The Commer TS3 was a diesel engine fitted in Commer trucks built by the Rootes Group in the 1950s and 1960s. It was the first diesel engine used by the company.
37-462: (Redirected from TSIII ) TS3 may refer to: Commer TS3 , a diesel engine The Sims 3 , a 2009 simulation video game Toy Story 3 , a 2010 American 3D film TeamSpeak 3 [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
74-428: A 1980s US conventional, the result of such a crash was: Frame, front axle and wheels would go under the truck in front, while the motor got pushed into the cab (which was very small in a 1980s conventional). Both conventionals and cabovers need structural protection against rollovers, and special protection against massive objects at the height of another truck body. The survival space should be able to move backward on
111-425: A COE, provide a level of 60–65 dB(A) . Because of their flat front design, early COE semi-trucks had significantly worse aerodynamics than conventional tractors. Modern cab-over designs, in both semi-trucks and light- and medium-duty models, have improved aerodynamics significantly over early models, but often still have higher drag coefficients than their modern conventional-design counterparts. Although
148-498: A Swedish standard, and was adopted by the European Community in simplified form as ECE R-29 in 1974. During the early 1980s, the safest place for a truck driver was a European truck, usually a cabover. Motor placement before or under the cab does not have much influence on the results of rollovers. Behind the danger of a rollover, heavy truck on heavy truck crashes are the second most relevant reason for occupant casualties. With
185-532: A narrow bunk, or a bonneted (hooded) day cab. Nonetheless, no manufacturer in Europe produces such day cabs with bonnets. The last manufacturer of a conventional truck in Europe, Scania , stopped production in 2005 due to a decline in sales to less than 1000 units worldwide, with European sales declining by 50% and sales in South America by 90%, within one decade. In addition, Asian regulations are typically stricter, and
222-412: A partnership with Lister to market the engines as industrial stationary engines through a joint company Rootes-Lister Ltd . The venture was not a success for industrial engines, although some were sold as marine engines by Lister Blackstone Marine Ltd . Many of these marine engines survive today. Rootes Lister Blackstone (3-cylinder 2-stroke) TS3 engine in action. on YouTube The TS4 engine
259-713: A regular sight for this reason. American company Paccar (which owns the Kenworth and Peterbilt brands) still manufactures traditional cab over engine designs for the Australian and South African markets where length restrictions still make them advantageous. In Australia , both American (cab over axle) and European/Japanese/Chinese ( cab forward of axle) types, as well as the conventional type are common. Cab over engine types dominate urban and light duty use, with conventional trucks predominating in remote and off-road areas. Both types are common for highway use. The first truck in
296-706: A sales success, as they were more reliable and economical than the then-current diesel-engined variant of the Bedford SB , however the noise produced by the TS3 was not acceptable to tours operators and the higher body mounting compared with the SB required extra work for coachbuilders and made the Avenger more expensive than the Bedford. The last straw was in 1957 when Ford announced a PSV version of its Thames Trader, which could take an identical body to
333-430: A single crankshaft; most opposed piston engines have a separate crankshaft at each end of the cylinder. The TS3 engine used a single crankshaft beneath the cylinders, each piston driving it through a connecting rod , a rocker lever and a second connecting rod. The crankshaft had six crankpins and there were six rockers. The engine was a two-stroke , of compression-ignition with uniflow-ported cylinders. Scavenging
370-461: A tilting cab, with the last non-tilting cabs produced well into 1983. Truck occupant safety depends on survival space within the cab, with " rollover " being the most significant heavy truck accident causing occupant casualties. In the 1950s, when many truck cabs were still wooden structures, knowledge about the most common accidents was already established, and led to the first mechanized truck cab crash test in 1959, performed by Volvo. The test became
407-453: A vertical engine, the engine was mounted beneath the floor of the cab. The bonnet ( hood ) of the truck could be dispensed with, moving the windscreen and driver forward to give one of the first of the now common cab forward trucks. Access for maintenance was generally good: a small hatch in the cab gave access to the oil and fuel filters, the injection pump and injectors. Connecting rods and pistons could be accessed from outside each side of
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#1732892099482444-418: Is above the front axle . In the 1970s, COEs used to be noisier, because the engine is directly below. This was an important consideration back then: Interior noise in the cab was between 80 and 90 dB(A) , creating an unhealthy work environment . As of 2017 , US long-distance trucks provide an interior noise level of 60–70 dB(A) at highway speed, while European long-distance trucks, all built as
481-524: The Metro series of vans and trucks for International Harvester . The bodies for these vehicles were initially produced by the Metropolitan Body Company (MBC). The company produced a wide variety of truck and commercial bodies for several vehicle manufacturers such as Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge Bros., and International Harvester until 1948 when they were purchased by the latter. MBC was instrumental in
518-529: The 1970s because of strict length laws in many states, when those length laws were repealed, most heavy-truck makers moved to other body styles. One of the reasons is the Federal Bridge Formula , which is unique to the US, and encourages spreading out the load. If axle distances are too tight, the maximum load allowance is reduced. For COEs operated at maximum weight in the US, this required an axle directly behind
555-454: The COE designs' being smaller in general, over-the-road tractors can still be fully equipped with single or bunk beds. Also, lack of a hood gives better visibility to the driver and a tighter turning radius , and significantly reduces the forward blind spots . One critique is that the shorter wheelbase in the COE semi-trucks gives a rougher ride than those with conventional cabs, as the driver's seat
592-473: The Commer design. Data from Cab over Cab-over , also known as cab over engine ( COE ), cab forward or flat face (U.S.), flat nose (Canada), or forward control (UK), is a body style of truck , bus , or van that has a vertical front, "flat face" or a semi-hood , with the cab of the truck sitting above (or forward of) the front axle . This contrasts with a conventional truck where
629-578: The SB and had a conventional six-cylinder diesel engine (which turned out to be quieter than either the TS3 or the Perkins R6 fitted to the SBO). From 1957 Commer Avenger sales began to dwindle. It's notable that Thomas Harrington Ltd never tooled updated versions of its Crusader body for the Avenger, although that is also perhaps due to the conservatism of the combination's sole customer Southdown Motor Services . Rootes Group , Commer's parent company, entered into
666-633: The TS3 design for Rootes in 1945 After a single cylinder two stroke prototype (to test cylinder design) and two TS3 motors were built at Stoke Aldermoor to test the engine design, production moved in 1954 to the Tilling-Stevens plant in Maidstone , Kent, mainly because it had spare capacity. The engine was unusual in being an opposed piston engine where each horizontal cylinder contains two pistons , one at each end, that move in opposition to each other. Even more unusually, both sets of pistons drove only
703-500: The United States was built by Autocar in 1899 using a format then called "engine-under-the-seat" and was available with optional 5 or 8 horsepower (3.7 or 6.0 kilowatts) motors. Although early Autocar trucks were not exactly "cab-over", since the truck did not have a cab, per se, they were the fore-runners to COEs. The Sternberg company of Wisconsin produced cab-over trucks as early as 1907, though by 1914 only their seven-ton model
740-399: The cab, behind removable doors, without removing the engine. As there was no camshaft or valves, this removed the usual need to access the cylinder head of a conventional engine. Even the blower could be replaced by first removing the radiator and working from the front. Only the crankshaft bearings required the engine block to be removed from the chassis. The engine's distinctive exhaust bark
777-426: The cab-over design allows the vehicle's wheelbase to be shorter than in the conventional arrangement , wherein the engine is placed in front of the cab, covered by a horizontal or sloping hood that opens to allow engine access. Its shorter wheelbase allows cab-over semi-trucks to have a shorter overall length, thereby allowing for longer trailers to be used. For light- and medium-duty solid- or rigid-axle trucks,
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#1732892099482814-533: The cab-over design requires less length for the cab and engine, in a given wheelbase, and therefore allows a greater length for the truck body or load area. In both class 8 tractors and light- and medium-duty vocational trucks, the cab-over-engine design gives the COE model an advantage in maneuverability over a conventional model. And since COEs are generally lighter than conventionals, they can often haul heavier loads, given equal gross vehicle weight rating (GVWRs) and gross combination weight rating (GCWRs). Despite
851-409: The design in 1934. Autocar reintroduced the engine-under-the-seat format with their Model U in 1933, which became a staple of U.S. roads and the U.S. military through World War II and well into the 1950s. White- Freightliner introduced its first tilting cab-over design in 1958, which allowed the entire cab to tilt forward for access to the engine. In Class 8 tractors (using the US designation),
888-411: The development of COE route delivery bodies in the 1930s. The laws of the time limited overall truck length to 42 feet (12.8 m) on highways. Setting the cab over the engine and front axle shaved several feet off the length of the tractor, feet which could then be added to the length of the trailer while keeping the dimensions of the entire truck within the permissible limit. Schreckengost patented
925-399: The engine is mounted in front of the driver. This truck configuration is currently common among European and Asian truck manufacturers. European regulations set restrictions for both the total length and the length of the load area, which allow a cab length of 2.35 m (7 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in) in combination with the maximum load area length. This allows a sleeper cab with
962-560: The engine was for it to fit under the QX "cab forward" design fitted to the R7 7ton truck released in 1948. This very advanced design had been built with the engine under the seat to allow three men to fit comfortably across the cab. The petrol version used a development of the Humber Super Snipe engine, lying at a 66 degree angle, and the opposed piston design of the TS3 was used so that it would fit in
999-521: The front bumper. This cab design caused an awkward climb into the cab for the driver, forcing them to climb up behind the front wheel, then moving to the front and into the cab. European or Chinese or Japanese truckers enter their cab in a straight fashion with handrails left and right. Cabovers are also very popular in the US's light- and medium-duty truck segment where compact size is required for urban mobility without sacrificing payload; Hino (a Toyota subsidiary), Isuzu , and Mitsubishi Fuso models are
1036-596: The larger Clayton Dewandre SC-9 compressor with no damper. Hence as the timing gear became worn over time, the export models produced that wonderful ʻknocker, knocker, knockerʻ sound at idle that is so well known in New Zealand and Australia but not present in the U.K. models The TS3 was used in the Commer Avenger Marks II, III and IV PSV chassis, and also in a number of Integral models from John C. Beadle and Thomas Harrington Ltd from 1952-63. Initially these were
1073-402: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TS3&oldid=985162537 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Commer TS3 Rootes' intention for
1110-558: The relatively shorter journey distances allow trucks to forgo sleepers to save even more length. Cabover trucks are widely used in the United States for refuse collection , terminal tractors , and other vocational applications requiring a tight turning radius or frequent ingress/egress by the driver. Autocar , the oldest surviving motor vehicle manufacturer in America, produces primarily cabover trucks. Although cabover trucks were popular among U.S. heavy truckers and trucking companies during
1147-455: The same space. It is often thought that "TS" in the engine's name derives from its Tilling-Stevens origins, a company acquired by Rootes in 1950 but this is incorrect. It stands for Two-stroke. Development of the engine started at the Humber plant at Stoke Aldermoor some four years before Rootes had acquired Tilling-Stevens. The small design team headed by Chief Engineer Eric Coy, began working on
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1184-433: The tilting cab gives comparatively unobstructed access to the engine, its deployment causes unsecured items in the cab and sleeper (if equipped) to fall onto the windshield or under the instrument panel . Vehicles without a tilting cab will usually be equipped with removable floor panels through which mechanics can access and service the engine. In Europe, Mercedes-Benz was the last manufacturer to use such panels instead of
1221-530: Was a cab-over. They reintroduced the cab-over layout in 1933 with their "Camel Back" model, which allowed the cab to be tilted to access the engine. The introduction of the first modern cab-over layout in the United States is credited to industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost , who, with engineer Ray Spiller, designed a cab-over truck for the White Motor Company in 1932. Schreckengost was later joined by other designers such as Raymond Loewy who designed
1258-493: Was always apparent. It is often thought that this bark is where the popular name of "Knocker" for the TS3 comes from, but this is incorrect. The knocker name for the TS3 is a nickname coming from its extensive use in New Zealand and Australia. The later United Kingdom 3D215 and 3DD215 TS3 motors had the Clayton - Dewandre SC-6 compressor fitted with a harmonic damper which removed any timing gear clatter. Export versions of these TS3s had
1295-416: Was an enlarged four-cylinder version of the TS3. It ran 1.2 million miles as a pre-production prototype. The project was cancelled after Chrysler bought Rootes in 1968. There are very few similar engines. Opposed-piston diesel engines are rare enough at this size, the rocker lever arrangement was almost unheard of. Probably the only engine using a similar arrangement was the pre-war Sulzer ZG9 . This
1332-402: Was an opposed-piston engine with a choice of two, three and four cylinders (2ZG9, 3ZG9, 4ZG9); the two-cylinder version developed 120 bhp. Its layout was very similar to the Commer engines, but it used a piston scavenge pump rather than a Roots blower. This was mounted vertically above one rocker, driven by a bellcrank from the main rockers. This engine is sometimes cited as an inspiration for
1369-476: Was performed by a Roots blower , which was mounted on the front of the engine and driven by a long quill shaft from a chain drive at the rear of the engine. In general the engines gained a reputation for good performance, but this quill shaft was somewhat prone to breaking if over-worked. Data from The TS3 was used in both the Commer and Karrier range of trucks. As the horizontal cylinders were lower than
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