New Cab and Disc Transmission Brake for Fodens
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FODEN vehicles delivered to the home market from November 1 onwards will have a new type of cab which gives increased comfort for the driver, Examples will Ide seen at the Commercial Motor Show at Earls Court next month
A laden vehicle with the new cab has covered more than 1,000 miles over the pave at the Motor Industry Research Association's testing ground.
A curved windscreen is secured by the Howard Clayton Wright glazing system. The curved frontal effect is carried down to the bumper, which extends around to the front edges of the wings. Decorative alloy extrusions on the front of the cab are treated by the Erftwork process, which is claimed to give a permanent finish of equivalent appearance to chromium plating.
Vehicles for overseas will have radiators about a fifth larger than those now normally offered.
Heater as Standard A small grille on the near side of the front panel covers the intake to an air filter which stands clear of the floor inside the cab. A grille on the off side supplies a fresh-air heater, which is to be standard equipment on home models. To accommodate the variety of controls now needed on special vehicles, the chassis-level aperture at the back of the cab has been increased.
The driver and mate have bulkheadmounted Chapman's Leveroll seats 18 in. wide. The interior panels arc lined up to the waist rail with cloth matching the scat finish. A continuous dash panel is provided. Electrical equipment continues to be basically Simms.
Power steering has been introduced and initially is being offered as optional equipment on dumpers. A six-wheeled dumper so equipped will appear at the Show.
For the time being an external, as distinct from an integral, design has been chosen, but integral power steering is also likely to be available later. In the external design, a pump driven from the engine generates the necessary hydraulic power and a selection cylinder controls the application of the force. The power cylinder is anchored between the frame and the steering mechanism.
New Supplementary Brake Developed in conjunction with the Lockheed organization, a supplementary braking system has been designed which is intended to overcome difficulties liable to arise when engine boost fails. This is a disc-form transrnission brake which will work from the hand lever and, when the hydraulic system is not running, will be operated automatically by the foot brake.
One of the Foden vehicles in the demonstration park at Earls Court is to have this equipment and there will be a demonstration set on the stand. A transmission brake of somewhat different design has been used on the Foden dumper for the past two years.
In the new design the mineral-oil hydraulic circuit, in conjunction with Lockheed master cylinders, 10,s been superseded by the use of mineral oil right through the system to the brake cylinders. The transmission brake is fittedto the rearward end of the first rear axle in the case of six-wheeled chassis and on the worm shaft in other instances.
Since the war it has been the practice of the factory to manufacture all necessary brake-gear equipment but the Foden two-leading-shoe brake at the htib is now to be replaced by a Lockheed brake possessing similar characteristics.
OVER 100,000 ENTRIES FOR
R.O.S.Co. COMPETITION TUTORE than 100,000 entries have so IV' far been received for the 1956 competition of the Road Operators Safety Council. The entrants comprise 75,700 drivers and 26,887 conductors.
Mr. R. W. Birch, a vice-chairman of R.O.S.Co., and chairman of the Yorkshire Woollen District Transport Co., Ltd., made this point at Dewsbury, when he presented awards for freedom from accident during 1955 to the company's staff.
It was the first time that awards have been made under the auspices of the new body Mr. Birch said that all awards for the 1955 competition would be in the hands of member undertakings in time for their normal date of distribution.
Altogether 218 conductors and 192 drivers received awards. Twenty of the drivers' awards were for 15-24 years of safe driving.
NEW P.T. LAW EXPLAINED
rAA NEW notice—No. 77J (Revised)— has been issued by the Commissioners of Customs and EXCISe, King's Beam House, Mark Lane, London, E.C.3, to explain the changes in the law on purchase tax on converted vehicles.
As from June 1, purchase tax is chargeable whenever a vehicle, such as a van, which has not borne tax at the full rate, is converted into a car or a shooting brake by inserting side windows to the rear of the driver's seat.
Express Service Changes Hands
AN application by J. Abbott and Sons (Blackpool), Ltd., to take over the Fleetwood-Manchester expressservice previously operated by them jointly with Lansdowne Motors, Ltd., Blackpool, was granted by the North-Western Licensing Authority at Manchester, last week.
Mr. II. Backhouse, for the applicants, said 27,775 passengers were carried in 1955, and 13,798 from March 26 to July 23 this year, at a cost of just over 18d. per mile. Lansdowne Motors had agreed to sell their interest to Abbotts in May. Their excursion and tour licence would not be affected, NEW LODGE AGREEMENT PIA WORKING agreement has been concluded between Lodge Plugs, Ltd., and the Morgan Crucible Co., Ltd. Its object is to further the interests of Lodge Plugs in Sintox and ceramics. Subject to the approval of Lodge shareholders on September 18, the Morgan Crucible Co., Ltd., propose to subscribe at par for £250,00ff 6 per cent. 10-year unsecured notes of Lodge Plugs.
NEW ROAD GROUP
L'OLLOWING a visit to West Africa I by Gp. Capt. T. J. Arbuthnot, assistant executive of the London office of the International Road Association, the Gold Coast Road Association has been formed with Sir Patrick FitzGerald as president. The address of the Association is the Anglo-American (West Africa) Development Co., Ltd., P.O. Box 1535, Accra.
END OF DISPOSAL BOARD
THE Order for the dissolution of the Road Haulage Disposal Board and for the transfei ofinheir remaining functions to the Minister of Transport has now been issued. It is the Road Haulage Disposal Board (Abolition) Order, 1956, and comes into operation on August 28.