GB731074A - Improvements in or relating to vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

731,074. Vehicle bodies. ROTHWELL, S. R. Oct. 22, 1953 [July 23, 1952], No. 18690/52. Class 108 (1). [Also in Group XIV] A road vehicle having a combined body and chassis comprises a corrugated floor pan or pans 3, Fig. 3, which provide at least two laterally extending depressions 7 and 8 separated by a rise 9 accommodating wheel suspensions. The edges 12 of the floor pans 3 may be notched and welded to longitudinal members or sides 1 or the edges 13 of the sides, Fig. 5, may be bent under and welded to the floor. In a modification separate notched strips, or aluminium angles are used to connect the floor and sides. In the preferred embodiment the vehicle has a backbone 2, Fig. 5, with diverging side walls 4 rigidly connected by plates such as 6 which may extend partly or wholly along the bottom of the backbone, or separate cross members of other form may be provided, the pans 3 being fixed between the sides 1 and the walls 4. At the rear of the vehicle the backbone may be forked to provide arms 15. The side panels lean or curve inwardly towards the vehicle ends, and all the main body panels curve in one dimension only to form parts of the surfaces of cylinders or cones. The sides are provided with angle-section members 52 cross connected by members 53, 54 which form the windscreen frame, Fig. 7, and the roof and rear window panels are screwed to wood fillets in the angles 52, Fig. 5. The lower edges of the sides 1 can be strengthened by longitudinals whether or not the edges of the panels are turned inwardly. Such longitudinals can extend as far as the rear of the vehicle, or they can be turned inwardly and attached by their ends to the arms 15. A bracket 66, Fig. 2 (not shown), stiffens the body, and the doors each comprising an outer panel screwed to a frame, are closed against rubber strips. In another embodiment the vehicle may be constructed without a backbone, in which case a single floor member is used which extends the full width of the vehicle. In other modifications the floor is provided with more than one corrugation, minor corrugations being used for example to support a platform in a van.