A New Semi-Trailer Dental Clinic
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Pressure-bonded One-piece Roof Embodies a Fully Glazed Sloping Light Over the Surgery
DEL1VERY was recently taken by Staffordshire County Council of one of two mobile dental clinics, the bodies for which have been built by the Airscrew Company and Jicwood, Ltd., Weybridge, Surrey. The basis is a Taskers 6-ton semi-trailer which accommodates a body having an overall length of 25 ft. 6 ins.
The body is divided into three sections, the front compartment being laid out for use as the waiting room, the central portion as the surgery and the rear as a combined recovery and dark room. Entry to the waiting room, which is 7 ft. 61 ins, long by 7 ft. 51 ins. wide, is up a timber-built portable step ladder.
Storage space is generous in all compartments, there being two corner cupboards and a full-length cupboard in the waiting room, a three-compartment locker and two cupboards in the surgery, and three portable storage lockers and divided lockers in the recovery room.
Access to the surgery from the waiting room is gained by a three-step stairway. On the near side and at the rear of the surgery, there is a compartment housing an ,air compressor, above which there is a hand basin. • In addition to the. dental chair and other specialized equipment, the appointments in the surgery include a dental instrument cabinet, a portable chair with Dunlopillo cushions and a knee-hole desk. This compartment is 11 ft. 6 ins, long and the headroom at the centre is 8 ft. 6 ins. In the recovery and dark room, which is just under 6 ft. long, there is a benchtop couch with Dunlopillo and leather covering, over which is fitted a hinged wooden cover forming a work bench for the dental mechanic. This compartment also contains wash basins with Ewart heater, draining board and a sink. Formica splash panels are used here, as well as in the surgery.
Aluminium shutters, sliding in feltlined channel-ways, are used when it is wished to convert this department into a darkroom for filling X-ray slides and for developing.
Ashanco ventilators are fitted in the roof of each compartment, in addition to which there is a Vecta 7 extractor fan unit towards the rear of the surgery and a second extractor fan in the recovery room. A supply of water is carried in three tanks mounted beneath the surgery floor.
The main part of the roof is cornprised of licwood insulated sections, as used by London Transport for bus roofs, with inner and outer•sections in sheet aluminium, with an expanded rubber core carried in a wooden frame. The roof is pressure-bonded in one piece from cant-rail to cant-rail.
An unusual and distinctive effect is given to the roof lines by the use of a sloping light, glazed at the front and sides with toughened plate glass, the shaped top and corner panels being in clear Perspex. It is arranged over the surgery section.