Electron welding could save weight and space
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• Electron beam welding offers opportunities to improve vehicle design and make savings in cost and weight. For example a gear-dog unit of a gearbox could be produced in two sections which could then be welded together by this process and thus enable the size and weight of the box to be reduced. Laser beam techniques could also be employed to advantage.
Mr. Bruce Smallbone, of Leyland Motors design department, made these claims in a paper on Track Design which he presented on Tuesday at a meeting of the Coventry Graduates' and Students' Section of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Automobile Division.
On the subject of future trends he also said that new plastic materials were being evolved at such a pace that designers were finding it difficult to keep abreast of the advances being made Earlier in his paper Mr. Smallbone pointed out that American operators would pay more for weight saving than operators in this country. Investigations have shown that on average a UK operator would pay about £23 for a saving of 250Ib while his American counterpart would go up to £37 for a saving of this order.
During the discussion a member of the Institution pointed out that a braking efficiency of 50 per cent required by the regulations was poor compared with the efficiency of the average private car and asked whether a higher standard would be mandatory in due course. In reply Mr. Smallbone said that 50 per cent represented a big improvement compared with the efficiency of many braking systems four or five years ago; the standard might be increased to, say, 70 per cent over the next five /10 years.
In answer to a question regarding cab noise and the effect on the driver's wellbeing, Mr. Smallbone agreed that mounting the engine under the floor enabled cab noise to be reduced to a minimum. But an engine in this position was quickly covered in road dirt and was not suitable for short wheel-base vehicles, which was a disadvantage with regard to the rationalization of model types and derivatives.