Why Not More Light Metal ?
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THE commercial-vehicle industry in this country has not accepted to any really considerable degree on the goods-transport side the opportunities of lightweight construction afforded by the employment of materials lighter than iron, steel and some other metals.
Those, however, who have been converted to their use are, in the main, benefiting accordingly. Manufacturers and their designers who visit commercial-vehicle shows abroad must be impressed by the great number of exhibits involving large amounts of hell'. alloy. Some of the biggest bodies for trunk-road service are fabricated in this material, as are a .great many bodies for tipping vehicles.
Tippers in light metal benefit their operators in several ways. They permit the carrying of more payload, which, of course, is common to other light bodies, but the actual operation of tipping requires less energy for the same payload, whilst the metal, having the properties of being workhardenable and non-rusting, gives exceptionally long life, and even without painting the bodies remain bright and can easily be cleaned.
The floors and inner sides of steel tippers, on the other hand, are inclined to deteriorate rapidly, for the reason that many of the loads carried scrape them clean ready for the next film of rust which, in turn, is removed for another exposure.
Some of these good points naturally apply to vehicles employed in many other classes of work,. whilst light alloys lend themselves particularly to packaged bodies, not only for home use but to a growing extent for export. Easily handled and capable of being assembled rapidly by unskilled labour, they are proving increasingly popular abroad, especially in areas which are not highly developed.
Another sphere in which light alloys are displaying their excellent attributes is in the conveyance of liquids--and even free-flowing solids-in bulk. Not only is there a great saving in tare weight, but the tanks can more easily be handled when required for fitting to platform lorries sometimes needed for different purposes not involving the use of the tanks.
rn the passenger-transport field, aluminium and its alloys are, of course, used in Britain to a considerable extent, aided by the excellent co-operation of those suppliers who produce extrusions which . meet the requirements of numerous bodybuilders, although such products are not confined to employment on passenger vehicles.