The London Workshops and Depot of /YUlnes-Daimler, Limited.
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The Distributing Centre for the well-known Omnibus Chassis.
Of the many motorbuses now running in London, the MiInes-Daimler chassis is, perhaps, the best known to the man in the street. The perch bar, a distinctive feature of this make of machine, immediately proclaims its origin to anyone who takes an interest in discriminating between the many productions at present running in the streets of London and in the provinces.
The buildings which are occupied bylnes-Daimler, Limited, at 221, Tottenham Court Road, were specially erected for the company about four years ago. The site was chosen by Mr. II. G. Burford, the managing director, as being at once central and eminently suitable for the work in hand. The chassis are made for MilnesDaimler, Limited, at Marienfelde, and therefore it is only necessary to do repair work in London. The buildings are divided into two large blocks. The front portion is set apart for the clerical work, and has numerous airy and commodious offices, which are devoted to special purposes, whilst the ground floor is utilised for showing chassis of various types, The back portion contains the various machine shops, and has three separate entrances from Alfred Place; a side entrance, which communicates with a washing yard ; a large main door, through which buses can be driven, and a doorway that commands the lift. This lift is an ex tremely large one ; it is capable of conveying any weight up to five tons, and connects the various shops. The necessary power for operating the lift gear is obtained from a Laurance-Svott electric motor, which runs at 600 revolutions per minute. The whole of the floors are excellently lighted with large windows, which occupy, practically, the whole of one side of each different shop. Artificial illumination is provided for by numerous electric lamps, which are hung over each tool, as well as in rows depending from the ceilings. Every department is connected with all the others by telephones, and portable tire extinguishers are placed upon brackets in accessible positions in each room.
Milnes-Daimler, Limited, sells eight standard types of chassis, and these range from a light delivery van, constructed to carry a weight of 15 cwt., to heavy lorries for dealing with loads of 5 tons. The several models are enumerated below. The lightest commercial motor is made for a load of is cwt.; this has the 1907 improvements, and is fitted with a two-cylinder 12h.p. engine; the final drive is by side chains. A two-cylinder gih.p. vehicle is constructed to carry a load of 30 cwt.; this is made with two sizes of platform 7 feet 6 inches, and to feet 6 inches, respectively,
• measuring from behind the driver's seat. Large numbers of these chassis have been sold for the quick delivery of light but bulky parcels. The next type of chassis has been specially designed for delivery vans, or to be fitted with an omnibus body for station work. It has a four-cylinder t6h.p. engine, and is intended to deal with loads up to 3o cwt. in weight : this type includes the 1907 details, and has a final drive by chains. Attention has been given to the requirements of those who want a lorry, either for town or country work, capable of dealing with comparatively heavy loads, and for this particular class of work two chassis are maim
factured which carry, respectively, three tons, and 5 tons on their platforms. The first is fitted with a two-cylinder engine, which develops 14h.p., whilst the second has a fourcylinder engine rated at 28h.p. The three-ton lorry has a platform 13 feet 6 inches in length, and the 5-ton chassis carries a table 14 feet 6 inches long. Both types are built to comply with the police regulations in all details.
The bus chassis is constructed in two types, and both of them are made to next year's design, which will be fully described in this journal at an early date. The first, and smaller pattern, has a 2oh.p. engine, and is intended to carry a single-deck omnibus body. The second type is fitted with a 28h.p. engine, and is specially built and designed for the hardest and most exacting work that it is possible to find under the conditions which accompany the carrying of passengers over indifferent road surfaces. The second chassis can, if specially ordered, be furnished with an engine which gives out, normally, 35 to 4oh.p., though this is not a standard pattern, and is only recommended where very hilly districts have to be worked. The table given at the top of the next column will show at a glance the different chassis sold by the company as its standard models : most classes of motor-vehicle users are catered for. To enable one to form some idea of the tools and departments which are given over to the repairing of chassis, we cannot do better than give a short description of each of the four floors comprising the block of buildings.
The ground floor contains the works-manager's office, and a drawing department ; the remainder is used as a temporary store for any vehicle which happens to come in before it can be handled in the section it is destined for. At the time of the writer's visit a Steinway piano van was awaiting its turn to go to one of the repairing departments. This was the first home-coining of the vehicle since it was delivered just upon three years ago. The principal machine shop is on the first floor : it contains. a good assortment of modern machine tools suited to the special work they have to perform. We may mention that, although repair work is the primary object for which the tools are installed, yet, when time permits, numbers of new spare parts are always being made. The tools include a lledley-Norton 7-inch screw-cutting lathe, which is used for the smaller work, and also to make such parts as pins for the steering gear and bushes. Just beside this lathe is a second and larger one by Messrs. Lang ; this has 12-inch centres, and does practically no other work than that of making engine cranks, and trueing up and lapping those which require it. A universal milling machine, made by Ludwig Loewe and Company, is used for cutting all descriptions of gear wheels found in the Milnes-Daimler chassis. Close at hand is a Darling and Sellers high-speed lathe., which is employed for special jobs, such as finishing off the timing wheels, which, by the way, are all steel-stampings. A new machine for cutting key-ways in gear wheels has just been delivered and is a most valuable addition to the plant: Any large holes which have to be drilled in side members, or other parts, are done upon a radial drilling machine,
whilst near this is a turning lathe for general purposes. One ot the newest machines is a Brown and Sharpe No. " 4 " gear cutter. A very useful unit is a press for forcing wheels and pinions off their shafts, and a power of so tons can be exerted if desired. There is, too, an 8-inch Cincinnati shaper used for general purposes. An 8-inch Fairbanks lathe is used in turning such parts as the brass bushes which hold the crosshead pins in the universal joints of the cardan shaft, or any other brass work required. A to-inch Greaves lathe and a 12-inch Lang lathe are requisitioned for keeping up the supply of heavy parts in the stores ; a universal grinder is placed near these, and is used for grinding journals and similar work. The other tools include those generally found in an engineer's shop ; power hack-saws, small drilling machines, .and others. The power for driving all the machinery is derived from a large Laurance-Scott electric motor.
The second floor is used principally for the repairing of Mercedes chassis, and, therefore, does not properly come under the scope of this article. The same floor also contains the works tool stores, which are very complete. Every tool that is taken out is carefully checked by the store-keeper.
The third storey is divided into two departments; a store for chassis frames, and one in which vehicles in for repair are handfed. Parts of these which require renewal, or have to be repaired, are taken out of the chassis which is being operated upon and are sent to their proper sections on one of the other floors. Two 2-ton lorries were lying here at the time of the writer's inspection ; these vehicles were sent out to Durban in 1902, and have been doing hard work in connection with new docks. They are shod with steel tires, and are apparently in excellent condition after their arduous service in South Africa.
The top floor is the fitting shop for the erection and assembling of engines, gear boxes, differentials, and so on. The usual benches are placed round the walls, and the mechanics in this department are always busily engaged in putting together these vital parts of future chassis.
The basement is one of the most important sections of
the works. It is here that the three principal stores are found, and those are for spare parts, tires, and for gear rings and some of the heavier portions of the chassis. Mr. H. G. Burford is very proud of the spare-parts stores, and rightly so, for when we mention that the stock held is valued at not less than 4.20,000 some idea may be formed of its size and completeness. An apparently endless assortment of the parts that go to form a chassis ; cylinders, springs, axles, wheels, gears, complete gear boxes, and in fact every part necessary to build up several Milnes-Daimler vehicles has been collected, and adjacent to the stores themselves is the stores office, where every piece of work which is ordered, either for a customer, or for one of the other departments in the works, has to be passed through the several books. The system is a very excellent one, and has been brought to a high state of perfection. This portion of the building also contains a hydraulic press for forcing on rubber tires, and a case-hardening plant to treat the different parts. Among the orders which are on the company's books, it is interesting to note the following ones for bus chassis. For the London Motor Omnibus Company. Limited, 130; for the Associated Omnibus Company, Limited, 22; for Thomas Tilling, Limited, 15 for this rear and 25 for tgo7 ; for Star Omnibus Company, Limited, 12 ; for Birch Brothers, Limited, 6; and also many others, which bring the number to be delivered before February 28th, 1907, U) to 200 chassis.
Milnes-Daimler vehicles have been supplied to the following important companies ; a complete list of the customers of the company would be of greater magnitude than we can deal with. The Great Western nliway Company has 67 vehicles ; Thomas Tilling, Limited, 27; the Associated Omnibus Company, Limited, 22; the Atlas Omnibus Company, Limited, t6; and Birch Brothers Limited has 12. Tower wagons have been delivered to the following Corporations, for use in tramway undertakings :—Aberdeen, i; Glasgow, I ; Newcastle, i; Leeds, ; Bradford, 2 ; Cardiff, 2 ; and Bolton has one such vehicle on order.