AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Chassisless Bus Met with Reserve

2nd January 1953, Page 34
2nd January 1953
Page 34
Page 34, 2nd January 1953 — Chassisless Bus Met with Reserve
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

IT was unfortunate that the chassisless passenger vehicle, which one would have thought to have been a normal advance in design, had been treated with so much reserve, said Mr. G. F. Sinclair, C.B.E., a member of the Road Haulage Executive, when he read a paper to the South Wales and Monmouthshire section of the Institute of Transport.

The title of his address was "Road Transport—Are We Increasing Efficiency?" Pioneering as it had been known had disappeared, he stated, and had been succeeded by work to secure the greatest practical value from scientific and technical development. The chassisless vehicle changed bodybuilding from an art into something approaching an exact science and pointed the way to metallurgical research to improve the materials • employed.

He made a plea for the "tangled mass of legislation governing road transport" to be codified and indexed for easy reference, tie suggested that the regulations relating to publicservice vehicles be presented in a form similar to the Highway Code. The law might also be amended in many respects to give a fresh impetus to vehicle design and efficient operation.

The 20 m.p.h. speed limit upon heavy vehicles was an anachronism and raising it could not be much longer delayed. The present limit upon the length of two-axled vehicles seemed an unnecessary restriction, except on routes where the strength of bridges controlled axle weights.

Standardization, in an effort to increase operational efficiency, should not be developed to such an extent that the value of competitive purchasing was lost, said Mr, Sinclair. The most difficult application of standardization was to general stores—brushes, files, Lamps, pails and other odd items. In this respect, custom and ploactice had led to the use of literally hundreds of varieties of the same article.

The increased cost of fuel was among the factors which influenced the selection of vehicles. Whereas an oilengined vehicle used not to be justified in preference to a petrol model if the yearly. mileage were less than 25,000, this figure could now be taken as 12,000. Mr. Sinclair believed that an oil engine with two or three cylinders and developing up to 50 b.h.p. would be in great demand for light goods vehicles.

Tags

Organisations: Institute of Transport
People: G. F. Sinclair

comments powered by Disqus