SIX-WHEEL MOTOR VEHICLES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3833, 30 August 1927, Page 71

SIX-WHEEL MOTOR VEHICLES.

RAPID COMMERCIAL SUCCESS.

BRITISH WAR OFFICE DISCOVERY.

According to the latest bulletin of the Department of Oversea Trade received by Mr L. B. Beale, British Trade Commissioner for New Zealand, the commercial development of the rigid six-wheeled otor vehicle has.probably been more rapid ‘■han that of any other type of vehicle in the ■whole history of motoring. Several wellknown British motor lorry manufacturers have now added a six-wheeler to their standard range of productions, and have already actually delivered considerable numbers of this type of vehicle. The six-wheeler, while allowing a better load distribution than the orthodox fourwheeled type of motor lorry, has, it is stated, an equal road performance under ordinary traffic conditions, and, in addition, has a cross-country perl rmance nearly equal to that of the creeper track machine. The six-wheeler can attain speeds up to 40 m.p.h. on ordinary roads, and is at the same time capable of negotiating unbroken ground quite impassable to ordinary motor traffic. When twin wheels are fitted to the two rear axles, auxiliary track chains can be used which virtually convert the six-wheeler into a half-track machine, thereby enabling soft and boggy ground to be negotiated without much difficulty. The six-wheeler has most of the advantages of he other types of vehicles without many of the disadvantages.

The rapid development of the sixwheeler has been due very largely, at least in the first instance, to the efforts of the British War Office. Mechanisation of the Army created a demand for a type of motor lorry which, while having a fiormal road performance, would undertake crosscountry journeys as and -when occasion arose. The six-wheeler has provided a satisfactory solution of the problem.

An essential feature of the War Office design is that, while each rear axle has its own differential, there is no differential between the two axles. Accordingly, if two of the four rear wheels are in contact with the ground, and the design allows this to take place on very uneven surfaces, progress can be made. Another important feature of the design is the “double reduction,” an auxiliary two-speed epicycle gear being fitted in addition to,

and in rear of, the ordinary four-speed gear-box, enabling a final reduction in the neighbourhood of 100 to 1 to be obtained. Slopes up to 1 in 11 can be overcome by lorries with two-ton loads having engines of only medium horse-power. Overseas agents of the manufacturers producing six-wheelers immediately realised the possibilities of this ‘■yp of vehicle, and placed orders freely fox demonstration models, while in some cases the manufacturers themselves sent out their own representatives with vehicles in order to prove their capabilities to possible users in undeveloped regions, and as a direct consequence the British sixwheeler, for it is essentially British in its development, is already gaining favour in many of the markets of the world. It is already being used in Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa. It is being tried out in Kenya, Persia, and South America, and is proving a solution of many of the traffic problems in such countries where road conditions are not of

the best. The manufacturers of one type of six-wheeler have already supplied 50 to the South African Railways for use beyond the rail heads, and state that over a hundred of these vehicles are now in use, and giving excellent sc’ 'co. The future of the rigid six-wheeled vehicle on good roads, adds the bulletin, lies in its application to passenger-carry-ing services. The “six-wheeler" affords easier riding conditions, and allows a greater number of passengers to be carried. The large safety coach of the future will undoubtedly be a six-wheeler, and at present it is interesting to observe that the London General Omnibus Company have added the “London Six” to their fleet of vehicles.