The Airedale Delivery Vans.
Page 5
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A sound job " was the verdict passed by a representative of this journal after he had thoroughly inspected one of the new type of twoton van, which is being handled by Lloyd and Meister, Limited, whose works are at Station Road, Wood Green. It is, by no means, every machine that is submitted to the critical scrutiny of the technical members of the staff of " THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR " that receives the above commendation. The whole of this Airedale chassis appears to have been designed by a man with a considerable knowledge of the special requirements of commercial-vehicle work.
As Lloyd and Plaister, Limited, in order to clear the way for a new batch of machines, is offering the balance of the first shop order at considerablyreduced prices, at their request, we have made a close examination of one of the vehicles, in order that an independent certificate of the capability of these Airedale motorvans might be .available to the makers. In view of the favourable nature of our opinion, we consider it to be of interest to our readers to publish a brief description of the machine in question. The principal features of the chassis are of conventional design. The engine, as is usual now'adays, is carried in the front of the frame under a bonnet, and the drive is carried through a three-speed gearbox to a live axle. The frame is of pressed steel and of ample section for the work it has to do. The engine possesses several features of rather unusual design; it has four 4-inch cylinders, and the piston stroke is four inches. The power developed is approximately 20h.p. at 1,000 revolutions per minute. The mechanically-operated valves are arranged in pairs directly over the tops of the cylinders, and they are actuated by an overhead camshaft which is driven through spiral gear by means of a vertical shaft from the crank-shaft. Directly geared from this vertical shaft is a strongly-made fan. At first sight this method of dealing with a fan would appear to be a source of weakness, but the centre of this detail is so formed as to include a neat slipping-clutch device, which permits either the driving shaft or the fan to overrun the other. The vertical driving shaft is continued upwards to carry a combined high-tension distributor and make-and-break device.
The ignition system is in duplicate ; a high-tension Gianoli magneto is driven from the back end of the overhead camshaft and is situated on the driver's side of the dashboard; a battery and a single coil comprise the -alternative system. The battery is carried on the offside footboard, and the .single coil is fixed to the dashboard. A two-way switch is placed within easy reach of the driver. For some reason or another a duplicate set of ignition plugs is installed, hilt the two systems described above are normally connected with one set of plugs only. The carburetter is of standard Grouvelle Arquembourg pattern. Lubrication of the engine is secured by means of a small geared oil pump by which the lubricant is drawn from a reservoir that is fixed under the bonnet in proximity to the exhaust pipe. The oil is forced up into a small Enots-pattern, duplex, sight-feed fitting that is fixed on the dashboard. Oil flows down to a distributor pipe arranged over the big ends and to the front timing-gear casing, or, as an alternative, through an overflow pipe back to the reservoir.
The water circulation is controlled by an eccentric vane pump mounted vertically over a portion of the timing 'gear in the front of the engine and driven therefrom by a short shaft. All the water pipes are arranged with easy leads and an avoidance of "dead" corners. The radiator is of the vertical gilled-tube pattern with a smartlyfinished sheet brass casing.
A plate clutch of substantial design transmits the power to the top shaft of a gearbox of ample proportions. Three forward speeds are provided ; the top gear is direct and is capable of driving the machine, under normal loads and on reasonable roads, well up to the legal limit. The secondary gear shaft is arranged below the main shaft. The gear-shifting device consists of a short hand-lever, operating through a gate quadrant. The usual arrangement of selector rods has been adopted. The back axle is of particularly strong design, the bevel gear and differential casing being a rather
heavy and well-ribbed casting. The whole axle is suitably trussed. The pressed-steel radius rod on each side of the frame has also to assume the duty of a torque bar. Universal joints at both ends of the propeller shaft allow free radial movement of the axle vertically in the usual manner. The brakes are exceptionally efficient ; the countershaft brake, provided with locomotive-pattern brake blocks, is extremely sensitive, and yet powerful, in its action. The back-wheel brakes are operated by a hand-lever and are of the internal-expanding pattern. Compensation is secured from one side to the other by means of a stout flat compensating bar which is arranged across the top of the frame members. The front axle is of the Butler builtup class and is a substantial component. A petrol tank, with a capacity of 12 gallons, is carried at the back of the frame. Fuel is kept under pressure in this tank by the usual arrangement of hand pump and exhaust-pressure valve.
The standard body on the two-ton van has inside dimensions as follow : 7 feet in length, 4 feet in width and 5 feet in height. The swing doors at the back are provided with windows. A rough test has been made of the capability of the machine for hillclimbing under load, and no difficulty was experienced in the climbing of a length of road in the neighbourhood of Muswell Hill with a gradient of 1 in 5.3. We illustrate on this page a smaller machine than that which we have described. This is by the same maker and has a two-cylinder 1011.p. engine. Its load-carrying capacity is in the neighbourhood of 1.5cwt.