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CONTINENTAL GUIDE LINES ON GOODS BODYWORK
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continued p.s.v. bodies and integral structures for such bodies, the methods of construction employed have been more recently applied by Alusuisse to bodies and integral structures of goods vehicles on a big scale with somewhat less refinement.
Although the weight-saving advantages of using aluminium quoted by Hess are less than the savings given by Alusuisse the information provided is in general confirmatory of the other's claims. In the case of an 11-metre integral coach, the claimed weight advantage is 14 per cent, while the gain is reduced to about 7 per cent by employing aluminium in the construction of a 12-metre bus body mounted on a conventional chassis. About 19 buses out of 20 built by the Hess company are of aluminium construction and it is confirmed by the company that the cost is comparable to that of a steel body. Sixty to. seventy buses built of aluminium to the company's design have each operated more than a million kilometres without maintenance or expenditure of any kind on the bodywork. Aluminium bodies have been made by the company for 1 5 years and Argon-arc welding has been employed for about eight years. This company "plays safein the specification of
its aluminium structures because of the priority given to long life. Hess technicians say that the use of strain gauges is a scientific necessity that pays off in the long run because it obviates localized stressing.
The cost of aluminium material in the case of a typical coach body is around 5,000 francs (about £500) whereas the cost of steel for a similar structure is about 3,000 francs (C300). No figures are available of the relative material costs of aluminium and steel goods bodies; it can be assumed that the difference is, typically, somewhat higher on a proportional basis. And more scientific production methods applied to bodies and integral structures of high-tensile steel (perhaps aided by computer analysis) might well enable cost and weight to be reduced and corrosion resistance to be improved.
Emil Frey AG, BMC distributors, produce plastics insulated bodies of the sandwich type, built of sections, and they forecast that in due course thin-wall sandwich construction will be applied to the bodies of conventional vans at a cost that will compare with that of an aluminium structure—and that it will provide a weight saving of 30 per cent. UK makers of insulated aluminium bodies designed by Alusuisse Silverdale Motor Bodies Ltd., of Hall Green, Birmingham 28, employ aluminium structural components supplied by the Star Aluminium Co. of Bridgnorth, a subsidiary of Alusuisse. In the Silverdale view, aluminium will for many years be employed for insulated structures when these are built singly or in small'numbers to meet the requirements of individual operators. One-piece plastics construction is the only form of plastics applica
tion that is considered practical for typical goods bodies and it is pointed out that a reasonable first cost is dependent on using the mould for a fairly large number of structures.
Although I was primarily interested in examining Continental work at Geneva. the latest type of demountable body produced by W. E. and F. Dobson Ltd., of Nottingham, shown on the Frey stand proved of releVarrt interest: it was stated by a spokesman that demountable bodies are finding increasing favour in Europe generally. The Dobson system enables the body to be lowered to ground level, which has obvious advantages in many applications. Hydraulically operated legs are built into the body at each of the corners and retracted into recesses.
A Swiss operator whom I met on the Ackermann Fahrzeugbau AG stand made the point that the amount of traffic for which demountable bodies are particularly suitable was relatively small in Switzerland compared with larger European countries. However, he thought that the number of systems on display indicated a growing awareness on the part of smaller operators of the increasing potential of containers, which could be demounted without external aid, in terms of higher vehicle utilization and customer convenience. in the main the more widespread use of such systems depended, he felt, on the availability of a type that did not materially reduce the payload carried and that could therefore be economically employed for non-shuttle-service traffic.
The system shown by the Ackermann concern (which originated in Germany) is of the type offered by the Peterborough Engineering Co. that employs hydraulic jacks to raise the rear of the vehicle chassis to permit swingdown legs to be moved into position. Rep,resenting an entirely different approach to 'Container handling, a hydraulically elevated platform has recently been added to the COMpany's range of equipment which enables containers to be loaded on to standard platform vehicles. I was interested to learn that Ackermann have developed a four-leg system actuated hydraulically or electrically which is an integral part of the container and can, if required, be operated independently of the vehicle chassis by the power pack of a mechanical refrigerating plant.
Let-down leg systems were also displayed by Nervocar SA and Carrosserie Krapf Freres (Eylert-Krapf) and while obviously they indicated a trend of international scope, the variety of the systems shown possibly suggests that the ideal has yet to be produced or to be proven in a multifarious service. A novel feature of the Eylert system is the use of a compact hydraulic ram mechanism at each suspension unit which incorporates leveroperated rollers, that bear on an inverted secondary spring and elevate the chassis. Elevation of chassis by short-travel rams as is done in the case of the Ackermann system) appears to have weight advantages over the use of an hydraulically operated containercarrying sub-frame. sub-frame. The Ackermann /Peterborough Engineering system has chassiselevating rams at the rear only, the body being demounted with the aid of runners attached to the chassis frame.
How important is the ability of a system to unload the container to ground level? For many types of traffic it is obviously unimportant but a system that gives this facility or can be readily adapted to do so has more universal appeal. As mentioned, the latest Dobson system has this merit and it is significant that Ernst Wirz AG exhibited an hydraulically-operated lever-arm containerhandling machine (of the type normally employed for refuse disposal) that unloads to ground level and that it was shown handling a rail-type container. This machine is equipped with an auxiliary lever gear and rams that can be employed to tip the container or to adjust its level or tilt to any angle. It is known that manufacturers are considering developing this type of machine for road/rail applications.
Kaiser Fahrzeugwerk exhibited a tippingplatform "winch-off-to-ground-level" type of vehicle that is also well known in this country. Eminently suitable for transporting a machinery-carrier open body (as shown at Geneva) the system is of a type that has been employed for handling ISO containers. While it is more suitable for heavy loads-than the lever-arm machine it lacks the latter's versatility, as exemplified by the Wirz system.
While a number of large cargo containers (up to 40ft) was exhibited at Geneva, the so-called container revolution is generally regarded in Switzerland as a development that is being foisted on Europe by American bigbusiness, rather than as a development inspired by genuine economic considerations. Easily demountable bulk containers, designed to cater for the special needs of suppliers and customers, were much in evidence at Geneva. The more extensive use of such containers on the one hand and of specialized unit-load vehicles on the other, would appear to represent a more economic trend that will gain ground. It may well defeat the container revolution.
The amount of seaborne container traffic in proportion to the total traffic may well be an all-important factor in traffic trends and the amount of traffic that is carried by rail. A technical representative of the newly formed Air-Frigo company the concern's equipment was shown on the Ramseier and Jenzer AG stand) stated that road had won a lot of "refrigerated" perishable-food traffic from rail in recent years. He pointed out, however, that increasing seaborne exports of perishables in refrigerated containers could favour rail to some extent.
Air-Frigo displayed a liquid-sir refrigerating system which was installed in a trailer-based van insulated with a glued sandwich of cellular plastics material lined on the inside with a layer of plywood and plastics and on the outside with aluminium sheet. The sandwich is fully stressed and the plastics core has a K factor of 0.24.
In contrast to the gas produced by a liquidnitrogen system, the gas from a liquid-air plant sustains life and the driver can therefore safely step into the interior as soon as the vehicle stops at a depot. As well as eliminating a hazard, the system offers a very. valuable time-saving economy. In the case of liquid-nitrogen-refrigerated vehicles it is necessary for the driver to wait for two or three minutes before entering the interior; if for example, the vehicle makes 50 stops on a delivery run, this may represent a total loss of
2ihr. Currently, the cost-per-litre of liquid air is about 32 cents incl): in due course it should be available for around 25 cents (fidI which compares very favourably with the cost of liquid nitrogen.
With a two-tank installation, refrigerating capacity is normally sufficient for an outand-return run of 500 to 600 miles. Pending the provision of fixed storage tanks for replenishment, tank storage trailers are available for replenishment from a number of Swiss AirFrigo centres, including Basle, Geneva, Zurich and Berne.
According to a technician of Air-Frigo, the availability of liquid-air refrigerating plants heralds an important breakthrough in refrigerated-vehicle traffic. The necessity to replenish the tanks of a long-distance vehicle when it is away from its base is a disadvantage that will progressively be eliminated with the international growth of this traffic. Additional tanks can be carried in the vehicle as required, with a relatively small loss of payload space. Evidence of the expansion of refrigerated vehicle traffic in Europe was shown by the large number of these vehicles at Geneva.
Because standard types of vehicle can readily be adapted for pallet loading by forklift truck the growth of palletization internationally cannot readily be judged by the vehicle exhibits at a Continental show. While there were few vehicles at Geneva of direct pallet-loading interest, comments by body makers created the impression that vehicles offering easy loading of pallets or other types of unit load without a fork-lift truck were gaining in popularity.
An insulated two-deck van displayed by Eylert-Krapf is of special pallet interest in that the pallet-transfer system provides for elevation of the upper deck by hydraulic means as well as winching of wheeled pallets into the interior on floor rails. There have been many examples of vans being fitted with rails to facilitate the internal movement of pallets loaded on the rear of the deck by fork truck, but in many cases a more sophisticated system such as the Eylert can be exploited to better advantage economically by using it in conjunction with hand trolleys or a depot rail system. Selective rather than bulk loading is normally a feature of vehicle traffic involving temperature control of palletized goods and this extends the time required for loading. A fork-lift truck is an expensive piece of machinery and cannot normally be used economically for selective loading.
Also of "selective loading" interest the Cargo Master roof-mounted travelling hoist was shown as a demonstration unit by Carrosserie Richard. It was reported that the unit had found particular favour in Belgium and there was evidence of keen interest by operators at the Show. The system is of American origin.
The carrier of the electrically operated hoist
of the Power Master is mounted on roof rails, and rail extensions attached to hinged
swing-out frames permit the carrier to be traversed to a position to the rear of the vehicle platform to pick up loads from floor level. Movement of the carrier is manually controlled; the hoist can also be moved transversely across the platform.