Not-so-tricky fast shampoo for p.s.v.
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in action
by Ashley Taylor A NEW fully automated threeminute coach and bus washer, installed at the Wallace Arnold garage in Gelderd Road, Leeds, was demonstrated to me last week by Dawson Bros. Ltd. The Dawson Fivestar is the outcome of extensive experience with a prototype washer of similar design which went into service with Wallace Arnold over a year ago.
In addition to terminal accommodation for passengers the coach company's five-acre establishment in Gelderd Road garages some 120 vehicles, so there was plenty of work for the original unit.
Practical experience showed that the prototype required drivers to take coaches through at a speed very close to the scheduled 2 mph and in practice this was found too rigid to allow for slight variation in driver performance.
Fully automatic
The prototype was replaced with the fully developed Fivestar design which provides fully automatic cleaning of all the visible coach services—the only person essential to the process being the driver. Now that flexibility of speed is possible within reasonable limits, moving faster through the system results only in a marginal loss of efficiency.
The unit is available for singleor double-deckers, or can be obtained in a universal design for both types. Correct location of the vehicle when passing through the washer is ensured by guide tracks set in the foundations.
The new machines have five brushes, four for covering the sides and ends and one for the roof. The vehicle as it enters presses a pneumatic hose with the offside front wheel and sets the mechanism in action.
First contact is made with the roof brush and while top cleaning is taking place the coach passes to the first pair of brushes for cleaning the sides; these eventually wrap round the back to wash the rear.
A second pair of brushes swings across the front, then following the line of the coach and cleaning the sides for a second time. The side and front brushes are carried on pneumatically operated hinged arms so that they follow the contours closely, and each has a separate driving motor. Jets mounted adjacent to each brush wash the vehicle and spray the brushes with detergent while the operation is in progress.