READILY ADAPTABLE MUNICIPAL MOTORS.
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Brief Details of Certain Dennis Products Built for Service in a London Borough.
VEHICLPS and appliances which are readily adaptable for more than one class of work find considerable favour with local authorities, for the reason that some of them cannot find all-the-year-round use for a machine in a single guise and do not deem it expedient to purchase two or more machines each constructed for a different branch of municipal service.
Quite a number of the most important British motor manufacturers have been quick to recognize the importance of these factors and have seen fit to build dual-purpose or triple-purpose outfits. One of these concerns is Dennis Bros., Ltd., of Guildford, which con
tinues to give much attention to the production of readily adaptable machines for municipal use.
One such product is a dual-purpose appliance which can be 'used during dry weather for street sprinkling, when it delivers a light, regular spray, and after a period of rain, or at any time when grease or other matter needs washing from the street surface, powerful jets of water are available for the purpose, the appliance then being immediately available for emptying the gullies into which this refuse has been precipitated. Not a single part requires to be added or removed from the machine when the natufe of the work is changed, for the machine is adapted for its several uses by the manipulation of cocks and levers,
This type of machine has proved very popular with cleansing superintendents, and a large number has passed into service since the type was introduced slightly less than 2iyears ago. The company has recently received a repeat order from the Borough of Lambeth for one of these machines, having a capacity of 1,100 gallons, as well as for a 30-cwt. machine, which is of interest in that it also has seasonable roles to perform.
Throughout the year the 30-cwt. vehicle is available for the transport of
loads of a general nature, the body being of the ordinary type with a hinged tailboard and fixed sides. It is, however, lined with sheet meta], and hand tipping gear is incorporated .to facilitate the off-loading of loose road material, ete.,-at the rear. A gantry is erected behind the driver's cab, so that long poles, pipes, timber and other impedimenta required at the site of road . works can readily be carried.
A particular feature of the machine is that it is equipped with apparatus which enables it to be used for gritting. Thinning transversely below the chassis frame, well forward of the rear axle, is a shaft carrying at the off side a tyred pulley, which is brought into contact with one of the rear wheels by spring tension, a hand lever in the driver's cab being used to effect engagement. Near the centre of the shaft is another pulley surrounded by a -rubber disc, which is caused to rotate when the vehicle is in motion. Six raised, radial arms on this disc catch the grit as it falls and throw it outwards under the influence of centrifugal force.
At the near-side end of the transverse shaft a chain sprocket is fitted and the chain, which is of the detachable-link type, is held in tension by a spring-loaded jockey pulley. Through the medium of a short transverse shaft just below the body, the chain drives it device which regulates the supply of grit precipitated upon the disc. The grit is fed by man power, a man provided with a shovel being stationed in the body for that purpose. A sliding shutter is used to close the orifice to the hopper when the gritting gear is not being employed. The arrangement of the gritting apparatus can be clearly seen in one of the accompanying innstriltipas.