ONLY FIVE WEE :S TO THE SHOW
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pROGRAMAIES for 1936 are already being announced, and speculation is rife on -what plans and surprises manufacturers have in store. The 1935 Commercial Motor Show has been spoken of as likely to represent a stabilization of the advanced ideas that appeared two years ago, and, doubtless, this forecast will, to some extent, be proved true. Nevertheless, there will be a considerable number of entirely new developments.
The minimizing of dead weight is the most obvious general tendency. It is naturally most noticeable in the vehicle weighing under 2i tons unladen, because of both the popularity of the type and the 30-m.p.h. limit. Reduction of weight in other sizes of chassis, however, shows that makers are awake to the economics of the matter generally.
Restrictive Regulations will not Stifle Economic Progress.
Even if gross weight should replace unladen weight as a basis for legislation and taxation, progress in this direction will continue.
In the case of the 2i-ton (unladen) class, we surmise that, for chassis built on conventional Tines, the "ullimate has nearly been reached with a 5-ton pay-load, • but we are of the opinion that at least 30 per cent. more could be carried if unorthodox design were employed. Shall we see this view substantiated on November 7?
An important limiting factor to increasing the payload to unladen-weight ratio is the weight of the largercapacity tyres needed to carry the additional load, so we may see the results of the tyre-makers' eff.orts to diminish this difficulty.
Last Friday, we announced a new
make of mechanical horse. Thus, there are now three British makers of this type of vehicle. Its popularity and success suggest logically the possibility of others entering this field. We should not be surprised to see the number quite substantially increased. -Furthermore, past experience will have revealed defects —inseparable from almost any new design—attempts to eliminate which will probably be incorporated in these hypothetical newcomers.
We hardly expect to see an oil engined mechanical horse, but the marked increase in popularity of the battery-electric during the past two years points to the adaptation of this motive power to a form of vehicle primarily designed for short journeys.
Two years ago, we heard the Commercial Vehicle Exhibition called the "oil-engine Show." Such a big proportion of the vehicle exhibitors then displayed oilers that it is a physical impossibility for many more to do so this year. For signs of progress in this respect, therefore, deeper exploration*. will be needed.
The Oil Engine Has Steadily Strengthened its Position.
Among proprietary makes there will be more models. A large/ number of vehicle manufacturers will, we expect, exhibit Units of their own make, which will not be experimental, but production models. We do not anticipate _ any entirely new make of oil engine being shown, but there may perhaps be a revival. The already well-known power units we shall see in B32 v:r.materially improved form. Rigid eight-wheeled 22-tonners have multiplied rapidly during the past two years. It would appear
reasonable to suppose that another might make its appearance in November, but the demand in this country is limited, and we doubt whether more machines of this type will appear, unless, perhaps, they be designed for special service abroad.
Much attention has been given
lately to thc question of suspension. Rubber appeared as a substitute for springs in 1933. Further developments in this direction are practically a certainty. Torsion-rod springing and independent suspension systems are bound to be on view. There is also reason to believe that four-wheel-drive is coming to the fore.
Rubber, as a Material for use in chassis building, gains ground steadily. For engine and radiator mountings it is widely employed, for shackle-pin bearings and the like it has proved itself highly efficient, and it forms the elastic medium of a popular universal joint. Shall we find it serving further valuable purposes?
Prospects of transmission progress were visible in the torque converter.
hydraulic couplings, five, six and eight-speed gearboxes of the previous Show, but little further advance, except in minor improvements, has materialized, and we do not contemplate much of a revolutionary nature in this respect.
Greater seating capacity on passenger chassis—par
ticularly four-wheeled single-deckers—is a lodestoue for designers. The novelty of side-mounted engines has worn off, but many other possibilities have been explored. There are bound to be, at the forthcoming Show, examples of fresh methods of, attaining this end, including engines of compact design which occupy less useful space in the chassis.
An immense incentive is being given to the trolleybus industry by the widespread tram-replacement schemes which continue to be undertaken. Among the examples of trolleybus to be seen at Olympia there will, in all probability, be a new make—the product of a well-known concern with long experience in building passenger chassis.
All-metal Construction in Passenger-vehicle Body-building.
In the bodywork sphere of the passenger-vehicle industry, all-metal construction has been receiving a great deal of attention. Much ingenuity has been expended in solving the various problems that have arisen, and we anticipate that the outcome• of recent research and of the experience gained during the past two years will warrant investigation. One of the difficulties has been keeping out the rain, therefore the latest means for rendering all-metal bodies watertight will assuredly prove interesting.
A trend, that may be represented, is towards doubledeckers having staircases at both ends communicating, one with an entry, the other with an exit. Doors controlled by pneumatic apparatus are gaining headway, and it seems likely that super-luxury coaches of the type now being used to maintain the popularity of this form of longdistance travel, against intense competition from the railways, will be shown, equipped with some 20 seats in bodies capable of accommodating 32. Comfort being the principal aim in these vehicles, speed is allowed to take a second place.
Although big single-deckers and trolleybuses with capacities approaching those of trains are in demand, we contemplate no great increase in the numbers of seats in the latest double-deck stage carriages with internal-combustion engines.
Turning again to tyres, every Show has revealed pneumatics of bigger dimensions. For vehicles intended for the negotiation of soft surfaces as well as for use on metalled roads, chains or chain-tracks have in the past been provided. The need for these appears to have dwindled and we expect to see at the Show machines with tyre equipment expressly designed for efficient service under all conditions.
• Countless Improvements in Brakes, Ignition Systems and Incidentals.
Brake systems, injection and ignition equipment, auxiliaries, accessories, and small chassis parts and components have not suffered from stagnation in design., Indeed, in many cases, more has been done in improving a chassis by looking to such items as these than by effecting drastic structural changes.
Although probing into detail will bring its rich reward, the exhibits of burning interest will be neither scarce nor obscure.