Motor Road Transport For Commercial Purposes
(Liquid Fuel, Steam, Electricity)

RAPID LOADING AND UNLOADING DEVICES 177 Detachable Bodies. Every business man will readily understand that, as a commercial motor vehicle represents a compara- tively large amount of Capital, the longer the time during which it is kept on the road with a paying load, the greater the profit. In order to arrive at any approach to the ideal it is consequently essential that the loading and unloading should be arranged in such a way as to ensure the minimum of time being expended on these operations. Wherever it is feasible, two or more bodies of differing type and carrying capacity should be obtained for the one chassis. These detachable bodies can be built in different models according to requirement. In this way a single chassis may be made to serve more than one requirement. Such bodies must be constructed so that they can be moved easily and without much labour being entailed. If they are designed small and light they can be arranged to slide on the chassis from the loading platform, or if of the heavy and bulky order they can be lifted and dropped into place by some simple form of crane, or by means of a winding drum worked off the gear box of the van. The advantage of having two or more bodies for each chassis—apart from the question of size varying according to the load—is obviously that the machine may be kept on the road as much as possible, the only time during which the Capital is bearing interest. Where spare bodies can be loaded or unloaded inde- pendently of the chassis and ready for its return, the best results are easily attained. For some classes of goods the most efficient method may prove to be that in which. an ordinary open sided platform body is fitted to the chassis, as on this can be slid or dropped two, four, or even six separate box 12—(1889)