Motor Transports in War

by Horace Wyatt

A TOURING CAR EQUIPPED WITH A FOUR-STRETCHER AMBULANCE BODY BY MESSRS. BROWN, HUGHES AND STRACHAN, TO THE ORDER OF THE DUCHESS OF WESTMINSTER.

In time of war, the ambulance chassis is, roughly speaking, anything big enough and sufficiently reliable that can be made available. For example, motor omnibuses can be without much difficulty adapted to this class of work, while touring cars are often quite suitable. The qualifications in the latter instance are fairly ample engine power, thorough reliability and strength for working over rough road surfaces, very strong springs and ample wheelbase, so that the ambulance body shall not overhang the rear of the chassis to too great an extent. To form the complete vehicle, what is wanted at such times is not necessarily a luxuriously-equipped conveyance, but is rather a quite light and simple body sensibly constructed to bear its load, and capable of standing any amount of jolting without either its component parts shaking loose among themselves, or the body as a whole becoming insecure in its connections with the chassis.

As regards the interior equipments, in most instances all that is needed is provision for readily fixing in place two or four stretchers as the case may be, and also for loading the stretchers on to and unloading them off the body without difficulty, and without unnecessary discomfort to the patient. The standard types of ambulance body approved by the British Red Cross Society consist of simple but stout wooden frameworks with all the joints reinforced by angle irons held by bolts through the wooden members, and not merely by wood screws, which are liable to work loose. Over this framework is stretched a cover of waterproof canvas that has been treated with rubber, while the front and back of the vehicles are covered in by waterproof curtains of similar material, capable of being drawn aside or raised quite easily so as to enable attendants, with the minimum of difficulty, to lift the loaded stretchers into the vehicles. Medical experts who have experience in the carriage of wounded men do not appear to be entirely in agreement as to whether the stretchers in a motor ambulance should be rigidly secured to the vehicle body, or should be carried by some form of springing supplementary to that of the car itself. In some examples of ambulances in regular use in this country, additional springing is provided by suspending the body from the chassis by means of semi-elliptical or complete elliptical springs. In many others, no springing other than that of the vehicle itself is interposed between the stretcher and the ground. One point at least on which there is universal agreement is that on no account must any rolling motion of the stretcher relative to the vehicle body be permitted, as motion of this kind causes acute discomfort to the patient, and often leads to physical effects similar to those occasioned by the rolling of a vessel at sea.

Probably side loading is the ideal method of getting stretchers on to an ambulance car, but it is difficult to realise the ideal in the case of a simple and fairly cheaply constructed body. Consequently, the system of end loading is far more common. In this case, the stretcher is generally slipped in along the floor of the vehicle, and when right inside the car, is raised to the necessary elevation to allow it to be secured in position. The lower stretchers are afterwards slipped in and similarly secured. A design in which this is possible is more convenient than one in which the upper stretchers have to be raised to their full height before the operation of sliding them into the car can be attempted.

“The Autocar” photograph.
A FRENCH MILITARY SEARCHLIGHT MOTOR. THE SEARCHLIGHT IS CARRIED ON AN UNDERFRAME, WHICH CAN BE LET DOWN IN THE MANNER SHOWN. THE ELECTRICITY IS SUPPLIED FROM THE MOTIVE POWER OF THE CAR.

“The Autocar” photograph.
AN OPEN TOURING CAR CONVERTED INTO A MOTOR AMBULANCE.

A type of fitting which has been adopted for some of the two-stretcher ambulances of the British Red Cross Society is that known as the L.X.R. It consists of a simple steel-tubed framework, the corner members of which are slotted to take the ball ends of cross bars from which the stretchers are slung by very short ropes and straps. When in position in the slots, the cross bar ends bear on the tops of strong spiral springs which relieve the stretcher of a certain amount of vibration but at the same time, not being free to move other than in the vertical, do not set up any rolling motion. When these fittings, which are manufactured by Messrs. Simonis, are used, no weight is carried from any portion of the ambulance body except the floor. Consequently, the remainder of the construction can be very light and merely designed to support the waterproof covering. For four-stretcher bodies the British Red Cross Society have at the time of writing been employing two main types. In one of these, the stretchers merely slide in, the upper ones on to shelves and the lower ones along the floor, and are secured quite rigidly in position. In the other type, a system of spring suspension has been adopted. This latter system—evolved for the Society by Messrs. Brown, Hughes and Strachan—adapts itself to the construction of a simple, strong, but quite inexpensive body, to the main members of which are bolted iron arms which can be easily arranged so that they can be swung to one side while the car is being loaded, if it is considered that there is any risk of their interfering with the ease of the operation. Each of these iron arms has a flattened end, bored to take a vertical iron rod, the lower portion of which is formed into a hook, while the upper portion carries a heavy spiral spring concealed in a neat casing. The stretchers are carried from the hooks by means of quite short leather straps, connecting the hooks with the stretcher handles. It will be noted that the springs allow of no movement other than one in a purely vertical direction, and consequently that practically no rolling should result from the use of this system, which has the advantage of giving an additional spring suspension at a very small increase in the cost of the complete body. A very considerable number of ambulances built on these lines have been supplied by the makers to the Red Cross Society.

It is impossible to lay too much emphasis on the desirability of using for ambulances, chassis with long wheelbase, in which the stretchers are as far as possible carried between the wheels, and the patients thereby protected from direct road shock. It is not to be expected that short wheel-based chassis carrying ambulance bodies with a big overhang at the rear, will prove durable over the broken roads of the countries in which war is taking place. If wheelbase is not sufficient to allow of the fitting of a four-stretcher body without these grave disadvantages, the only thing to do is to put up with the smaller accommodation of a two-stretcher body. The usual arrangement in this case is to extend the body right forward towards the dash on the left of the driver, and so to push the stretchers a couple of feet further forward, the space inside the body behind the driver serving for the carriage of luggage, for an attendant, or for one or two wounded men who are not very seriously injured. One of the great dangers in this arrangement is that of obstructing the view of the driver towards his left. This is particularly serious when the car is for use in countries where the rule of the road is the reverse to our own, and where traffic in the opposite direction has to pass on the side upon which a free view is obscured. A possibility is to take in the space below the driver’s seat and that alongside of it, and to run in the patients on their stretchers, feet first, alongside of one another on the floor of the conveyance. In this way, about a foot of length can be economised, and with a two-stretcher body of this type it is of course not necessary for the super-structure to be either strong or high.