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All-weather Heads for the Motor Coach
Page 108
Page 109
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A Review of Different Types of Sliding and Folding Head which are Available, Giving the Names and Addresses of the Concerns Marketing Them
IN the past few years it has been proved by passenger-vehicle operators that the only way in which to obtain full saloon comfort, together with the advantages of the open coach, is to employ a roof that can be opened to let in the sunlight and air. For obtaining the best appreciation of hilly scenery, the all-weather head, as it has come to be called, is almost indispensable. The production of it has become a rather specialized branch, and quite a new branch, of coachbuilding, with the natural result that various inventive minds have got to work, producing several kinds of head. As they have protected their inventions by patents, there now is on the market a number of proprietary types. They have their individual advantages.
We may divide them into three main c50 classes—those in which flexible material is used so that it may be folded one way or another, those of the flexible panel type, and those of the rigid-panel variety.
There are several all-weather heads employing flexible material, such as fabric or leather, a well-known model being the Waltman, made by Messrs. Wilfrid Overton. The principle employed to move the fittings backwards and forwards consists of a chain and sprocket, actuated by a pair of bevel wheels on a cross-shaft, which ensures a positive and equal force to both ends of the front hoop stick. The casehardened steel sprockets, shaft and operating spindle are mounted in ball bearings. Rattling of the chain is prevented by its own tension when open and by a spring abutting against its end when closed. A recent improvement gives a tighter and more positive closure. The operating handle can be placed in any desired position. When fitted to a forward-control vehicle the head opens right forward to the bulkhead. The last half-turn of the handle locks all the sticks down solid to the cant-rail and so prevents rattle.
The Barwatt, marketed by the Duple concern, has an arched cross section and can occupy the full width of the coach, being carried on the cant-rail or only the
central portion of the roof. Racks, generally of duralumin, are attached to the fixed longitudinals, and a handle on the foremost hoop-stick actuates toothed wheels at the extremities, which therefore, run in these racks. Nowadays it is often preferred to house the 13arwatt head, when folded, at -the front instead of the rear of the vehicle.
The Sun or Shade Sliding Roof Co. brought out in August, 1929, a roof called the In which the fabric or leather is fixed to a roller at the rear. Lazy-tongs connection is providenor the wood cross-sticks, operation being by bevel gear and shaft.
A fully patented shaftand-cog-operated head is the Sunsaloon made by Sunsaloon Bodies, Ltd., some models incorporat-: jag spring-steel automatic pulling an d folding straps, whilst in other models the folding me
chanism is integral with the hood cover. The Beatonson has for a long time been another popular model, with its
all-metal framework and easy-running steel-tube cross-sticks. Another hood of the folding kind is the Bechtwat, used sometimes without a fixed rear dome.
The Triumf-ed, made by Hemming Bros., is a simple head with only a few parts. It incorporates tubular steel bows with swivelled ends and runs on anti-friction rollers in channels on cantrails, and a neat locking device is made use of. This head can be power-driven.
. Cooper Webb-Jones and Co. markets the Sidno head, which may be had with either wood or steel hoop-sticks. Each cant-rail carries a track of modified H-. section, with a top flange and two lower side flanges to provide 'a bearing for the rollers. Ball bearings are used to reduce the sliding friction.
Dealing now with flexible-panel roofs, a pioneer was the " roll-top roof introduced several • years ago by Messrs. Strachans (now Strachans (Acton), Ltd.).
One of the most popular types is the Plein-Azue, marketed by London Lorries, Ltd. In this the panel frame is built a wood ,eross-sticks: held apart by flexible metal strips, and this is covered with a. waterproof fabric. In its
hitherto familiar form it was operated by endless chains and, when open, was housed in the hollow rear bulkhead, extending partially forward under, the flooring. It has now been redesigned, the latest model being in two sections with a fixed transverse panel between them, this being about one-third of the distance back from the front bulkhead and carrying two glazed trap ventilators and one roof light. Fisch sliding panel can be operated by the passengers, simply by pushing it. The front panel goes forward into a full-width canopy and the rear panel into the dome, not, however, travelling below the cant-rail. We come now to the rigid-panel type of head, which, from the me
chanical point of view, has good features. Early this year R. Disturnal and Co. produced such a head consisting of two sliding panels supported with small but stout rollers upon the timber side bearers, these being set in 1 ft. or 1 ft. 6 ins, from the cant-rails. Channel' sectioned metal rails on these longitudinal bearers engaged with similar
rails on the sliding ,panels, and to open the roof one panel was pushed forward and the other aft, actuation being by screw and bevel gearing. The panels are strung enough to carry luggage, and the luggage rails act as trusses.
The Saloonood head, supplied, ready for fixing, by Weathershields, Ltd., and J. W. Pickavant and Co., Ltd., comprises several sliding panels, each 2 ft. long and 2 ft. wide, four being the usual number for a motor coach. They are placed in pairs abreast, each separately operated. A good sliding-panel head is made by Wycombe Motor Bodies, Ltd.
Another rigid-panel type introduced early in 1930 was that patented by Messrs. W. L. Thurgood, of Ware. It comprises two longitudinal panels hinged at the sides and meeting, when closed, down the centre above the gangway. Each of them is' divided and hinged lengthwise, so that to pull inward two handles lying beneath' the cant panels opens the roof, each section then lying folded upon the cant panels. To ensure snug fitting when the panels are thus folded, a slight extra arch is given to the transverse section of the roof, thusincreasing gangway headroom.
One of the most interesting rigidpanel roofs *yet available is that produced this summer by the Duple concern. It comprises three or four. ribbed and arched aluminium panels, each running on small rollers in metal channels upon longitudinal bearers set in some inches from the cant-rails. When the roof is open, the panels are housed one beneath the other at the front end, the foremost panel being on the outside. Operation ofa, handle fitted into the rearmost panel turns a shaft carrying cogs at its extremities, this engaging in a rack, and as the panel is drawn aft a lip on its forward end engages with a similar lip on the next panel.
In this and other all-weather heads described above, effective arrangements for drainage are, of course, provided.
The concerns marketing the all-weather heads referred to above arm 0. Realon and Son, Ltd., Victoria Road, London, N.W.10.,, Becket. Laycack and Watkinson. Ltd. (Beclawat), Acton Lane, London, NAVA°. Cooper, Webb-Jones and Co., Stockwell Works, Walsall. – R. Distarnal and Co., Bridge Works, Wednesbnry. Duple Bodies iind Motors, Ltd., 'The Hyde, London, N.W.O.
Hemming Bros., 233, Highgate Road, Spark. brook, Birmingham. London Lorries, Ltd., Spring Place, London, N.W.5.
Wilfrid Overton, Marsh Street, Walsall.
J. W. Pickavant and Co., Ltd., Quikko Works, Granville Street, Birmingham.
Sun or 'I lade Sliding Roof Co., Peterborough Road, London, S.W.6.
Sunsalooa Bodies, Ltd., Castlefard Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham.
W. L. Ttuirgood, Park Road, Ware. Weathershielcia, Ltd., 48, Moor Street, BIN
Wycombe Motor Bodies, Ltd., High Wycornt e B acls.