Conferences at Olympia A Resume of Some of the Papers
Page 58
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Read During the Show, Under the iEgis of important Associations Concerned with Road Transport
Bus Design and Maintenance
A T the conference at Olympia of the 11,Municipal Tramways and Transport Association on November 3, the president, Mr. L. MacKinnon, J.P., took the chair, and Mr. It. Stuart Filcher, M.Inst,T., general manager of Manchester Corporation's Transport Department, submitted a memorandum prepared by the special committee of the association on the subject of "Motor Omnibus Design and Maintenance." The paper is a natural outcome of one read at the 1931 conference, as a result of which a lengthy inquiry was made throughout the association, this leading to the establishment of a liaison between the Motor Omnibus Development Committee of the M.T.T.A. and the Commercial Vehicles Technical Committee of the Institution of Automobile Engineers.
So far one joint conference between those bodies has taken place, and the paper presented at this year's conference elicits suggestions for furthering the co-operation already initiated.
The committee considers that the most useful information to this end is obtained by organized service trials with periodical examinations of exact records, and something of this nature has already been carried out in regard to brakes. This sort of work supple
meats co-operative inquiry which is already taking place between each manufacturer and its own customers.
The first detail of design and maintenance referred to in the memorandum is that of cylinder wear, increased life being asked for ; the same applies to inserted valve seats. Engine lubrication gives scope for improvement, the first and sixth cylinders of some sixcylindered engines being inadequately supplied with oil owing, it is suggested, to the greater width of the front and rear main bearings. "
Brakes are still one of the greatest troubles. Brake-drum materials are deserving of attention, and with castiron drums sometimes minute surface cracks open up and tear up the shoe facings. The committee is asking for facings not less than 4 in. thick. Cases of ovality in brake drums are reported, and as the irregularity sometimes disappears when the drum and wheel are parted it is thought that drums may not always be concentric with wheel
centres. Hydraulic brakes seem to solve troubles experienced with rigging.
The squeaking of brakes leads to an inquiry into the rigidity of anchor pins and spring-shackle pins, and the fitting of damping bands around drums is regarded as only a palliative.
As regards the power unit, the committee hopes that manufacturers will adopt extensively the use of the carbon seal for water pumps, which is giving better service than soft packing. As regards the choice between coil and magneto ignition for city buses, an inquiry amongst members of the association is suggested. Accessibility of engine auxiliaries still gives trouble, the magneto and water pump being the most important items. There have been adverse comments upon the placing of the dynamo.in the neighbourhood of the carbnretter, and suggestions have been made that the dynamo should be removed altogether from the bonnet.
Modern transmission developments are watched with interest, whilst other matters raised in the paper are the standardization of drivers' controls, oil leakage from back axles, the use of full-width brake shoes in the rear drum's, improved brake-drum ventilation-, axleshaft breakages, also the need for higher-capacity wiring and for more reliable stnster motors. At the luncheon which followed; the chair was taken by Mr. C. 13. Nixon, who, in his speech, referred to the desirability of standardized replacement programmes in regard to municipal buses.