A NEW DENNIS CHAR-A-BANCS CHASSIS.
Page 19
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Post-war Model to Carry 30 Passengers.
IT IS NATURALLY to be anticipated that a large number of owners of chars-a-bancs who had their chassis commandeered in the earlier part of the war, or who have subsequently been compelled to sell them owing to the difficulty of running them on account of petrol restrictions, in many cases having been left with a body on their hands, will be on the look-out, when conditions become more normal, for a suitable chassis to which these passenger-carrying bodies can be fitted.
Dennis Bros., Ltd., Guildford, who have paid a considerable amount of-attention to chars-a-bancs in the past, have recently completed a new type of chassis for this class of service which we are able to illustrate. The considerable experience that the company have obtained with -the subsidy-type chassis which has proved so successful in military service has enabled them to incorporate several details of this design in a chassis that will be eminently suitable for char-a-bancs and passenger-carrying purposes, it does not necessarily stand to reason that because a chassis is a serviceable one for ordinary commercial purposes that it will answer just as well for chara-batics use. The question of the frame for live weight, the general suspension of the vehicle, not to mention the general lines that will make the whole v_ehicle pleasing to the eye as well as useful, have to be considered.
No alteration has been made to the Dennis subsidy
engine, which has a bore of 150 mm. and a stroke of 150 mm., but a new bonnet and radiator have been designed which will blend well with the scuttle dashboards that have been so popular with the more upto-date char-a-bancs torpedo bodies. The total overall length of the chassis is 21 ft 10 ins., giving a platform space behind the dashboard of 17 ft. 6 ins. The wheelbase is 14 ft. 2 ins., with 1050 mm. by 120 mm. twin rear tyres. Mention has been made above of the suspension, and in the case of the new chassis special springs, 4 ft. 10i ins, in length, are fitted to the rear. A new type of joint has been evolved between the engine and gearbox which, besides being perfectly silent, should successfully take care of any _small degree of alignment that takes place while the vehicle is travelling, but when it is considered that in Dennis construction the engine and gearbox are built on to a sub-frame of the main chassis, this point. should not be a very material one. There is a double universal-jointed shaft between the clutch and the front end of the ball-ended torque tube, which also incorporates a new universal joint which is properly known as the "star and ring" type.
The gearbox proper has been redesigned to suit conditions of char-a-banes service, giving four speeds with a top speed direct drive. The ratio of the rear axle is 7.76 to 1. The illustration we reproduce of one of the rear wheels offers a very good idea of the large brakes that are fitted to the rear wheels, which
point has been particularly well worked out in the case of the new Dennis chassis. The diameter of the drums is 1 ft. 10 ins, and they are :3 ins. wide. In laying out the frame, dimensions the same coachbuilder's dimensions have been maintained as were in vogue before the war' so as to give a body space imitable for six rows of seats with five passengers on each.
The company are to be commended on the lucid mariner in which , they have published an attractive line of literature for the vehicle owner M which complete descriptions of the vehicles are given, detailed instructions as to their working, as well as lists of spare parts for handy reference. We think that we can share the optimism of the Dennis Co. that the demand for char-a-bancs chassis after the war will be a very considerable one. In view of the vogue of the char-banes before the war, we think that there is little doubt on this point.