I.R.T.E. • Members See A.E.C.
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Vehicles Built
ALARGE number of members of the Institute' of Road Transport Engineers paid a visit on July 14 to the A.E.C. factory at Southall,. Middlesex, where they were greeted by Mr. E. J. H. Jones, Works manager and director the home sales manager, Mr. S. Ho'lands. Mr. S. W. Goodey, publicity manager,
and other senior executives. With its usual efficiency,. the, company had arranged a complete programme, which was printed in brochure .form with the name of the Institute on the cover.
Now known as A.E.C., Ltd., the former Associated Equipment Co., Ltd., was incorporated as a private company in 1912, although its commercial activities date back to 3906. In the early years it was mainly engaged in the maintenance and repair of buses operated by .the old London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., and previously by other London concerns,
. Source of Famous Models _ From its production factory at Walthamstow, . Essex, came many famous models, such as the Xand B-type open-top • double-deckers, followed by the K, S and NS types designed in collaboration with the
The expansion of business forced the company to extend its premises, and to do this it moved to the present factory at Southall, where there are now 151 acres of buildings in a site covering 65 acres.
Now, apart from a huge production of passenger and goods vehicles, the, range includes oil-engined railcars and marine and industrial engines. It is interesting to record that, the
recent war, it built, amogst , 13,000 machines of various -types; more than 8,600 Matador four-wheel=drive tractors and a large number of oil engines for Tanks, mobile cranes, generating sets, etc..; whilst most of the development work on the "Flail" mine-sweeping Tank was carried out there. Since 1945 the company has been actively engaged with its Mark Ill range of chassis.
It was in October, 1948. that its manufacturing interests were amalgamated with those of Crossley Motors, Ltd., and the Maudslay Motor Co., Ltd.., and with them it became a subsidiary of Associated Commercial Vehicles, Ltd.
In the machine shops, a large section is devoted to soft, metals—brass. aluminium, copper, etc.—and it was notable that there was no marking-out for drilling here and elsewhere, jigs which obviate error being employed.
Up-to-date millers machine simultaneously the top and bottom faces of cylinders. After the bores are ground the liners are inserted cold by hydraulic pressure, a hand-operated cutter being used first to remove any burrs. The double cylinder-boring machine is an A.E.C. product. One side gives a rough cut and the other a finishing one.
It was observed with interest that after the machining of the hydraulic couplings these are packed with Wax and then carefully balanced on two sets of freely turning double discs. Crankshaft journals are ground and tested to a limit of 0.001 ram. by a clock-gauge mounted on the machine; afterwards they are polished with split hand laps while being rotated. The camshafts, after roughing-out, are copper-plated, the copper being removed from the cams before surface hardening, so that they only are affected. Tests with a schleroscope showed how effective this is. The cams are finished on a Landis grinder with enclosed master cams.
All machine tools are being motorized, and such modern types -as the Herbert Carbicut lathe are now in use. For small parts, much use is made of centreless grinding, in whicis each grinding wheel is faced by another of rubber composition. So accurate is the machining of gears and their subsequent inspection that no special tests for silence have to be employed.
Excellent Training Department
Every engine under test is given three hours' motoring and four to five hours under power it is then stripped down for inspection.
The visitors expressed much appreciation of the training department, to whiCh go all youths engaged. Here they have practical and theoretical courses, the latter being preliminary to instruction at a technical college. Some. become indentured apprentices, others, operators in particular trades, or they may carry on with ordinary machine work, depending upon their wishes and capabilities. The curriculum is highly appreciated by the local educational authority, and results are proving increasingly, beneficial to the company and the employees.