extension, which encloses the universallyjointed shaft which connects the gearbox to the clutch. The forward end of this extension tube is linked up to a bracket on a transverse member of the frame, thus affording a three-point suspension for the gearbox in such a way as to relieve it of all stresses due to any distortion or the frame that may occur when the vehicle is being driven over unduly rough roads Visitors who are in the market for machines cannot do better than to allow this company an opportunity of demonstrating the powers of its models.