PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
• THE SAFETY OF SMALL BUS BODIES.
A New Des■gn of Rural-type Body in Which the Safety of Passengers has Received Earnest Consideration.
OF recent months much attention has been directed by all those who have the interests of the passenger-vehicle
• movement at heart—both from the manufacturers' and users' points-of view —towards the design, cOnstruction and use of a type of body which is deemed perfectly safe and efficient for employment on public-service vehicles.
It is pleasing to note that some of the most prominent bodybuilders in the industry are at present devoting much time to the perfecting of details of bus body 'design which are likely to achieve the desired end, and there is little question that if the status of the movement is to be maintained, and not besmirched as the result of isolated accidents, everything possible most be done to ensure safe travelling for the public. This desideratum can only be achieved by the , use of reliable and efficient vehicles and by maintaining them in first-class condition both so far as the chassis and the bodywork are concerned.
Mr. William Dickens, of Pinfold Gate, Loughborough, has of late directed his attention to the design and construction of a safe type of bus body which is suitable for fitting on to light chassis intended for rural service. In its general design it conforms to conventional practice, but in certain details it has been somewhat modified in order to avoid risk of untoward happenings in case of fire, and this moreover, Without sacri ficing the seating space. •
The outstanding -features of the body are its wide emergency exit at the rear, the simple means of operating the door which covers this opening, and the disposition of the petrol tank. The door, as can be seen from two of our illustrations, is particularly -wide, and it enables two people to pass through it abreast. This door is controlled by an easily operated double lever, which is
C42 both accessible from the interior of the body and from outside, and the step and door are so arranged that, so soon as the latter is opened, the former is automatically lowered into position midway between the floor of the bus and the ground level. The seats in the body (which is arranged to carry 14 people) are so disposed that there is a clear gangway running down the entire centre of the vehicle.
One of the most important features of the body is concerned with the fixing of a specially constructed iron petrol tank at the front; its actual location can be clearly defined from our picture of the complete vehicle. In this position the fuel supply can be easily replenished without those risks which are present when the operation is effected in the vicinity of a naked light, for the interior lamps 'reflect sufficient light for the purpose. We are told that the features incorporated in the design of the Dickens 14-seater body have received much commendation from corporation officials in the Midlands and from others interested in the operation of regular public-service machines.