NOTTINGHAM'S MOTOR AMBULANCE DE LUXE.
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NOTTINGHAM has reason to be .gratified with the efficiency of its manifold services of public utility, and in relation to few .branrches of municipal enterprise has that consideration been mare strikingly exemplified than in its bearing upon motoring arrangements. Supplementing the general use of niechanicall,y propelled vehicles for the purpose of ordinary street work, the corporation embarked a long time ago upon a complete metamorphosis of its fire-brigade plant, with the result that motor pumps have entirely supplanted horse-drawn appliances, the resources of the city brigade having been also re• cently.further enhanced by the introduction of an aerial ladder, which was one of the first of its kind to be brought into the province's, and which, upon the score of the altitude rendered possible for effective fire-fighting purposes, is not eclipsed by any appliance in London.
A new and interesting development is the addition to the corporation's previous small fleet of motor ambulances of a new vehicle which represents the culmination of a long series of iryprovements in regard to conveyances designed for the comfortable and expeditious transport of sufferers. This has been constructed by two local firms at a cost of 2E125, according to the Watch Committee's own de
B28 signs,a matter as to which many valuable recommendations were forthcoming both from the Chief Constable (Lieut.Col. F. Brook) and Soperintendent Mumby of the Fire Brigade.
The work generally stamps tbe vehicle as being one of the most up-to-date of its kind in use in the country. Of royal blue colour, it has been built on handsome lines, the frame being of seasoned English ash, with mahogany panelling, the inside being covered with plywood. Lighting and ventilation have been provided for to the fullest extent, there being two windows on each side and one in the rear door, all of cathedral glass, made to drop in Beclawat .silent channellieg.
The stretcher fittings are of the Cartees patent spring type. These are arranged on each side of the body, and are so constructed as to slide to the centre of the ambulance, thereby greatly facilitating the work of loading and unloading.
Tip-np seats for sitting patients run the whole length of the body of the vehicle, with attendants' tip-up seats at the front and rear. Electric light is installed in the roof, and outside the driver's canopy is an electric light tr illuminate a red cross.
The chassis employed is a Clement-Talbot 25-50 h.p., being of the same type as those which have been supplied to vehicles used for the purpose of the work of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, a new departure in regard to the constructive work being that the tank has been removed from the rear of the chassis and placed under the driver's seat. There has also been a slight change adopted from the ordinary standard of chassis specifications by the use of Shrewsbury and Challiner detachable and contractible rims, which have been equipped with 895 mm. by 135 mm. Avon cord tyres.
The chassis has been supplied by Messrs. Bennett's, Ltd., Nottingham, and the body portion by the Nottingham Motor Body Co., unqualified satisfaction with the work being manifested by the Watch Committee upon the occasion of an official inspection, prior to the new ambulance being brought into use a fortnight ago, when the first journey it undertook was in conveying a patient from Skegness to Nottingham.