Facilitating Armoured-vehicle Welding
Page 33
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Ingenious B. and E. Hydraulic Tilting Platform to Obviate the Need for Welding Vertical joints
I N the building and repair of certain types .c=if fighting vehicle difficulties are encountered in making successful vertical welds of the armour plating and, to overcome this particular trouble, an hydraulic tilting device has been evolved by Bromilow and Edwards, Ltd., Bolton. This enables the vehicle to be " up-ended " so that the operative, instead of having a vertical seam to weld, has to contend with a job at about only 45 degrees to the horizontal Of quite straightforward design, the apparatus is accommodated in a pit sunk 3 ft. 6 ins, into the floor. Built into this are three pairs of rolled channel-section members, positioned transversely, rather lower than halfway down the pit, and with one pair near each end and the third pair in the middle. Each pair has the channels placed back to back, with a space of sevetal inches between them. Two hinge pins unite each of the end pairs and carry hinges of the type used for three-way tipping lorries, although the platform is. only required for end tilting. The hinges are equipped with spring-loaded locking pins.
Supported by the centre channels are two brackets, each of which carries a telescopic hydraulic ram in trunnion bearings, arranged so that it can swing towards the ends of the pit, that is, the axes of the trunnions are in line with the cross-members. Over the whole is a platform, flush with the floor in its lowered position, which is carried on a suitable framework of channels and girders, The rams are operated by an .oil pump driven by: an electric motor, the system including suitable piping, control valve, tank, etc.
When the armoured vehicle has been run on to the platform and secured in position, the hinge locking pins at one end' are released. The rams then impart pressire to the transverse centre member of the platform, with the result that the free end is lifted, the weight then being shared between the rams and the hinges at the other end. So soon as the welding at the raised end is completed, the platform is lowered and tilted the opposite way, in order that work at the other end of the vehicle can be earned out.
The first of these tilting devices was made before the war, and early models proved so successful that in many cases the apparatus has been in practically continuous operation night and day for long periods. Many more have since been installed at important factories and depots. Essential components are, in the main, standard B. and E. products, and this has much facilitated construction and servicing.