BODY PARTITIONS FOR PASSENGER VEHICLES
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Our Coachbuilding Expert Discusses the Merits of Bulkheads for Employment in the Design of Bodies foi Motorbuses and Long-distance Coaches
rpHE front bulkhead separates the main saloon from the driver's I_ compartment and the rear bulkhead forms a division between the. main saloon and rear platform. A partition may be inserted at any point, so as to divide the bus into smoking and non-smoking saloons, or into first and second-class compartments.
When the bus is of the rear-entrance type and has a forward cabin, the front bulkhead is really the front framework and is a constructional necessity.The same remark applies to the rear bulkhead of a double-decker, but, in any ease, a bulkhead or partition, whether of vital importance or not, has always the advantage that it reinforces the general structure of the body. The front bulkhead that has no door-opening holds the two sides of the body securely together, this being of particular value at the waist line. As the surface is flat, weight is saved and the rigidity of
the bulkhead is enhanced if, below the windows, it be built up as. a deep latticegirder. If the leg room provided by the front row of facingforward seats be limited, the cross-bracing of the framework should not be carried down to the floor level, but a toe recess should be formed at the bottom of the partition.
The front bulkhead is still an important, item in strengthening the body, even when it is pierced with a doorway. Apart -from the nearside doorway, which, in the case of a front-entrance bus, is built into it, the front bulkhead in a rear-entrance bus may, on the off side, be provided with a sliding door, leading directly to the driver's forward cabin. This door may, in conjunction with the off-side cabin door, be used as an emergency exit. It also facilitates communication between driver and conductor, and the driver himself may use this door should occasion arise. Although the sliding door will be about 2 ft, wide, it will provide an opening which is not much greater than 1 ft., owing to the position of the driver's seat in relation to the side of the body. The forward-control long-distance coach may have a front bulkhead with sloping windows above the waist line. On the near side there may be a light which is staggered at an angle similar to that of the driver's screen. Alternatively, this arrangement may be repeated on the off side, so that there are sloping windows extending for the full width of the body. The near-side half may have an upper narrow panel pi rated centrally, so that the top half of it falls inward, thereby deflecting. the incoming air currents to the roof. There may be a similar deflector panel on the off side, or the glazed portion on this side may consist of a pair of sliding panels. When a rear-entrance bus has the conventional form of steering the front bulkhead may isolate the driver from the passengers. In the c37 case of a front-entrance bus, however, the driver's compartment is usually open on the near side, because this facilitates the control of a mechanically operated door, or, if a conductor be not carried, the collection of fares.
With the normal-control long-distance coach the driver's compartment may be fully enclosed. In that case the cabin is half the width of the body and there is a door on the off side. A fixed longitudinal partition on the near side may, however, often prove a disadvantage, therefore another door, which can be left open and securely held in that position if the vehicle be required to operate under service conditions, is placed at this point. The half-width cabin is sometimes used in connection with a rear-entrance normal-control vehicle. In this instance a near-side longitudinal seat may be provided facing the driver's compartment.
When a partition is used to divide the main saloon into two portions it may consist of a narrow panel, no wider than is sufficient to separate the passengers on a longitudinal seat, on each side. The partition is usually glazed above the waist and forms a convenient place for securing a commode handle or upright grab pole.
An internal partition of any kind affects the setting out of the side windows, as the ends of the partition must coincide with a pair of the side pillars. The division may, if facing-forward seats be used on each side of it, also modify the general seating plan. This, however, may be obviated to a great extent by panelling the partition only to the seat line, so that the feet of the passengers who are sitting immediately behind it may be placed under it.
It would appear that the partition has not yet been employed in the upper saloon of the double-decker. It would be useful as a means for providing a non-smoking compartment on the upper deck. In view of the fact that the whole of the lower saloon is already reserved for this purpose, it is suggested that only about one-third of the upper saloon be so used, unless there be a similar division of the lower saloon.
A_ partition provides the opportunity for the dis play of polished or cellulose-finished woodwork, whilst, with the longdistance coach, the forward bulkhead often
carries a clock and barometer. Clocks are also gaining in .favour for the service bus.
Even on some of the London buses, which pass through streets where clocks may be seen on many important business establishments, they are being employed. When riding in the lower saloon of a double-decker it is, of course, often difficult to catch even a fleeting glimpse of a clock which is attached to a building, or is set in the face of a wall, so
that the provision of one of these invaluable instruments is not so extravagant as it might at first
appear. Furthermore, it must be remembered that the motorbus is frequently used by business men, to whom time is an essential factor.
A calendar is not often to be found, hut it is an item which would frequently be consulted by passengers. A specially drawn and simplified map of the bus route might also find a place.
It seems a matter for wonderment that such a provision has not before been made by bus operators.
For years railway trains have been equipped with maps, some indicating the whole system in its exact form, whilst others are planned diagrammatically. In the later category fall those to be found in Underground railway ears.