NEW IDEAS for LORRY
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BODIES
Our Bodybuilding Expert Makes Suggestions for Increasing the Utility and Improving the Appearance of the Goods Vehicle on Modernistic Lines
THE open lorry with fixed or hinged sides is a strictly utilitarian type of vehicle, and does not appear at first sight to give scope or any radical alteration in de.-agn. This comment is confined to the loading portion because the driver's cab has undergone much development and is now fully en, closed, has a sloping windscreen, a wide door, good ventilation and comfortable seating. The present style of cab differs from that of a few years ago in that it is built as a separate unit and the same pattern is
used for the stylish boxvan as for the plain lorry.
Many boxvans have extended panels which conceal the crossbearers, and often the chassis. In other instances, some degree of streamlining is introduced. Sometimes the decorative scheme is distinctive, the various colours being arranged in a novel manner, apart from any originality of the accompanying writing display. Is it possible to adapt any of these ideas, so that we may have brighter and better lorries?
Already, many lorry bodies, instead of being mounted above the rear wheels, are built directly on the chassis, with wheel-arches. The body, with its lower loading line, has a better appearance, but all lorry owners do not consider that these factors compensate for the obstruction of the wheel-arches, particularly if the body has hinged sides. A compromise is, however, effected by extending the sides below the floor. The hinged side still opens in the usual manner, but the cross-bearers are concealed.
Another way of altering the ' appearance of the body is to frame and panel it, or to cover the plank sides with a panel, so that the hinge irons are concealed. The plain sides, with their area increased by the lower panelling and made continuous by paddle-boxing the rear wheels, could be utilized for an effective colour display, such as a curved belt panel or other device, which would be impracticable with the ordinary planksided lorry.
The cab may be streamlined,but one cannot apply this principle to the open loading portion. It may, however, have the semblance of a body designed to reduce wind resistance by using the outline of a streamlined roof for the top line of the high body sides, curving them downwards at the rear.
Although the sides have curved ends, this does not prevent the mounting of a conventional tailboard, because it is recessed. Such a body may have a plain exterior panel, outside framing with only inside panels, or even plank sides. Advantage is taken of the high sides to introduce a front side door.
A lorry with a door to the loading compartment is a novelty. The conventional equipment is a tailboard, with or without sides opening in a similar manner. The tailboard
makes a convenient loading platform, or an extension of the floor, but, if it be not required for these purposes, we suggest that doors should be provided so that access is simplified, as with a boxvan.. Instead of a tailboard, there is a pair of doors opening under a top rail, which is easily removed. If some guard for the load be necessary when the doors are open, a shallow tailboard is fitted below them., Shouldthe lorry owner -decide thf7iC:, he must have a tailboard, we Suggest that an improvement would be effected if there was a pair, instead of a single tailboard.
The tailboards are divided by a central pillar and shut under a top rail, as with the doors. Both pillar and rail are detachable. In many instances, only one tailboard
would be used, which would • be half the weight of the usual pattern.
If the lorry has back doors, or the tailboard is not available for an extra load, the only other space is the cab
roof. As this is usually narrower than the body, the loading area is increased by mounting on it a tray which overhangs the sides of the cab. The tray may be of the same length as the cab, or its length may be doubled by extending it over the bonnet, so that similar advantages are obtained as with the Luton-type front of a boxvan.
The cab roof is also valuable from the publicity point of view. The name, or other display board, is more effective if it be placed diagonally and lettered•on both sides. Then one may read its message both before and after the approach of the vehicle.
Although hinged-sided lorries are still made without corner stanchions, this type of body is usually regarded as incomplete without this means for securing the tailboard and sides independently of one another. Moreover, for a large lorry, each side is divided into manageable sections, which, again, have stanchions between them to provide independent support. Stanchions allow the sides of the body to be tied together with a number of removable cross-rods.
The open lorry is designed for a load which requires no special weather protection, although, if required, a waterproof sheet is thrown over the goods. Other methods consist of supporting the sheet on hoops which drop into staples, or a complete boarded top is added.
The addition of this top is facilitated if the lorry sides have a wide top rail. This may be reinforced with an angle or channel iron, so as to form a good foundation for the bottom rail of the removable top.