GB2237540A - Lateral enlargement of motor vehicle chassis-mounted finished driver's cab - Google Patents

Abstract

In a method of laterally enlarging a motor vehicle chassis-mounted finished driver's cab so as to fit a wider body (2), the door (4) of the driver's cab (1) to be reconstructed is opened to the side walls' plane of the body (2). In this new position the door supporting frame (6) is fitted to the door (4) by cutting the upper windscreen frame (5), then the two windscreen columns (3) are bent outward at an angle given by the new position of the door, while the cut ends of the windscreen frame (5) are bent downward. Next, the gap in the windscreen frame (5) is covered by welding in an insert piece (10). The gaps between the door supporting frame (6) and the adjacent body edge and wheel arch are covered by welding in extension plates (7, 8) the size of which is given by the new position of the door (4). <IMAGE>

Description

1 1.

2 2:3 -7 ---:) -el C) LATERAL ENLARGEMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLE CHASSIS-MOUNTED FINISHED DRIVER'S CAB The invention relates to a layout for the lateral enlargement of motor vehicle chassis-mounted finished driver's cab fitting to the lateral plane of wider body, especially for passenger transport.

It is well-known that nearly every motor vehicle factory manufactures and markets - besi.des cars, trucks and other commercial vehicles - great number of vehicles consisting of chassis and completely assembled driver's cabs, the loading platform of which is suitable for optional purpose, transport of goods or passengers and other commercial purpose.

Regarding the presen invention, the problems of mainly the 3-8 ton load carrying chassis assembled with finished driver's cab are dealt with.

All typess of chassis and driver's cab marketed by the factories in running condition are uniform in that respect that the driver's cab in all types is of final finish, i.e. all its dimensions are fixed. These driver's cabs are equipped with door, windscreen, as well as with finished paintwork but without roof plate.

If the motor vehicle with such chassis-mounted driver's is used for transport of goods, then ge- nerally there is no problem if in given case the body 1 2.

is width considerably differs from that of the driver's cab. The situation is different when a body suitable for passenger transport has to be built on the chassis, since the width of this body and width of the bus passenger compartment's interior is restricted by the adjoining width of the finished driver's cab. Thus the inside width of the body fixes the nurtiber of seats in the bus arranged at right angle to the longitudinal axis - including the aisle -, which is an important aspect for the operator.

If at the present time the bus is reconstructed from the traditional body mounted on universal chassis - provided that starting out of the width of the driver's cab - the width of the body is determined by following the principle of continuous alignment, then generally max. 2+1 seats can be arranged Der row - at right angle to the longitudinal axis - in the passenger compartment of the bus reckoning with the aisle as well.

However, the economic demands require to increase the number of seats. On the other hand, it would be desirable for the operators to install at least 2+2 seats per row-including the aisle in the interior of the bus built on universal chassis. A theoretically feasible solution for this purpose would be to widen C 1 3.

the body. However this demand according to the experiences in the practice has the following restrictions:

- The adjoining width of the universal chassismounted finished driver's cab should fit to the size of the enlarged body. Thus,, in place of the finished driver's cab a new one should be built. where the pro duction. mounting would involve unbearable surplus cost,, ---Inabove case. the unnecgssary driver's cabs can not be used for other purpose, - In the reconstruction of chassis)mounted with factory finished driver's cab to passenger transport vehicle, it would be significant advantage the availability of otherwise very expensive complete driverts cabs.

- Small series of chassis without complete driver's cabs can be theoretically ordered from the car manufacturerst however, according to the experiences in the practice, such orders count as special vehicle order involving considerable surcharge. On the other hand, chassis mounted with driverfs cab are available practically everywherei - It is extremely advantageous for the bus body building factories to use the driver's cab mass produced by the chassis and body manufacturers. since as 4.

a result of mass production, the price of the driver's cab is relatively cheap, although this price represents a significant proportion of the total prime cost of the chassis and driver's cab.

In our knowledge, experiments have been conducted for fitting the chassismounted finished driver's cab available in the trade to a wider body.

The essence of one of these solutions is that the colur..ins supporting two sides of the windscreen were sawn in the lower plane of the windscreen. the upper part with the windscreen was removed and replaced by a new windscreen, column and new parts, which,,iere wider than the original driver's cab. This wayr the driver's cab was widened as required.

Such method was used by the U7est German "Kovex" and Britt-ish "Reeve Burgess" motorcar factories.

Drawbacks of this solution are the following: the original factory doors could not be used for reconstruction. since it is uneconomical due to the relatively high prime cost; -The cost of this reconstruction is highi timeconsuming and requires precise workmanship; - Reconstruction for similar purpose different fron above reconstruction method was produced by other car factories too. in order to fit the width of driver i F S 1 1, 5.

cab to that of the body. According to this fitting work, the two different widths were brought together with a so-called transitional body element. Such transitional body element might have been for example the spoiler-type arched elenent.(This reconstruction was used in some bustypes by the IKARUS Body and Vehicle factory.)Drawback of this solution is the discontinuous side wall representing drawbacks in the modern busindustry from both aesthetc and streamline technical point of view, resulting in narrowing the -,.,.iarketing prospects.

The present invention is aimed at elimination of above problemst i.e. widening the driver's cab-mounted vehicle chassis, which dispenses with the use of transitional shapes between the driver's cab and body,,hnd_.at the same time it ensures joining of the driver's cab and body along the same plane, furthernore,thattherelatively expen!bivb-.doors--of thd driver's cab should be used again.

Essence of the invention idea is based on the re cognition thati since the width of the windscreens is reduced.upward and accordingly - align ment of the windscreen columns of the driver's cab is similar. Thus, when the middle of the upper part of the windscreen frame is cut in two halves and together 1 6.

with the column bent outward to the necessary ex tent. The gap in the upper part of the windscreen frame is covered by welding in a fitting extension. Further recognition is that the new final position of the dri verts cab door should match the width of the body. On the other hand# the door supporting frame is fitted to the newly set angular position by fitting the sup porting frame to the newly selected position of the doort and the gaps at the bottom and on too are co vered in the supporting frame by welding in an ex tension piece.

Tlith these measures. the size of the adjoining section of the factorymade driver's cab will match the adjoining section of the body.

The cutout above the windscreen is covered by a 30 - 60 mim long extension piece. Bending of the windscreen columns causing the mentioned 30 - 60 mn. gap does not involve either mechanical or aesthetic drawback or damage.

Thus, the layout according to the invention serves for the lateral enlargement of the finished driver's cab fitting to the lateral plane of the wider body. For this purpose. the plane of the side walls of the driver's cab is fitted to the plane of the body by continuous alignment. In essence. the door of the recon- 1 structed driver's cab is opened to the plane of the 1 Dod.y's side walls and in this new position the Obor supporting frame is fitted to the door by cutting up the upper part of the windscreen framet tIlien the two windscreen columns are bent out%-.7ard at an anqle fixed 13Y the new position of the door, while the ends of the cut up upper -c;ini,screen frame are bent c3os.7ns-jarel.

17ext,, the gap on the upper part of the windscreen frame is covere(i '-)v s.7el(.R.-ing in an extension piece. TE-he ga-ps at the bottom between the door supporting fra.-.,.es and wheel drum. are covered by s..,,--lding in extension -Dlates the size of which is given by the new position of the door, thus the required fitting is accomplishen'.

The prominent advantages of the layout according to the invention are the following:

- the notor vehicles consisting of driver's cal')s mount-ed on chassis manufactured for universal use and available as finished product. can be built up for bus with the process according to the invention by dimen sioning the body width independently from the width of the driver's cab, and the difference between the two sizes is eliminated by using further all elements of the driver's cab.

with the process according to the inventiont the adjoining width of the finished driver's cab 1 8.

mounted on'the'cha!sis can be fitted to the size of the wider!.-)ody. The invention - compared with sii,.iilar solutions used according to the state of technique - requires considerably lower expenditure for fitting the lateral width of the driver's cab and boe.y to each other.

The invention is described in detail with the aid of enclosed drawing showing embodliment of the solution by way of example. in.the rai.7ing: Fig. 1.: Schematic viei..7 of the con-mercially avail:-:,':)!e chassismounted finished driver's ca'b and its reconstructed layout according to tlile invention. Fig.2.: Too view of the solution according to Fig.!., where the commercially available cliassis-iounte,,' finished driver's cab is marked -.-.7itli reference number 1 and thin dash-dot line.

As shown in, the draw-ingi width B of the original driver's cab 1 dnd bpdy 2 mounted up to now is much less than widta B 1 of body 2 mounted on the chassis according to the layout of the invention (the width B B may be for example 30-40 cri).

In Fig.l. only those parts of the driverfs cab were marked which are related to the reconstruction# such as windscreen columns 3r doors 4. upper wind screen frame 5 and door frame 6 (which in this case i i 9.

include the door sealing, lock-counter pieces, etc., not shown in the drawing).

Width of the driver's cab 1 is increased to the width B 1 of the body 2 as follows:

The upper windscreen frame 5 is cut up for example in the middle, then the door supporting frames 6 of the driver's cab 1 are set in a new angular position (indicated with continuous thick line in the drawing). In this angular position the rear edge - looking in the direction of travel - of doors 4 fits to the plane (that is to the vertical edge)of the body 2. Now, to the new angular position of the doors 4 of driver's cab, the windscreen columns 3 are set by bending the windsreen columns 3 outward, and the two parts of the upper windscreen frame 5 a little downward as shown in the drawing. The supporting door frame 6 is fixed along the windscreen columns 3 of the driver's cab, and according to the new inclined position of the doors 4. The gaps at the bottom of the doors 4 of the driver's cab 1 (at the wheel drum and edge of the body) are covered by welding in additional extension plates 7 and 8.

The gap of the upper windscreen frames 5 occured at the vehicle's longitudinal centerline 9 is eliminated by welding in a preferably 3 - 8 cm long insert piece 10. As a result of above steps, the width B 1 of the X 10.

driver's cab 1 was altered to such extent that the profile line of the meeting of the driver's cab 1 and the body 2 must be continuous. Originally the driver's cab 1 is generally made without a cover. So a cover 11 of the driver's cab 1 and a cover 12 of the body 2 can be made as a single piece.

According to thelbyout of the invention, the bus-body will satisfythe modern requirements both aesthetically and rheologically between the universal chassis and finished driver's cab, as well as the wider busbody built on the chassis.

Fig.2. shows that this way 2 x 2 seats and an aisle 14 between them can be simply and economically formed, thus considerably increasing the vehicle's value.

Finally it is mentioned, that as a matter of course, after reconstruction, a wider windscreen 14 has to be used for the driver's cab. - In the annexed claims reference numbers have been used purely by way of example in order to facilitate comprehension, but it is hereby declared that absolutely no limitation of scope whatsoever is intended thereby.

-1 1 1 1 11.

Claims (7)

1. An arrangement for the lateral enlargement of motor vehicle chassismounted driver's cabs fitting to a wider body, especially to a body for passenger transport, wherein the doors (4) of the finished driver's cab (1) are opened-out and reset so that they can fit to the side walls of the wider body (2), a door supporting frame (6) of the door (4) is fitted to the reset doors (4); the existing upper windscreen frame (5) of the driver's cab (1) is cut and extended by an additional piece (10); both existing windscreen columns (3) are beat outwardly by an angular extent given by the new position of the doors (4), and extension plates (7, 8) are provided to cover the gaps between the door supporting frames (6) and the wheel arch and body edge, the size of said plates being defined by the reset position of the doors (4).

2. An arrangement according to claim 1 wherein a cover 11 of the driver Is cab (1) and a cover (12) of the body (2) are made as a single piece.

3. A method of laterally enlarging a motor vehicle chassis-mounted driver's cab so as to fit to a wider body, especially to a body for passenger transport, comprising opening out and repositioning the doors (4) of the finished driver's cab (1) so that they fit to the side walls of the wider body (2); fitting a door-supporting frame (6) to the repositioned doors (4); cutting through an upper windscreen frame (5) of the driver's cab (1); bending both windscreen column (3) outwardly at an angle defined by the repositioned doors (4); covering the ends of the cut-up windscreen frame 12.

(5) by an additional insert piece (10); and fitting appropriately sized extension plates (7, 8) to cover the gaps between the doorsupporting frames (6) and the associated wheel arch and body edge.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein a cover (11) of the driver' s cab (1) and a cover (12) of the body (2) are made as a single piece.

5. An arrangement according to claim 1 substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in drawings.

the accompanying

6. A method according to claim 3 substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

7. A passenger transport vehicle including a driver's cab according to the arrangement of claim 1, or whenever made according to the method of claim 3.

Published 1991 at The Patent Office- State House. 66/71 High Holbom. London WCIR47P. Further copies may be obtained from Sales Branch. Unit 6. Nine Mile Point Cwrnfelinrach. Cross Keys, Newport NPI 7HZ. Printed by Multiplex techniques ltd. St Mary Cray. Ken t