CHASSIS AND VEHICLES MEET SPECIAL NEEDS.
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Standard Chassis and Bodies Satisfy the Majority Being Necessary. Outstanding Examples of Vehicl but There are Many Instances of Special Types otor Appliances Built to Meet Such Requirements.
rIONSIDERING the vast quantities of goods of all descriptions which are transported by road on motor vehicles, the many requirements of passenger transport and the application of motor chassis and vehicles for municipal work, it is surprising how many of these strikingly dissimilar functions can be performed by what are practically standardtype, chassis and vehicles, but there are naturally certain classes of work in which special transport media are required, or for which existing types may be modified, better to serve the differing purposes. Take, for instance, the touring coach ; modern requirements necessitate a vehicle giving a fairly high speed and a satisfactory factor of safety, which can only be achieved by keeping the centre of gravity low, so that there is little side-swinging when cornering. It is also advantageous to have the platform low in order to facilitate the entry and egress of passengers. Consequently, modern progress is being directed towards the evolution of chassis permitting a low loading line.
The low load line is also of considerable importance in other classes of work, such, as refuse collecting and for special bodies, such as cattle drags, horse boxes, furniture removal vans, and those designed for the carrying of safes and pianos. Again, in the region of heavy transport, such articles as cable drums, electric converters and other single pieces of great weight often necessitate the use of special vehicles which can carry them without requiring excessive expenditure of energy in lifting them to a height, and here the well type of vehicle has proved of great service.
Occasionally there are difficulties due to lack of headroom, and here the vehicle which can carry its load as low as possible has a decided advantage.
Where vehicles have to nianceuvre or pick up and deposit their loads in confined areas, the essential feature is a small turning circle. Wheel-lock is usually limited, and, in any case, cannot be carried to excess, otherwise the stresses imposed are excessive. The difficulty is usually overcome by putting into service chassis having very short wheelbases.
Certain materials also necessitate the provision of unusual bodies or chassis ; some have been made for the transport of acids in bulk ; others take the form of hoppers for carrying huge quantities of grain, and so arranged that the grain can be unloaded through traps controlled by sliding shutters. Timber is another material the transport of which has involved much thought. One recent development in this country is the conveyance of milk in glass-lined tank wagons.
There have been special vehicles built for the conveyance of bullion in armoured bodies, others for hounds, and even a 10-ton tractor-lorry divided into two or three floors for the conveyance of pigs by the hundred.
Quite a number of tipping bodies have diverged considerably from what may be termed the conventional. Some have been designed to enable the loads to be deposited in sections, and only last week we described a new type which can be used as a twocompartment tipper or as a one-compartment nontipper.
Vehicles with special equipment, such as the Sentinel, Guy and F.W.D. with Roadless-Traction driv
ing units, the Renault Six wheeler and the CitroenKegresse, have been designed particularly for work where roads are poor or non-existent, but these are perhaps a little beyond the scope of this article, and we must thereiore not do more than give them brief mention.
The requirements of tramway services have called for the development of tower wagons, and there is a certain amount of scope in the direction of mobile cranes, of which an interesting example is the Tilling-Stevens petrol-electric, which has the advantage that the motor operating the crane derives its current from the generator of the petrol-electric set.
Certain vehicles have been designed to serve more than one purpose. A few years ago there was quite a big development in connection with coaches which could be converted into goods-carrying vehicles and vice versa, but not many of these are now employed. Some few months ago we illustrated a vehicle known as the Chara-tipper. This was a W. and G. built for the dual purpose of conveying miners to and from their work, and as a tipping lorry for coal and other materials when not used in the former capacity.
Having dealt in a general manner with certain phases of the subject, we will now particularize in the case of certain 'vehicles which have proved their value. Dealing first with vehicles of the low-loadline type, a particularly interesting example, in this case a Karrier dust collecting wagon, was shown for the first time at the Commercial Vehicle Exhibition at Olympia in 1923. 'The frame was dropped behind the cab and also carried under the rear axle, being suitably strengthened by wide gussets. The main components were similar to those employed in the ordinary chassis, but the engine and transmission were tilted, and the rear axle turned upside down so that the pot of the casing was at the top and the worm underneath.
One very successful type of low-load-line vehicle is the S.D. Freighter ; this is being used for a variety of purposes, including seaside promenade work, refuse collecting, timber carrying and for the conveyance of milk churns, and one of its features is the simplicity of its control ; it has underslung rear springs and small rubber-tyred wheels. The makers of the Latil have developed two very interesting types. One of these, which is much used for horse boxes, pantechnicens and large boxvans, has the power unit and the drive concentrated at the front end, the frame is dropped behind the cab, and oyerslung springs are utilized in conjunction with a 'dropped rear axle. The second type also makes use of a dropped frame and a drOpped rear axle, but the drive is through a differential gear carried on cross-members, and thence by short cardan shafts to rack-and-pinion gears in the wheels. This is built for 30-cwt. loads, and has proved of service • for coaches, omnibuses, etc. ; the model previously described carries 3 tons.
The demand for low-built seaside runabouts caused the evolution of two special vehicles, one a Guy and the other a Vulcan. Both these are fitted with unusually small wheels and bodies of the toast-rack type. They are designed to run at moderate speeds, not exceeding 12 m.p.h. As a development of one of these vehicles, Guy Motors, Ltd., have produced several low-loading refuse-collecting vehicles in which the load line is only 2 ft. from the ground ; a feature of these vehicles is the long underslung rear springs. John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., have also produced a low-load-line dust-collecting wagon, this being of the forward-control type with a steel end-tipping body. It was supplied to the Borough of Coatbridge.
Certain makes of steam wagon lend themselves admirably to bodies of the well typo, and some of these have been produced by the Yorkshire Patent
Steam Wagon Co., that illustrated being for the City of Leeds, constructed for the conveyance of cable drums and equipped with a hand-operated winding gear for drawing the into the body, the height from the ground to the floor being only 15 ins. A similar vehicle has been fitted with a strong runner and . blocks and tackle by which electric transformers and other heavy articles can be supported and drawn into position.
Low loading is obtained in certain Dennis dustcollecting wagons by incorporating the wheel arches in the steel bodies ; a feature of certain of these is that the rear end of each body is wider than the front, thus facilitating the emptying of the load.
One of the most, compact of the short wheelbase vehicles which we have seen is that designed for Millers Machinery Co., Ltd. This machine was especially built for operating in riverside wharves and other places in which the space is most limited. It has a well-balanced tipping body with Woods Horizontal Hydraulic gear. In one instance a van was required for the transport of goods, some of which were too tall to enter. It was, therefore arranged so that the rear half of the roof could be pushed forward, permitting the articles to project: This vehicle was of Thornycroft make. Another Thornycroft had a long platform with the raised portion forming the wheel arches continued right across the platform.
Many interesting vehicles to meet special requirements have been built by Dennis Bros., Ltd., in the course of their long experience.In one the vehicle had to be garaged in a building affording low head clearance, and to achieve this the body hoop-sticks and the driver's canopy hinge down.
A Dennis 32-4-ton tarpaulin-covered lorry was supplied to a Westcliff dairy for the carriage of milkchurns. The tailboard of this vehicle is in two pieces double-hinged, so that, when lowered, one portion becomes a step. To increase the capacity a fixed upper deck extends from behind the driver's cab to half the length of the body. and this can be further extended by the addition of removable boards.
We have previously referred to a new development in the conveyance of milk in glass-lined tank wagons. Several of these vehicles were recently supplied by Leyland Motors, Ltd., and one of these we illustrate.
The transport of oil pipes, for use in Persian oil fields, created a demand for a special type of vehicle. This was supplied by the Albion Motor Car. Co., Ltd., one of their 32 h.p. models being made -with a specially short wheelbase of 11 ft. 1 in. and an abnormally stiff main frame. By fitting crossbearers of rolled-channel steel underneath the body floor, lengths of pipe up to 14 ins, diameter and 22 ft. long, weighing 14 cwt., can be carried outside the body. These pipes in some cases project 2 ft. or so to the rear, and forward to just beyond the radiator. Several of these vehicles are in use, some fitted with solid tyres on all wheels, some with pneumatics all round, ethers with pneumatics at the front and solids at the rear. They were supplied to the AngloPersian Oil Co., Ltd., and are made capable of dealing with the most severe conditions possible.
Amongst the interesting special vehicles made by the Lacre Motor Car Co., Ltd., one possessing most unusual features, so far as bodywork is concerned, is the exhibition vehicle supplied to the order of the Canadian Government, and equipped as a mobile showroom of Canadian produce. Another carries what may be termed a kenne body, for the conveyance of hounds to the meet,. Bullion vans, with accommodation at front and rear for guards, have been supplied for Africa. Sentinel steam wagons are being used for a variety of unusual purpooes. One type, a tractortrailer, carries aspee_al tank for holding 2,000 gallons of sulphuric acid ; this is in use at a gasworks.
Tank wagons with a wheelbase of Es ft. 6 ins, and an overall -length of 14 ft. 6 ins, have been supplied to the British Petroleum Co., Ltd., by Halley's Industrial Motors, Ltd., for working in narrow streets and courts, where they have proved most serviceable. Similar machines have been supplied for municipal cleansing purposes ; they are, of course, of the forward-control type. One of the n.ost unusual Halley products was a lorry built for work in high altitudes where the rarification of the air considerably reduces the power output of a petrol engine. For this purpose the chassis was equipped with a 60 h.p. fire-engine power unit.
Reverting to the subject of low-loading in passenger vehicles we must not omit to mention the special construction now utilized in many Lancia coaches. The body bearers on these are carried level with the frame side members, instead of above them, so that the floorboards.are practically level with the top of the frame.