Ingenious EasyLoading Body JEHICLE batteries, especially of the V traction
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type which may weigh up to 18 cwt., are difficult to manhandle. In a new body designed and built by Glover, Webb and Liversidge, Ltd., Marlborough Works, Old Kent Road, London, S.E.1, for Chloride Batteries, Ltd., Park Royal, London, N.W.I0, this problem has been overcome in an ingenious manner.
The body floor, which is 14 ft. 9 in. long, is covered by six removable platforms each extending the full width of the body and capable of carrying a ton each. These platforms are mounted on rollers running on needle-roller bearings.
Used in conjunction with these platforms is a Burtonwood 1-ton elevating tail-lift and loader powered by a gearbox-mounted hydraulic pump. In loading a vehicle the six platforms are first removed and the tailboard lowered to the ground.
Each platform, in turn, is then locked on to the tailboard, which can be released from the elevating mechanism and used as a, hand truck. In this capacity it is fitted with four detachable castors. With the battery or batteries loaded on the truck, the truck is manceuvred into position and reconnected to the elevating mechanism, which lifts the load to floor level. The platform is then released from the tailboard and pushed up to the front of the body where it is locked in position.
A Bedford A.5 5-ton long-wheelbase petrol-engined chassis forms the basis of this vehicle and by employing lightalloy sections in the body, it has been possible to bring the total unladen weight under 3 tons.
With this vehicle, a driver can load or unload 5 tons of batteries without assistance.