Low Flat Floor in Mobile Shop
Page 49
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A MOT31LE shop of striking appear
ance has been built by Locomotors, Ltd., on a semi-trailer chassis by Taskers of Andover (1932), Ltd. It is pulled by a Trojan 1-ton tractor chassis with a Perkins P3V oil engine and a standard Trojan cab.
The coupling is of fifth-wheel type, with a forked lower turntable tiunnion which is mounted on the tractor and supports the semi-trailer by means of a pickup plate. The drop-type trailer frame has cross bracings and gussets electrically welded to two main channels.
The shop is to be operated by Jasper and Sons, Ltd., Chatham, Kent. It is designed to serve new housing estates which have outgrown existing shopping centres.
On each side the body has large eternal display windows, which are divided into small compartments by shelves and partitions. A single door on the near side and double doors at the rear lead L o the sales counter. The front of the roof is raised and is glazed
on all four sides. Further storage racks are arranged on each side of this front section.
Although the floor height of the semi-trailer is only 1 ft. 5} in., good ground clearance has been secured by using independently sprung wheels. The axle assembly consists of two longitudinal beams, one on each side of the semi-trailer, pivoted to the chassis at their front ends on large hushes.
Centrally, the beams are bored to receive stub-axles which carry the hubs and wheels. The body thus has an uninterrupted flat floor. At the rear ends of the beams, pads are fitted on top to receive the bottom ends of long heavy-duty coil compression springs. These, in conjunction with shock absorbers fitted to the rear of the beams, take the road shocks.