MICHELIN
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TYRE Co. Ltd.. Stoke -onsTrent
or open lorries. Standardized roof luggage grids for coaches are supplied when ordered. One of the first important orders received by the SoClete was foi a batch of 20 buses for the Shanghai Tramway Co. These are 50-seater single-deckers and the bodies were erected from the Societe's prefabricated components by a well-knoWn French' commercial coachbuilding concern, Le Bastard, of Rouen. Components have been supplied for a number Of fine 55-seater coach bodies for mounting on Scania-Vabis chassis. These are destined for staff transport for a big .factory in Belgitim.
Time-saving in final erection represents a most important factor in this prefabricated component system. For instance, when the parts fcir an 18-ft. vehicle body arrive at a coachworks it requires only 170 man-hours to tint them together. This includes erecting the body 'skeleton and covering with sheet alloy.' M. Colotribier explained that this means an average of about 33 man-hours Per metre of body length, but, as already mentioned, he thinks of motor bodies always in terms of length.
Although the Societe is at present engaged on normal forms of bodywork' for passenger or goods transport, standardized bodies for special purposes will undoubtedly follow. Interesting designs for refrigerator vans, heat-conserving bodies and milk-transport vehicles were got out by the company's draughtsmen' during 1946
Form-filling Eliminated Apart from its more obvious advantages, this system of coachbuilding allows a good deal of red tape to be cot. French industry. in general, is severely restricted, like our own, by shortages of this and that, but, above all. by the same form-filling mania with which we are afflicted.. It so happens, however, that in France these prefabricated components are regarded by Officialdom as finished products. They do not require transfer licences or raw material permits when supplied to a coachbuilder. This considerably simplifies the problem of the supply of materials for French coachbuilders.
On the purely commercial side, M. Colombier pointed out that, as a light-metal body costs, in France, about one-and-ahalf times as much as a steel one, and as half of the erection work is already performed when the prefabricated units are delivered, the financial turnover of any given coachbuilding shop producing alloy bodies is automatically multiplied by three.
From the vehicle user's standpoint, there is the outstanding advantage of weight reduction. When estimating this for any particular vehicle, the Societe again uses length. It reckons that the weight economy obtained over steel construction
in the nature of 80 kilogs. per running metre of body length in the case of ordinary closed lorry or van bodies up to 15.3 cubic metres capacity. In special bodies tor meat transport and many other purposes, the estimated weight-saving over steel is 150 kilogs. per running metre. For coach and bus bodies, or for closed lorry bodies up to 30.3 cubic metres capacity, the saving is estimated at 100 to 110 kilogs. per running metre.
In building these prefabricated bodies from light-metal components, a fait amount has been borrowed frorr aircraft constructional practice, with necessary modifications to suit a very different purpose. One good point, amongst many, which struck me when examining some of the sectional com
ponents was their immense rigidity. Body-bearers, for instance, are made from two large-section channels, with light-alloy strip boxing in the channels both at the top and at the bottom.
With regard to prefabricated bodies for special work, the number of these already studied by engineers of the Societe
is such that, in most eases, orders for these could he put in hand at once. It should not be forgotten that most of these people have been engaged on this particular work for quite a number of years, and, on the practical side, they have encountered and overcome a great number of production snags. Their experience is undoubtedly valuable. and M. Colombier said that the Societe des Prototypes would be quite willina to act as consulting engineer to any British concern starting the construction of light-alloy bodies on these lines. Influential Backing
The Societe has, from its inception, received powerful support from the great French light-metal combine, Aluminium Francais, with its wealth of accumulated technical knowledge. That concern, holding a virtual monopoly in the supply of raw materials, is by way of being a really benignant monopoly, assisting users of aluminium in every possible way.
1 he Societe des Prototypes has a great number of important orders in hand at the moment, amongst them being coach bodies for the Belgian agent for Leyland; these are to be mounted on Leyland Tiger chassis, and several of the bodies have already been delivered. In the home market the Paris municipal bus concern has ordered five singledecker bus bodies by way of an experiment, to see how they fare in the trying conditions which are imposed by Paris surface transport.