PASSENGER VEHICLE COACHBUILDING.
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The Various Types of Bus and Char-a-Bancs Bodies Manufactured by Messrs. Hora, Have Gained for the Company Premier Recognition Amongst Coachbuilders.
OF ALL l'HE coaehbuilders in London —and many have sprung into being during the past few years—and more especially those who build char-hbanes bodies, few are perhapsbetter. known to the average commercial vehicle user than the established concern of E. and H. flora, Ltd., of Peckham Road, S.E. The reason for this is twofold, being due, fi:stly, to the length of time which the company have been intimately associated with the heavy-vehicle industry, 'and, secondly, to the splendid quality of their productions. The company have built up an excellent clientele" and their success has been founded on the fact that their productions are polity productions, and that this factor re.ceives primary cors:cleration, regardless of price, in the construction of their various types of bodies. They realize that there is alway0 a market-for quality, and have accordingly done their best to meet it.
We recently had the pleasure of an informal run round the works, which are capacious and replete in every sense of the word, and we were most impressed with the thorough and workmanlike way in which the problem of coachhuilding was being tackled. At the time of our visit a number of singe-deck saloon buses and char-it-banes bodies were in various. stages of completion, and we were informed that the output of the company is one a day of either.ofithese types.
We were given tosu.nderstand that the 30 seater char-a-bancs body is meat popillar, and that at the present time only one order in tervia for the 35 seater ; this Met endorses the opinion which we have always he'd, that the char-a-barida body with -an intermediary seating .capacitysuits the requirements of the average coach proprietor better than the larger machine.
The cOmeany hold a huge stock of Umber, which is valued at approximately £20,000: ash, oak, pine, mahogany, deal, and birch in large and varying quantities were to be seen reasoning in the‘timb.er yard. Every care is taken to see that every piece of wood used, in the construction of the bodies is properly seasoned in order to prevent Warping, cracking, and other defects, which often make, themselves apparent when . green wood is used. In the construction of the ordinary single-deck bus bodies there are 16 bends, and hi the average chara-bancs body 20 bends so that the importance of using thoroughly mature wood will be readily understood.
We illustrate on the next page the method employed for bending lengths Of timber. The wciod to be treated, and it IS one of three—ash, hickory or American elm—is first of all placed in a steam chest, the.J.cmperature being raised to the required degree. It remains in this chest for a period of several hours, with the "iesult,that Wheu it is removed it is saturated with-moisture. The timber is then set in a clamping rig and bent, by several men pulling at one time, to the shape of the rig, when it is 'finally clamped in position, in which condition is remains for-a period of four ortfive hours until it has cooled off. Watching this process of bending one almost expects the wood ta break, but we observed in a length of ash, 2i ins, thick, so treated that, although the fibres on the outside of the bend were stretched, and those on the inside closely compressed, there was no actual severance of the tissues. In order to make a success of this job obviously the wood must be in first-class condition. The saw mill is an extensive shop, and it is fully equipped with the most up-to-date plant, planers, cutters, saws, and the like, for dealing with the various processes required in preparing the timber. In this shop we were able to inspect some of the types of moulding turned out for use in bus bodies. Power-driven mechanical cutters are used for this work, and they turn out some remarkably good and ornate styles.
The upholstering, trimming, and painting shops are all expansive; in fact, several of them were formerly showrooms which have been brought into use owing to the increase of business and the extra space required.
Apart from being fully equipped to manufacture modern char-a-bancs and bus bodies, the company also do all their Own panelling, all their screw cutting, as well, as manufacturing mudguards and wings. An acetylene welding plant is installed for effecting repairs to damaged components of this sort.
In order that no delay shall occur in connection with the Manufacture and assembly of the .standard bus and char-. a-bancs bodies, the ccmpany keep a large stock, from which they draw, of the various frame members ready for assembling in skeleton form.
The fact that bodies built by Messrs. Hera are to be found fitted to bus and char-a-banes chassis in almost every corner of the country is sufficient evidence in itself to justify the assertion that the company's products give preeminent satisfactian. The company, also, in addition to various types of passenger bodies, manufacture all classes of commercial bodies, whilst touring bodies are also turned out. As in the ease of public-service bodies, all these prochictions are bbilt on quality lines, there being nothing cheap in their appearance.