Ti. BUILD BOXVANS BY A GROUP EFFORT
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rAA NUMBER of semi-trailer boxvans have been designed and built as a group effort by a number of T.I. (Tube Investments Ltd.) companies for another T.I. company, -Raleigh Industries Ltd, The vehicles will be used for the transport of bicycles, moped's and other products and were designed and developed by the T.I. transport development department to a Raleigh specification, and built by Old Park Engineering Ltd.
The body framework of each vehicle is made from cold-formed steel sections supplied by Metal Sections Ltd. in kit form and the aluminium panels came from British Aluminium.
The chassis is of the stepped-frame type and is believed to be the first in the United Kingdom to use the lightweight hot-rolled steel universal beam. To save further weight the crossmembers are manufactured from a special steel known as Thirty Oak supplied by Round Oak Steel Works. Thirty Oak is described by T.1. as a weldable extra-high yield
strength steel, and it is said that the resulting vehicles will be extremely rugged and yet the lightest of the type to be operated by Raleigh Industries.
Three Floors Each semi-trailer van is fitted with three timber floors, the lower chassis-level floor being fixed, while the two upper floors are hinged to make loading and unloading easier. The two hinged floors have a capacity of 140 bicycles; the fixed floor is suitable for a load of wheeled toys and spare parts. To assist loading even further an electrically powered tail-lift has been fitted.
The semi-trailers are coupled with Thames Trader tractive units to give a combination which conforms to the legal maximum for length and width.
Major advantages which are claimed for the new vehicles are increased load capacity over pantechnicon vehicles and a quicker turnround, resulting in less standing time.