h. R., F
Page 45
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Stand 31
SEVEN examples of the comprehensivesive E.R.F. range are displayed at Earls Court. All have Gardner engines. The smallest machine, a 4-tomer, is powered by the 4LK unit, a feature of which is its light-alloy cylinder block with inserted liners. It carries a steellined body equipped with B. and E. hydraulic power-operated three-way tipping gear.
The next model in order of capacity, has the larger Gardner four-cylindered engine, model 4LW. In this case, the machine has a brewers' body, 17 ft. 6 ins, long on a wheelbase of 13 ft. 8 ins. The pay-load capacities of the foregoing are 4 tons and 7i tons respectively.
Intended for use with a trailer, the third model on view is a 7i-tonner, capable of hauling altogether 13 tons of pay-load. The unit here has five cylinders and the body is for brewery use, and is equipped with stanchions and chains.
There are two six-wheelers, both with five-cylindered engines, and of 9 tons and 10 tons capacity respectively. The smaller of these is of the two-steering-axle type, a design that has acquired no mean popularity during the past year.
With this arrangement of road wheels, although the carrying capacity is slightly reduced by reason of the forward position of the intermediate axle, a big gain occurs through the elimination of tyre scrub. Vehicles of this type have fine road-holding characteristics. The steering is no heavier than that of single-steeringaxle types, and tyres, and certain other parts, are subjected to lighter stresses. These two six-wheelers have respectively a platform and a drop-sided lorry body.
• The exhibit is completed by two 8-wheelers, one a chassis and the other with a lorry body. In both cases sixcylindered engines are employed.
Before passing on, we might state that every one of these machines on view is a repeat order received from the operator for whom it has been built, In the case of the 10-tonner, the order is the twenty-third from Southern Roadways, Ltd. Considering now novelties in the range, these are numerous. Briefly, they include improved positions for the controls, radiators of greater efficiency and better appearance, sturdier spring brackets, the addition to all models of front bumpers, larger dynamos, neater and more easily legible oil and vacuum gauges, mudguards with rolled edges, improved wheel fixings, more efficient clutches, silencers of greater efficiency on both the exhaust and the intake, a new design of mounting for the 4LK-type engine, the use of sound-absorbing material for bonnet linings, and the incorporation on the six-wheeler braking system of a hill-holder, a device which relieves the driver of responsibility in respect of skilful handling when making a restart up a gradient.