The Scottish Motor Traction Co., Ltd., and its Lothian Chassis.
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This Edinburgh Maker is Progressing very Rapidly. Its Three-ton Model, which we Describe, is Worthy of Careful Attention.
There are few evidences of so convincing a nature of the rapid establishment and development of the commercial-vehicle industry in England, and certamly none in Scotland, so remarkable as that afforded by the present condition of the Scottish Motor Traction Co., Ltd. Established in 1905 the 'company was quick to realize the possibilities of the public-service passenger carriage in Edinburgh and its environs, and it was not long before a considerable business was being done in this class of work, and this brought with it additional activity in connection with repair and maintenance service of all kinds.
S.M.T. Co.'s Rapid Growth.
Mr. W. J. Thomson was good enough, on the occasion of a recent visit by a member of our Editorial staff to the company's works at Edinburgh, to tell us something of those early days of his undertaking and, in the place of a small publicservice establishment, we now find a great two-storey modern factory, recently completed, and already being equipped with machinery and other plant. Mr. Thomson told us that his first efforts were carried out with Ducommon and Belhaven chassis, and, of course, he had his share in those days of " operating" troubles. Soon afterwards he bought his first Maudslay and he certainly must have obtained excellent service from it, for he eventually purchased and owned 20, and the Scottish Motor Traction Co. continued to employ these with great success until they were sold recently to one of those ambitious undertakings which by now was to have covered Great Britain with a network of public-motorvehicle services.
A Tribute to Maudslays.
We were pleased to hear Mr. Thomson remark, quite unasked, " Yes, we had on the whole capital service from those Maudslays, and the company is much indebted to that maker for the reliability of the service it was able to maintain. The Maudslay concern is one of the best in the industry to deal with, and I can speak highly of our relations with them for a number of yea rs."
tp till 1912 this Scottish concern employed double-deckers exclusively. but when it became necessary to remodel and extend the
effort, the Edinburgh licensing authorities came to the conclusion that, as the company would have in future foe its own peace of mend to employ -single-deckers, they might in no case be longer than the double,-decker which was then, of course,-'already doing ..so well in the Metropolitan area in the south.
It was found necessary to abandon the double-decker because so many of the company's buses had frequently to undertake runs over country roads where overhanging trees, sharp corners and other wayside hindrances, were constantly encountered. That consideration, combined with the stipulation of the Edinburgh licensing authorities, made it necessary for Mr. Thompson and his assistants to devise a special type of machine which, while combining the advantages of the single-decker, would not overlap the overall length.
Where to Put the Driver ?
There were obviously two alternatives available to the designer. One was to place the driver over the engine, in the manner that has become so familiar in Paris and other continental citie&.for publicservice vehicles, and was only comparatively recently in use in England, as exemplified by the older pattern Wolseley motorbuses of the London General Omnibus Co The other possibility was to place the driver at the side of the engine as had been done, it will be recalled, by the Arrol-Johnston designers with their motorbuses and, of course, by the Lanchester people directly they abandoned the horizontal engine for the vertical Lothian in Bus Service.
After careful consideration and experiment it was decided to plump for the latter method, and the modern " Lothian" chassis is the direct result of the chain of circumstances which we have now set down. The company now operates its services with these machines entirely, with the exception of three Tilling-Stevens, which it purchased from the Edinburgh Corporation some little while ago.
Lessons Applied From Practice.
The Lothian chassis has obviously been produced by men who have applied all the range of hard-service lessons which they have received at first hand, not only in connection with the operation of motorbuses, but as the result of great and varied experience in the repair shops, through which passes a stream of all kinds of commercialvehicle and pleasure-car models for repair and overhaul. That in itself is a circumstance which should recommend the Lothian to the careful consideration of all purchasers. Subsequent examination of the structural details will, in nine cases out of ten, leave no doubt in the mind of the prospective purchaser.
Going Through the Shops.
We are fortunate to have had the opportunity at our recent visit to examine in detail a number of these chassis which was going through the shops, some of them for new services to be promoted by the Scottish Motor Traction Co:, others for customers in various parts of Great Britain. The demand for these machines is already very considerable, and we do not hesitate to prophesy that, when the new factory gets into thorough working order and is released from some of the Government requirements which immobilizes it to a certain extent at present, the Lothian will become a very familiar feature of our modern street traffic.
A Chassis of Skilful Design.
Our chassis view gives an excellent idea of the general arrangement of the mechanism. The machine is quite a " lineable " one, and, in spite of the placing of the driver at the side of the engine, there is DO appearance whatever of overcrowding or crushing up. The design has been carried out with a skilful hand, and there is an entire absence of that making-do and patchwork appearance which so often characterizes models in which
the„designers have had the confidence to break away from the conventional.
Fine Frame Constructiz,n.
The engine employed is the Tylor subsidy model, and that is sufficiently well known to the majority of our readers to render it unnecessary for us to describe it in any detail on the present occasion. It is mounted, in the case of the Lothian, in an angle-iron cradle which is pivoted on the front member of the main frame. The frame itself is a capital job, and certain of our illustrations reveal its very generous proportions. The side members are unusually, deep, but are of light cross section. Well-shaped pressed
steel cross members are employed for the support of the back of the engine frame, as well as for the whole of the gearbox. Big tubular cross-members are embodied at the front beneath the radiator and at the rear of the back springs. A steel and wood member is used for the front brackets for the rear springs, and this is justified by the facility it affords for the mounting of brake-gear and other brackets.
Chain-drive Gearbox.
The Lothian has quite a number of outstanding characteristics. arid perhaps the most remarkable, in addition to the Positioning of the driver, is the standard employment of a four-speed chain-drive gearbox and the successful way in which the designers have duplicated parts for different purposes. We illustrate one example of many. It will be seen here that the front and rear brackets for the rear springs are identical parts but reversed, which is quite a clever construction; of course. Again we find that two propeller shafts between engine and gearbox and back axle are identical pieces. The leather universal discs are the same in the front of as well as at the back of the gearbox. TO provide for the additional torque transmitted, the joints behind the gearbox have five such discs, whilst those in front, where the shaft speed is higher, only have three. It is interesting to note that these discs are complete leather sheets and are not rings, as is inure usual.
Bull Point for Purchasers.
Further evidence of standardization is seen in the fact that the whole of the universal star pieces are identical, many of the brake levers arc interchangeable, the back spring brackets are reversible, and so on, and so on. All this, of course, is a bull point for purchasers. it cuts down the list of dissimilar parts which must be stocked by any considerable owner of Lothian models, and it facilitates storekeeping at both ends of the line.
A Long Exhaust Line.
To return to the engine for a mo..merit, the exhaust box is carried right at the extreme end of the frame aid there is a long line of exhaust piping to accommodate it. W should like to have _seen this tube carried on swing links to allow for its inevitable expansion and contraction. The engine is fitted, as is usual with this model, with half-compression gear and the governor which is necessary in order to confply with W.D. requirements. The big flywheel accommodates a fibre-lined clutch, and this, as one of our illustrations reveals, has the front of the three-disc leather coupling bolted direct on to it. The clutch withdrawal gear, of course, -owing to the arrangement of the driver's position, is coupled to the clutch pedal by a long pull rod. A greaser outside the frame provides for lubrication of the clutch -forks through a flexible tube. A speedometer pulley is mounted on the first propeller shaft, as seen in one of ou r illustrations.
A Gearbox After Two Years of Service.
The gearbox needs little description, as our illustration is a particularly good one. We were fortunate enough on our retent visit to be present when one of these units was just being taken down from a bus chassis, . after, we learned by personal question, having completed practically two years hard service on the road with no other attention than regular lubrication. We were able to note that the only repair which would be required after this long service was the replacement of the main driving chain, which, of course, has most of the work to do. The rest of the box showed practically no sign of wear at all, which is surely justification enough for the sUindardization of this particular form of unit, for all classes of Lothian chassis. The box is a fourspeed one. The whole of its top
comes off and the case has, cast integral with it, an aluminium tray to oreyent oil dropping. All the bearings and shafts give an agreeable impression of ample proportion. The clutches are of the internal-, tooth pattern.
Double-banjo Axles.'N, The back axle is of the horizontal; double-banjo class, solid forged, a form of construction -which is now receiving such universal attention on the part of the majority of the leading lorry manufacturers. It has the usual advantages which accrue with the employment of this type, O. ready accessibility and ease of dismantling. The rear-wheel in
is of the plain-bearing floating class. The front wheels arc internally pivoted.
When the New Factory Gets Going.
We, perhaps, need say little more about this useful machine, confident that it will interest our readers and that a great many users in this country will be getting satisfactory service from them so soon as the output can he increased to its proper proportions. The new factory, as we have said, is already two floors high, and provision is made for a third, not including the ground floor, of course, and each of these shops is nearly 400 ft. long, of modern ferro-concrete construction.
A Great Safes List.
The Scottish Motor Traction Co., Ltd., in the meantime, is exceptionally busy in its repair and maintenance departments, and we were impressed by the very complete equipment of machine shops and coachworks. Further evidence of activity was forthcoming when we were permitted to peruse the company's sales list covering the past two months. Amongst the principal machines, of which large numbers have been placed, we noted Garners, Britons and Stars.