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A Special Ambulance Chassis.

4th February 1915
Page 12
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Page 12, 4th February 1915 — A Special Ambulance Chassis.
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The Dennis Works Produces a Model with a Number of Particular Features.

It is not sufficient, nowadays, for any of the more prominent manufacturers of commercial-motorvehicles to rest content with the offer of a range of absolutely standaisd chassis which may be offered indiscriminately for the many special types of machines which are generally embraced by the in. dustrialLvehicle world.

Perhaps one of the earliest practicalexamples of chassis specialization, at any rate on a considerable scale, _ava.s that in the case of the fire-engine, and Dennis Brothers (1913), Ltd., was the pioneer company to concern itself with this development. Signs are not wanting that it is this same undertaking's intention to devote equal attention to detail design in regard to the motor-ambulance as a type.

" The Dennis ambulance has always been a speciality, and large numbers of them have been sold

in recent years. The latest example of this type, however, bears distinct evidence of renewed effort to evolve the ambulance chassis and its imposed coachwork as a specific type.

We publish several illustrations which have been prepared as a reSuit of an examination of the latest Dennis ambulance to be delivered to the London County Council. The chassis has one of the company's standard 24 h.p. engines, and this drives through an aluminium cone clutch of large diameter which is lined with Foredo, a detail Which is designed to yield the minimum of shock as a result of clutch engagement.

The gearbox is of the standard four-speed and reverse type. immediately behind this there is a D26 specially smooth-acting foot-brake of large dimensions ; the gear for this is of the internal-expanding type.

The next special detail which claims our attention on this chassis is the housing of the. front forked end of the torque tube. This torque tube, of course, encloses.the arbor shaft to the back axle, The two fork ends are effectively insulated from the sprung portion of the chassis by their mounting in rubber rings, a device which has, it will be recalled, been successfully adopted on the Dennis subsidy model. We presume this latest fitting is a development from that. practice, which has been found quite satisfactory.

The designers found it unnecessary, of course, to improve the Dennis worm-drive back axle from the point of view of comfortable and simple driving, and indeed the almost universal adoption of this class of final reduction by other makers is testimony to Dennis prescience and the worth of worm drive.

Yet another interesting structural feature of this special L.O.C. ambulance is the employment of cantilever half-elliptic inverted lami nated springs for the rear suspension. These springs are pivotally mounted at their centres, whilst their forward ends are connected respectively by adjustable spring i

shackles. This is quite a novelty n detail, and we illustrate it separately. A similar adjustment, of course, can be obtained by other means ; for instance, by the use of an eccentrically-mounted spring pin. The point is, however, that this method of suspension—which is

new to us in so far as Dennis construction is concerned—enables the springs, which it is never possible exactly to calibrate, to be adjusted individually, to carry the load to the best possible effect. There are several other interesting provisions which are designed to ensure the comfort of the patients which are being carried. We may content ourselves with mentioning the mounting of the whole of the coachwork on the frame members on stout rubber buffers which effectively insulate the bodywork and its contents from all small road vibrations ; these also put an end to the hollow noise which is so often noticeable in the interior in a closed or box type of body. The body, by the way, is an entirely separate construction from the driver's 'eat.

Further provision, to ensure the absence of disturbing factors whilst manning, include the large leather joint between the clutch and the gearbox, which is a detail of design that has been proved effectively to stop the transmission of noise through a whirling shaft, and the use of large pneumatic tires on all wheels, including twins on the rear.

The ambulance is of two-stretcher capacity, and the claim of the makers that this particular model "represents a marked advance over anything that has heretofore been constructed as a motor ambulance" appears to be a perfectly fair one. The motion when running is very smooth indeed.

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Organisations: London County Council

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