词条 | Draft:GX-1 |
释义 |
GX-1 (Greyhound Experimental #1 – The Highway Traveler) GX-1 was the first post-WWII concept bus from Greyhound that evolved into the Scenicruiser PD-4501. Known as the “Greyhound Experimental #1” or GX-1, Orville Caesar’s postwar bus was designed by him and by Raymond Loewy, a multi-year activity beginning in the mid- to late-1930s. The “blue-sky sketches” of Loewy gave form and function to the many ideas seen in Caesar’s earlier patents [1] that fit with his convictions of what the travelling public would want and what an intercity transportation company would need. A full-size mock-up with three levels was built in the early 1940s, if not 1940. It was studied and refined throughout the years of World War II, but nothing could be built during that period because of the war effort. The first public mention of what would become GX-1 was August 1944 when Greyhound let two contracts for new buses, one with Consolidated Vultee,[2] the other with General Motors. The design had been refined to two levels and tandem rear axles. The original plan was to build six GX-1s, three powered by air-cooled aircraft engines and the others by diesel. There was little or no publicity thereafter for two years. About mid-1945, if not sooner, Consolidated Vultee abandoned the project; it is not known what General Motors did with their activity. Greyhound began building their own version of GX-1 at the Greyhound Motors & Supply Company in Chicago. A year later, in August 1946, the double-decker bus was “just around the corner,” according to one article.[3] By mid-April of the next year, Time magazine reported Caesar’s hoping that road tests would begin in the summer of 1947.[4] Greyhound found ways to reduce overall weight and the design changed to a single rear axle. But it would be almost another year, when, on March 19, 1948, the GX-1 began its shakedown tests in Chicago and was revealed to the public in Cleveland in April 1948 as “The Highway Traveler.” Existing home movies of GX-1 on the road date from probably the summer of 1948.[5] GX-1 was a double-decker, semi-monoque design seating 50 passengers. At about 11 feet tall and 35 feet long, it was divided into three compartments: the lower-level Sedan Lounge seating 13; the upper-level Terrace Lounge seating 31; and the upper-level Fore Lounge seating six. Entering at the curb side door, one could proceed to the Sedan Lounge seating, take an immediate left to stairs to the Terrace Lounge or take a right to stairs leading to the Fore Lounge. The Sedan Lounge also held a washroom, a drinking fountain and a refrigerated cabinet. The power train was a unique design using two Franklin 335 (6A4-150) engines. "Their use marks the first adaptation of the horizontal aircooled engines to commercial highway passenger transportation.”[6] More specifically, the “twin air-cooled engines are rated at 150 horsepower each, are six-cylinder horizontal type, and are installed at the rear of the bus.”[7] Another innovative design was the suspension. Designed by Greyhound chief engineer, Milo Dean, with two others from GM, Nils Thunstrom and Norman Martin, the GX-1 used compressed air in cylinders rather than the bellowed beams that came later. It was a natural progression from the concept of a hydraulic shock absorber to air suspension while using the “container” characteristic of most shock absorbers. But this early invention incorporated the key design element that remained with the system that the Scenicruiser used: the amount and pressure of air was varied for selective purposes. The new coach provided additional innovative features:
In April of 1948, Greyhound was telling the press that the new bus "… will soon be put into regular passenger service following its tests."[12] As late as September 1948 articles were still promoting and anticipating GX-1. Even Greyhound’s chief engineer, Milo Dean, was giving talks on the “new” coach in early 1949.[13] But then nothing further was heard until the annual report for 1948, which appeared March 10, 1949. This revealed both that GX-1 had been undergoing thorough tests, and that Greyhound was now building a GX-2, based on what it had learned. On July 1, 1949, Greyhound Experimental #2, or GX-2, significantly different in appearance, made its debut, and GX-1 virtually disappeared from public mention or view. It did not go into service and Greyhound probably scrapped it in the mid-1950s. However, at least ten[14] of its design features were included in the 1954 Greyhound Scenicruiser, PD-4501:
References1. ^{{cite web|title=Orville Caesar Patents|url=http://www.google.co.in/patents/US2415460|website=Google Patents|accessdate=18 February 2017}} 2. ^{{cite news|title=Plane Concern to Make Buses|publisher=Pittsburg Post-Gazette|date=August 29, 1944|issue=p. 17}} 3. ^{{cite news|title=Changes In Buses Just Around Corner|issue=p. 4.|publisher=Freeport (Illinois) Journal-Standard|date=August 5, 1946}} 4. ^{{cite news|title=Corporations: New Day for the Hound|publisher=Time|date=April 14, 1947}} 5. ^{{cite web|title=GX-1 Film|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPKkVxKeKtE}} 6. ^{{cite news|title=Franklin Engines for Luxury Buses|issue=p. 8|publisher=The Post Standard (Syracuse, NY)|date=March 20, 1948}} 7. ^{{cite journal|title=50 passengers as compared with 37 in 1947|publisher=Wisconsin State Journal|date=March 21, 1948|issue=p. 15}} 8. ^{{cite book|title=Presenting the Greyhound Highway Traveler|date=1948|publisher=Greyhound Lines, Inc.|page=5}} 9. ^{{cite journal|title=New Bus Built For Comfort|journal=Popular Science|date=June 1948|page=101}} 10. ^{{cite journal|title=New Greyhound Bus Viewed by Technologists Thru Slides|journal=The Post-Standard|date=February 15, 1949|page=16}} 11. ^{{cite book|last1=von Fange|first1=Paul|title=Scenicruising: The Greyhound Scenicruiser Story|url=http://www.scenicruising.com|date=2015|publisher=Lulu Press|isbn=9781329425088|page=85}} 12. ^{{cite news|title=New Luxury Bus|issue=p. X15|publisher=The New York Times|date=April 4, 1948}} 13. ^{{cite news|title=Technology Club Members to Hear Bus Chief Dean|agency=(Syracuse, New York)|issue=p. 12|publisher=The Post Standard|date=Feb 11, 1949}} 14. ^{{cite book|title=Scenicruising|pages=110-111}} 15. ^{{cite journal|title=Wisconsin State Journal|date=March 21, 1948|page=15}} 16. ^{{cite journal|last1=M. M. Dean et. al.|title=Control for two-engine vehicles|journal=US Patent 2,689,013|date=March 28, 1947|page=Column 1, Line 40}} 17. ^Ibid. 18. ^Ibid. 19. ^{{cite journal|title=The Greyhound Highway Traveler|journal=Product Engineering|date=August 1948|page=95}} 20. ^{{cite journal|last1=M.M. Dean et al,|title=Vehicle Suspension Means and Body Construction Therefor|journal=US Patent 2,722,987|date=December 10, 1949|page=Column 2, Lines 7-12}} 21. ^{{cite journal|title=The Greyhound Highway Traveler|journal=Product Engineering|date=August 1948|page=93}} External links
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