SERVICE ACCESSORIES.
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The Growing Use of Steel Wheels for Commercial Service. Acetylene Lighting for industrial Vehicles.
Steel Wheels.
We have, in another place, dealt with the detachable twin steel wheel for which the Michelin Co. are responsible.
The Stelfast steel wheel is a comparative newcomer, and is built on new principles, which are claimed to ensure greater strength with reduced weight. The spokes and hubs are built up from two pressings electrically welded. The attachment of the spokes to the electrically welded rim (which carries the Stelfast detachable rim) is carried out by using steel section plate conforming to the curve of the rim and re-inforcing it on the inner side by steel inserted gusset plates. These are also electrically welded, and ensure great lateral strength as between rim and spoke, and add enormously to the strength of the wheel, while not necessitating any great increase in the weight..
Every spoke is under a permanent compression of 20 tons so that the jarring of the road does not interfere with its rigidity. Since they decrease the unsprung weight, they add to the carrying efficiency. of the vehicle and the wear of the transmission mechanism, relieving the rear axle, particularly, of considerable strain. This wheel is made by Steel Wheels, Ltd., of P. and 0. House, Cockspur Street, S.W. 1.
A New Method.
An entirely new method of steel wheel construction is that of the artillery pattern steel wheels produced by Smith, Parfrey and Co., Ltd.., of the Pimlico Wheel Works, Hamme rsmith, W. 6
In this wheel, the P.W.W., the spokes are butted at the ends and electrically welded to the rim felloe of steel, to which the tyre and its rim are attached. . The spokes are of flat section, and at the hub ends are turned over and worked to a V shape, their ends being turned back and welded to the body of the spoke. This makes a. particularly strong and light hub integral with the wheel.
The spokes are splayed, thus giving lateral strength to the wheel without increasing its weight. The heads of the spokes are shouldered and welded solidly to the rim. They are less rigid than castings, the 028 The Stelfast wheel. The spokes and hub are bu It up from two pressings electrically welded.
alternate splaying of the spokes giving a certain amount of elasticity to the construction and protecting it from shocks and vibration. They are considerably lighter and stronger than cast steel wheels, and add to the life and wearing properties of the tyre.
Commercial Vehicle Acetylene Lighting.
Two systems of acetylene lighting are adaptable for commercial vehicles. One is by the use of acetylene gas generators using prepared carbide, and the other is by the use of dissolved acetylene in cylinders under pressure, the cylinders being replaceable and exchangeable at distribution centres.
Acetylene lamps and generators either separately or in one combined unit are made by a number of manufacturers.
Messrs. Lucas, of Birmingham, are well to the fore in this respect, and their " Lorilite " self-contained lamp for commercial use is a neat and very compact and well-made device. It has a Mangin lens mirror and a detachable etrbide and gas generating chamber easily detached, as shown in the sketch.
The front is 81 ins, diameter, with a 7i in. glass, and is of strong construction.
The firm also make the " King's Own" projector set for delivery vans and light lorries, consisting of two projectors and a. generator with three-way outlet, and the necessary rubber tubing. These have Mangin lens mirror reflectors and are simple, clean, and pleasing in appearance.
The Allen-Liversidge Method.
The two methods of Allen-Liversidge, Ltd., comprise the use of dissolved acetylene in specially made seamless s t e el cylinders with a permanently fixed pressure gauge protected, yet easily read, in the hollow base of the cylinder, and the direct generator method, where the gas is generated from t h e, calcium carbide in a generating chamber.
The cylinder system is simple, clean, and cheap. T h e cylinders provide 40 cubic feet of gas, so that two lamps burning cubic ft. per hour can be lighted for 40 hours at a cost of las. The empty cylinder may be exchanged for a full one, at this price, at any of the numerous A.L. stookists throughout Great Britain.
The arrangement of the self-generating device for commercial vehicles consists of a double cone cham
ber for the carbide the water penetrating or oozing upwards between the cone surfaces of the chamber reaches the carbide and generates gas. Over generation of gas prevents the water coming in, and so
The Lucas self-contained acetylene lamp, specially for hard usage of commercial service.
stops further generation till the pressure is reduced.
In another form a cone valve is used 'which may be set to the required amount of water supply. The over-generation of gas steps the flow of water through the cone valve till the pressure is reduced to normal. The firm make a fine range of all east aluminium lamps, side, head, and tail far commercial vehicle use, and also bus interior lights and illuminators for destination boards, etc. A very useful adjunct for commercial vans, especially for stores, drapery, and other retail trades., is the range of illuminated signs for the top, rear, front, and sides of vans and other, vehicles, which may be lettered to requirements and form valuable night advertising devices. In this way a delivery van may be made a very valuable means of a,dvertising'the business in a manner most likely to catch the eye, and it must be remembered that a moving advertisement is far more live than a fixed one.