RECENT LEYLAND DEVELOPMENTS.
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N OTHER pages of this issue, Layland Motors; Ltd., announce their new 30-cwt. Z-typo chassis, which, they state, is now confidently 'offered to the public for alt classes of goods and passenger transport, "Having had an opportunity of examining this vehicle, we are not surprised at this expression of confidence. The whole -design is straight forward, and shows:'thA great.; thought . has been clevoted4to the, construction of a chassis which wit' in chary way' up; bold the traditions of its builders, and it embodies Certain of those' features of the larger models which‘haye proved so• eminently satisfactory; u the most arduous. service.
Reference to our illustrations; will show the main feature:1.ot' its construe-, Hon. It will be seen that there is nothing freakish about it, and that the greatest novelty is the engine, with which we will deal later.
An unusual feature, so far as Leyland 'vehicles are. concerned, is;the use of a single-plate clutch with Ferodo friction surfaces. Thence the drive is through a laminated steel joint to:.a gearbox supported on two cross-members, and giving four speeds forward and a reverse. From this gearbox the drive is taken through a propeller shaft enclosed in a tubular torque member to an overhead worm gear, which, together with the differential gear, is supported by the cover of a pot:type rear-axle casing. That very successful delail of Leyland
B30 design, the large spherical housing for the front end of the torque member, has been retained.
Both brakes operate on the rearwheel drums, thershoes being, situated side by side, and the drums being ribbed to give better heat dissipation. 'Steel disc wheels and pneumatic tyres are fittedsas standard, whilst,, a spare, Wheel, complete with tyre, is carried on the end of a tube supported by brackets bolted to the side members of the frame, thus preventing stresses being thrown on the body, as is hound to happen when the bracket for the spate wheel is
attached to the bodywork; '
Now we will return to the power unit : this is a most remarkable type, of engine to find in a commercial vehicle, and the company censider that they are at least two years ahead of their competitors in its design. By its incorporation in the nevi, chassis, the purpose of the amazing experiments with the Leyland right privete car has at last been revealed, for, in its main essentials, the new unit closely follows the engine on the Leyland Eight, except that it has four cylinders only and is, naturally, built to withstand the extra work entailed by hard commercial usage.
The engine has an overhead camshaft, each of the cams of which operates two valves. These valves are returned to their seats by neat laminated springs, each spring being situated crosswise and being utilized for two valves. The sparking, plugs are:_sunk_ ioto inclined pockets. They are so arranged that the spark takes' plaee. at the =sect point in each combustion chamber. Remarkable power curves have been obtained in the tests of this engine, hut these we are not at liberty, as yet, to disclose: this applies to many, other interesting points about the chassis. Later, we shall publish a complete .descriPtion, accompanied by drawings and further photographs. It will be noted that thWradiator on the new model differs slightly from the ordinary Leyland pattern, but this is only an experimental type, and it is probable that a return will be made to the stand'ard pattern in the production model.
Not content with widening their range of models by the addition of the 30-cwt. chassis, the company are extending their ramifications in this direction by building that remarkable solid-tyred light vehicle, the Trojan, as a 5-cwt. van, which, although designed for the load stated, is quite capable of carrying 7 cwt. in any emergency. The capacity
Only one seat is provided—that for the driver, and this is so arranged that it can swivel as required, the seat back being supported by a single vertical pillar. At the left side of, the driver is a space which may also be utilized for the earrying of goods, and permits longer articles to be packed into the vehicle than would otherwise be possible.
The body is strongly constructed and is provided with large double doors at the rear, and the complete van is sold at the remarkably low price of £175. As regards the chassis, this we described in detail in our issue dated June 27th, 1922. We will, therefore, deal only with its salient features.
The power unit is of the two-stroke type. It has four cylinders arranged in a square, and the complete engine is placed longitudinally in the chassis with the cylinders pointing forward. The upper and lower combustion chambers at each side are connected together by a passage, and in each pair of cylinders the inlet port is in the upper cylinder and the exhaust port in the lower, so that a uniflow action is obtained.
The gearing is of the epicyclie type and gives two speeds forward and a re-. verse. On top gear there is a primary reduction of 4 to 1 by a pair of skew gears and a further reduction through the final drive chain, which is of the twin-roller type. The gearing has been so arranged that an engine speed of 1,000 r.p.m gives 20 m.p.h. Starting is effected from the driver's seat by pulling up a lever provided with -a pawl and ratchet arrangement. Exceptional attention has been paid to the springing, and, extraordinary as it may appear, on give-and-take roads it is difficult to tell that the vehicle is_ not running on pneumatic tyres. The equipment includes an electric-lighting outfit. While at the works at Leyland -we took the opportunity of inspecting some of the many vehicles which are passing through the shops. One of the latest of these is the overtype three-way tipper, which we illustrate. This machine has a carrying capacity of three -tons, a wheelbase of 8 ft. 6 ins., and a turning circle of 38 ft. diameter. It is designed either for municipal work or for any other kind of work which necessitates the vehicle operating in confined areas.
Another vehicle which caught our eye was a huge street-watering and washing machine built for the Dublin Corporation. The single tank mounted on this has a capacity of 2,000 gallons, and the axle weight, of course, exceeds that which would be permitted in this country. The puffip on the Dublin watering cart is the Rees-Roturbo,
Elsewhere in the shops we saw a number of service vans for the company's own use; several mobile workshops for the Indian Government, a number of coaches embodying the Leyland-Fleetwood hood, which is one of the few really successful one-man types in existence; and a short-wheelbase overtype chassis, on which will be mounted a body specially constructed to meet the requirements of Mr. Cl. A. Wells for carrying Rothschild bullion.