SMALL BUSES for
Page 58
Page 59
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
SPECIAL WORK
Our Bodybuilding Expert Describes Various Types of 1 0-1 2-seater for Hotels and Private Hire. The Road
Traffic Act and the Toast
rack Omnibus
AUSEFUL size of bus for private-hire work is one which has more than seven seats, but fewer than 14. Its capacity is thus hetween that of the largest private car and that of the smallest type of public service vehicle ordinarily in use. This size of bus is also employed by hotel proprietors for carrying their guests.
For private-hire work the small
(Above) Some constructional de. tails of the bus body shown at the right. The window opening (A) is designed to receive either the half-drop window (B) or the panel (C). The ends of the roof ladder (D) hook on to the (E). The ladder may be removed and used at any other part of the roof. The door (F) is an emergency exit and in conjunction with the other section (0) facilitates the operation of loading. The interior view (H) shows one of the longitudinal seats folded against the off side of the body.
c3
bus should be of distinctive appearance, so that it is in demand for functions at which smartness is desirable.
An attractive design is modelled on the lines of an up-to-date town
carriage. The front is similar to that of a coupe-de-ville, in that the door s the full length of the driver's compartment and has a drop window‘
The roof consists of a canopy supported on hinged cant-rails. The canopy and its supports, when not required, are housed in a neat locker at the top of the partition behind the driver. The partition has a drop window.
The main portion of the body has two large adjustable windows on each side and the forward half of the roof consists of a sliding panel. On each side there is a lengthwise seat for five passengers and the entrance is at the back.
Lengthwise seats are made more comfortable by the provision of armrests, the intermediate ones being wide enough for two arms. The comfort provided by the seat also depends on the overall width of the bus. This should be as large as possible, consistent with the track, so that the passengers facing each other have a reasonable amount of legroom.
The height of the seat cushion is determined by that of the wheelarch and it may be advisable to raise the floor in order that the height between cushion and floor is not excessive.
A small bus with a wider range of use is built more after the style of a public service vehicle. It has a front entrance with a folding or hinged door. The main windows are of the half-drop pattern and there is an emergency exit at the back. '
The bus is intended chiefly for station work and for the transport of a large quantity of luggage. The greater part of the roof is surrounded by a luggage rail and at the back there is an iron ladder, which hooks on to a rail. The ladder is, therefore, easily detach able and available for mounting to the roof at any point.
A detachable ladder eliminates the need for walking on the roof and it offers the advantage that any package is readily accessible from either side of the motor vehicle.
This bus may also be used entirely for carrying luggage or supplies of any kind and thus perform the work of a delivery van. The half-drop windows are made up in a frame so that they are easily detachable as a complete unit. When no passengers are to be carried these windows are removed and the openings filled by means of panels.
At the rear there is a pair of doors. One is available as an emergency exit, whilst, in conjunction with the other door, loading at the rear. facilitated. The cushions and squabs are detachable and the seats fold against the side of the
The vehicle, often called a toast-rack, that is, a coach with transverse rows of seats, most of which have doorless entrances on one or both sides, does not appear to be suitable for use as a public service vehicle. The Road Traffic
Act Regulations stipulate that the height of the sides of the body must not be less than 2 ft. 4 ins, from the floor and, probably, a series of doorless entrances would be regarded as unsafe.
Moreover, there must be unobstructed access from some entrance to every seat and, in the case of a stage carriage having a permanent top, there must be unobstructed internal accessibility to every seat. On the other• hand, it is presumed that the toast-rack may be used as a contract carriage.
A vehicle of this type and of moderate seating capacity should be an attractive proposition for a seaside hotel in :this country and in many localities abroad. It should also be suitable for the members of a golf or other sporting club, or as a shooting brake_ or estate wagon. Furthermore, it could be used with advantage in the grounds of large exhibitions. In the last-named case It is not, of course, employed on public highways.
For any of the above purposes the toast-rack has a sloping windscreen and a roof canopy supported on stanchions. The roof is equipped for carrying luggage. Each row of seats, except one adjacent to the wheel-arch, extends for the full width of the body and is accessible from the near side, where there is a platform step.
At the wheel-arch position the body sides are panelled and one row of seats is divided in the centre in order to give access to it. On the off side the body is panelled to the waist. Additional protection may be afforded by means of waterproof curtains or spring-roller blinds running in guides on the stanchions.
The styles for bodies for large private cars can, of course, be used in connection with small buses. The cabriolet is an attractive type, from the point of view of appearance as well as from that of convenience. The head can be folded back and, when the standards are hinged over to lay on the waist rail, an uninterrupted view is afforded.