COMMERCIAL MOTORS AT BRUSSELS SALON.
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Belgian, French and Italian Manufacturers Show Interesting Vehicles. A New 8-cylindered 6-wheeled Bus Chassis.
rn I I17. industrial vehicle section. of the. B russel s 1 Salon was somewhat smaller this year than in .1925. There were 27 exhibitors including the coaclibuilders. If the exhibits were few in number, however, they were interesting and excellent in quality. Belgian firms showing included Auto-Traction (the heavy vehicle department of Minerva Motors), Miesse, Bovy, Dasse, Brossel, Pipe and Doyen. The remainder of the vehicles shown were mostly of French origin. Little in the wi.y of novelty was to be seen, but this is hardly surprising, as the Show-follows so closely upon the Paris Salon that most of the exhibits are simply moved on from one pla_n to the other.
Belgian industrial coaehwork shows a great advance upon previous years. Many of the bodies exhibited were equal to the best British or French work, both in design and finish. One of the few novelties was the new six-wheeler Miesse omnibus chassis with straight-eight engine, to which brief reference was made in this journal some Time ago. The cylinders an cast in one block. The overhead valves are operated, through the medium of push rods, by a single camshaft driven from the forward end. The crankshaft has five bearings. Bosch ignition is employed and two Zenith carburetters are fitted. The engine has a bore of 80 min. and a stroke of 150 ram. The driving seat being over the engine, the change-speed gate is attached to the side of the cylinder block. The propeller shaft is bunk ttn in two
pieces which are united by a large spherical joint carried on the central X-form cross-member of the frame. The rear axles are arranged on the semi-bogie system, the drive being of the underslung worm type.
The wheelbase is 16 ft. 6 ins, and the track 5 ft. 43. ins.
The overall length of the chassis is 22 ft. 10 ins. It is capable of taking rseful loads up to 5,200 kg. Servooperated braking on the Semal system is employed.
of Paris, showed an example of the new Renault-Seernia extra low chassis, which has just been adopted by the Paris Municipal omnibus concern. This was fitted with a single-deck body, rather similar in form to that of the new Paris buses, but more luxurious as to its internal fittings, Delahaye showed a fine 14-seater de luxe type coach for long-distance touring. Windscreens and hinged side screen3 were fitted to each seat and the rear seats were entirely enclosed. A rolling hood and side curtains completed the weather protection equipment.
Bovy showed a 28-seater single-deck omnibus for the
Schiedam-Rotterdam service. The bus is of the frontentrance type in which the driver collects the fares. The body was particularly well finished and provided a good example of the advance which has been made during the last year or two in Belgian commercial bodywork.
Dasse, of Verviers, exhibited several chassis and also the French charcoal-gas machine known as the Autogaz. nesse industrial chassis show an all-round improvement in detail work. Amongst other refinements, four-wheel braking operated on the Dewandre vacuum-servo system is now standard.
Citroens showed a big range of Normandy camiduettes, box vans, ambulances, etc.., mounted on their new commercial chassis, which was seen for the first time at the Paris Salon A number of CitroenKegresse machines was also exhibited, including a creeper-track chemical fire-engine for dealing with fires inacces.ible to wheeled motor fire pumps.
Auto-Traction (Minerva) had the largest stand in the heavy vehicle section of the Show. An example of the 5-ton chassis was shown. This flue lorry has the Minerva sleevevalve engine, with a bore of 110 torn. and a stroke of 140 mm. Other Minerva exhibits included a special lorry built to the order of a fishculture firm. The body was divided into four separate tanks, in which huge 154b. to 20-lb carp, pike, etc., were disporting themselves. An electrically driven pump provided., water at high pressure, and small jets, directed downwards into the tanks, carried oxygen with them for the benefit of the fish.
Another curious Minerva exhibit was a motor caravan for the Belgian Evangelical Mission. The idea was exceedingly well carried out. A hinged let-down rear platform was arranged at the back for conducting services and the harmonium was electrically controlled, at a distance, from a small keyboard on the dashboard of the vehicle!
Other Minerva exhibits included a very fine 28-seater single-deck omnibus on the 5-ton chassis and a gas-driven lorry with E.T.I.A generator on the 4-ton model. A tractor and 10-ton trailer were also shown. The tractor has the same engine as the 5-ton lorry.
Fiats had some very smart eamionettes, also a light motor fire-engine and escape wagon. Pipe showed several of their interesting gas-driven vehicles, including an 18-seater omnibus for service between Kinshalla and Leopoldville, in tha Belgian Congo.
Pipe is one of the first industrial-vehicle firms to turn out a Colonial model designed specially for use with charcoal gas. The generator is of its own design and has many special features. Amongst these is the fitting of a supplementary radiator, mounted in front of the lorry radiator, for cooling the water used in the gas purifying apparatus. Other gas-driven vehicles at the Brussels Show included the Berliet omnibus, a 4-ton Panhard and Levassor lorry and various vehicles fitted with the E.T.I.A. and Autogaz machines.
An interesting agricultural tractor shown was the Polyculteur Dubois. This machine has a slow-running horizontal single-cylinder Diesel engine and uses petroleum or heavy vegetable oils for fuel. It is a two-wheeled tractor of the " avant train" or motor-horse type, in which the plough or other implement in use is close-coupled and really completes the vehicle. For road traction purposes the small stabilizing wheel in front of the tractor can be removed gnd replaced by a pair of ordinary wheels and an axle. The transformation occupies only a few minutes. The ploughs and other agricultural implements made for use with the Polyculteur Dubois are arranged to act as a counterpoise to the engine and for ward part of the tractor. As a result the machine should be particularly quick 'o turn and easy to handle. An application of the brakes automatically raises the plough clear of the ground for turning.
One of the features of the Salon was a magnificent 30seater closed coach by G. Breteau, of Paris, on the new Saurer chassis, a chassis which ;re described in full detail at the time of the recent Paris Heavy-vehicle Show. American commercial vehicles were not much in evidence this year. it would appear that the recent stabilization of the Belgian franc at the high level of 175 has made it difficult to sell American motor goods in the country. American industrial makes exhibited included the Ford and Fordson tractor,Chevrolet and Liberty. In addition to the French firms already mentioned the following also exhibited the same chassis already seen in Paris :—Chenard-Walcker, Latil, Renault, Bernard, Somua, Unic and Roehet-Schneider. British makers, as usual, refrained from exhibiting.
In view of the essentially industrial nature of the country it may be surprising that the heavy-vehicle section of the Brussels Show was not larger. This is due in part to space considerations. The car part of the Show grows in importance each year and available floor space is limited. It may be mentioned that this year no fewer than five important heavy-vehicle makers were crowded out altogether.