1914 Dennis Lorry

[BenHawkins]

The coping irons are now fitted but most of the week has been taken up with painting. Whilst waiting for the various coats to dry we have been trying to track down the original registration number, this time going through old newspapers. We found three accidents.

 

26th July 1919:

Ernest Shentall's lorry drives into a clothiers sunshade and smashes their window.

 

22nd October 1920:

Ernest Shentalls lorry was travelling down the High Street in fog, a Ford car heading up hill swerved to avoid collision and crashed into the house of Fred Staniforth.

 

22nd August 1925:

FATAL HESITATION"Somebody sitting on a fence shouted "Eh Up". I looked round and saw the motor lorry only 10 yards away from the boy, who hesitated, turned partly around, and then struck off again. The front of the motor caught him, knocking him 10 or 12 yards, and both wheels passed over his body, killing him instantly."

Thus an eye witness graphically told the Coroners jury at Chestefield last night, how Harry Kingswood (13), 138 Lancing Road, Sheffield, was fatally injured by a four-ton motor lorry belonging to Sir Ernest Shentall, Chesterfield, on Thursday.

Martin L Caiter, 125 Cresswell Road, Clown said he and his brother in law sat on the front with the driver. They had got nearly to the bottom of Tinkersic Hill on the Brimington Road when they saw a steam roller on the left side of the road, and a ford van on the other side. Both were stationary, practically opposite each other and facing Chesterfield. There was plenty of room for their lorry to pass. Owing to the road being under repair and the fact that they had had to stop to allow another vehicle to pass, they were proceeding so slowly that the youth could have run at the back of the lorry. When they were practically level with the steam roller, the deceased ran in front of them, although the driver had sounded his hooter several times. Witness felt a bump, and the driver pulled up in 10 yards. In his opinion it was a pure accident, and nothing more could have been done than Sims the driver, did.

 

We contacted the Derbyshire archive and Coroners office but unfortunately no other records seem to have survived. As Shentall is an unusual name I think the next step may be to send a letter to everyone with that name in the phone book.

 

Back to mechanicals:

 

I needed to add the oil grooves to the universal joint driving pins. The first stage of the process was to put masking tape around to mark the required helix, followed by starting the groove with a 3mm angle grinder disc and finishing off with a 1/8" needle file.

 

I have finished machining the diameters and head on the corresponding shoulder screw, this still awaits similar oil grooves.

 

The final related job this week was to fit a winch so we can get the truck back in the garage after pushing it out, either I am getting weaker or the truck is getting heavier with all the bits we are adding.

[Tony B]

I know from family research Coroners records aren't kept. You can get a copy of a Death Certificate though, that has a brief Coroners cause of death.

[BenHawkins]

We did manage to get in touch with a descendant of Sir Ernest Shentall this week but unfortunately there appear to be no family photos showing the vehicle.

 

It has been a fairly quiet week for mechanical work as it has mostly been painting; but this did mean four of the floor boards were ready to fit.

 

The pre-delivery photo shows a pair of tie rods between the side rails and the tail boards. After measuring the dimensions I cut a length of 3/4" diameter EN3 steel and welded the mounting to one end. The next stage was to put the bend in at that end before aligning the mount on the other end. They still need a bend adding at the unpainted end.

 

I have filed the oil groove in the shoulder screw so once I have turned up the bushes I can take a batch of parts for nitride hardening.

[MatchFuzee]

For the original registration number, I guess that you have already looked at the Dennis archives held by the Surrey CC:-

 

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/heritage-culture-and-recreation/archives-and-history/surrey-history-centre/surrey-history-centre-help-for-researchers/archives-and-history-research-guides/dennis-specialist-vehicles

[BenHawkins]

For the original registration number, I guess that you have already looked at the Dennis archives held by the Surrey CC:-

 

https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/heritage-culture-and-recreation/archives-and-history/surrey-history-centre/surrey-history-centre-help-for-researchers/archives-and-history-research-guides/dennis-specialist-vehicles

 

Thanks, that is where most of the information has come from. In one of the catalogues of photos there is a picture of this exact vehicle but unfortunately prior to the registration number being painted on.

[BenHawkins]

Despite quite a few hours being spent on sanding and painting I don't have many photos to show this week. However, there is this one showing the hinges and catch fitted to the hatch in the floor boards.

[Enigma]

Those brass hinges look good. Will they be painted or left visible as is?

[BenHawkins]

The brass countertop hinges are visible in various Dennis plans and are still available to buy new. I think they would probably have been left as plain brass but not polished. I could not find a new catch but the one I used is off an old piece of furniture. I milled the catch plate from a piece of brass angle. It all seems to look OK now the paint is on and the boards are fitted.

 

The countertop hinges mean the whole door will fold flat making access easy.

 

I managed to get the side rails smooth enough for their first coat of gloss.

[BenHawkins]

The tail boards have had another rub down and undercoat. Still not quite as smooth as I would like but hopefully it will not be too long before they can be fitted.

 

I have spent several hours making swarf from a piece of 1.5" EN24T on the lathe. The result is four bushes for the Hooke's type universal joint. Here are two of the bushes being tried for size in the transmission brake hub. I need to book half a day off work now so I can drop a box full of parts off for a 45 hour nitride cycle. This will involve heating the parts to around 500 degrees Celsius in an atmosphere of ammonia gas and should harden a layer about 0.020" deep and give a hardness of around 530 Vickers.

[BenHawkins]

A bit more sanding and painting this week. However I remembered the selector rod needed completing. I started by marking out the detent notches from the old broken rod and then tilting the head on the milling machine.

 

Followed by milling a slight flat between them.

 

And filing the slot in the bottom of each notch.

[BenHawkins]

A trial fitting of the jaw to make sure the neutral notches fall in line.

 

The jaw is fitted to the end of the selector rod with two taper pins. The precision of the alignment of the notches to the jaw is fairly important. The jaw was clamped on a parallel to keep it level, the rod was clamped in the vice using a piece of aluminium rod in one of the notches. Just to complete the setup an engineers level was used to check the rod was parallel with the table of the milling machine.

 

Then the rod could be drilled through (in the location of the existing holes in the jaw). A taper pin reamer was used to open the holes up until the I could see clean metal in both sides of the jaw.

[BenHawkins]

Then it was just a case of fitting taper pins and giving the whole jaw another coat of primer.

 

I have also cut twelve brackets from the 2" angle. The secure either end of the three rails over the bed. I gave them a quick blast and a coat of primer. My glamorous assistant machined the numbers off a set of bolts so they had a coat of primer at the same time.

[andypugh]

However I remembered the selector rod needed completing.

 

Have you also remembered that the steering drop-arm needs a pinch bolt?

[BenHawkins]

Have you also remembered that the steering drop-arm needs a pinch bolt?

I was embarrassed into fitting that the day after your visit but did not take a photo so it did not get posted on here.

 

We spent yesterday at the Regents Street motor show looking at ridicules contraptions that I can't afford!

 

It has been another slow week for truck work but I have picked up the parts from nitriding. I still need to fit the gearbox in order to work out how long the prop shaft needs to be and the "jaw and star piece" have not been cast yet for the Hooke's coupling.

 

And some more parts have had their first coat of gloss.

[BenHawkins]

After putting the tail boards in place I was able to align the tie rods and drill through the side rails to fit the 3/8 BSW countersunk machine screws.

 

I have made a couple of new Dennis pattern shoulder screws for the hand brake rods.

 

These have replaced the socket head screws I had been using temporarily.

[BenHawkins]

I decided there was probably enough of this lorry now that I would be very disappointed to loose it and have therefore insured it. The insurer wanted photos so I have taken the opportunity today to get it out of the garage.

 

Whilst it was out I thought I would have a go at sorting out the front wing brackets. After standing back and looking at the first attempt and comparing it with the factory photo it was obvious I had the mudguard far too high.

 

The second attempt seemed to put this right. I now need to finish welding it up and press a radius in before repeating the steps on the other side.

[BenHawkins]

After finishing the welds on the near side front wing bracket I repeated the procedure for the off side

 

Followed by dressing the welds, blasting and giving them a coat of paint.

The other two brackets for the front wings require a little more bending before another trial fitting.

 

I have been trying to work through the remaining jobs on the gearbox. This casting is carries the glands for the selector rods. At some point the gearbox had been dropped and all the mounting ears have broken off. I have had a new flange laser cut and am considering machining off the existing flange and securing the new one with Loctite and countersunk screws.

[BenHawkins]

Another outstanding job was the worn and incomplete magneto coupling. After wrestling with the worn pins for a while I worked out they were threaded in and then fairly easily removed.

 

I made replacements to what appeared to be the original dimensions from 5/16BSW socket head bolts. This meant I could drive them in tightly with a hex key.

 

Then I could saw them off to length.

 

And made the missing coupling piece from some black acetal. I assume this was originally a hard rubber or fibre coupling but the black acetal is easy to machine and should not look out of place.

[BenHawkins]

Using the milling machine I roughed out this coupling piece for the foot brake pedal.

 

Then milled in the slot to stop the shoulder screw rotating.

 

The brake pedal should be fitted with a pair of return springs from some interestingly shaped brackets (visible on general arrangement drawings but I did not have the part drawings). These arrived from the laser cutters and I put the required bend in the fixed part. In my stock of springs I only had one vaguely suitable; it is a bit weak as well so I will need to procure a more appropriate pair.

[BenHawkins]

Another week with quite a few distractions. But in between the distractions I milled the radius on each end of the brake coupling and fitted a pair of swivel end springs that seemed to be about right (these are governor springs from a Lister engine).

 

I have been working through the bolts, drilling the holes for split pins. In this case it is a bolt for the wing brackets.

 

And welded the two parts of the remaining front mudguard brackets together. They still need a bit more shaping to get them right.

[BenHawkins]

Another busy week and a weekend away leaving little time for truck projects. Although a few minor tasks have been completed. The first was to transfer some money to a company in India that claims to have some Grover pattern washers; they should be shipped on Tuesday so we will have to see what actually turns up.

 

A little progress has been made on the front wings. They have been drilled for the front bracket and the welding has been completed on the rear brackets. I want to get them out in daylight before committing to the final alignment.

 

I had a trip to the steel foundry to pick up the universal joint parts; one is for this project and the other is for the 1908.

[BenHawkins]

The rear hoop is secured to the tail board by a set of brackets. These need a 1/8" joggle to fit around the steel angle hoop. This was fairly easy to press in.

 

This was repeated for the four brackets.

 

The bend radius needed to be very small so I decided to use cut pieces of steel and arc weld them "corner to corner"

 

These four welded pieces could then be welded in the same way to the joggled straps.

 

They still need the holes drilling and the edges breaking with a file before blasting and painting.

[BenHawkins]

1200 Grover type washers have arrived from Mumbai. I bought all the stock of some sizes. There were quite a few parts I had not bolted up as I had run out of these. Once shipping, taxes etc. were included they were not terribly cheap but I could not get these ones anywhere else. Unfortunately they did not have any Thackeray washers for team Gosling.

 

There have been some slight adjustments to the front wing brackets to improve the alignment.

 

Just hex bolts securing the rear brackets at present. I am actually one 3/8"x1" coach bolt short for finishing bolting them up but I am sure I can resolve that.

[lynx42 Rick Cove]

The rear hoop is secured to the tail board by a set of brackets. These need a 1/8" joggle to fit around the steel angle hoop.

 

 

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They still need the holes drilling and the edges breaking with a file before blasting and painting.

 

Hi Ben, Have you made the same mistake that I made on my Albion tailgate fittings? Should not the two right hand brackets go the other way? Two to the left and two to the right, not all four facing the same way? You are probably correct, but it looks like the mistake I made years ago to me. Keep up the excellent work.

Regards Rick.

[BenHawkins]

On my arrival at work on Monday I found a piece of equipment supplied to a wind turbine production line had failed so I had to fly out to Denmark that afternoon, arriving back this weekend. That limited the truck progress this week!

 

The rear hoop brackets fit like this; leaving a 1/8" gap in which the angle hoop fits. What I have failed to do is chamfer the boards to accommodate the radius in the corner of the angle.

 

I managed to find another short coach bolt so I have modified the set for the front wings.

 

The temporary tail board bolts have been swapped out for countersunk fasteners so the angle hoop with fit properly. I need to drill the holes for the brackets before the back gets the final coat of paint.