FULL-LENGTH LOADING WITH THIS NEW-STYLE TRAVELLING TILT FOR SCH . .
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By R. D. Cater WHEN Dyson introduced the Swedish designed "travelling TIR tilt" in 1966, Felix Wentworth, distribution director of Schweppes recognized it as having a potential application to his company's transport fleet.
In the original design the complete tilt was concertina'd into the forward 3ft to 4ft of the front of the deck, making it impossible to side-load this area with a forklift. It was necessary in the Schweppes application for the whole length of the platform to be clear for side-loading—and Dyson, in collaboration with Mr. H. J. Dagg, Schweppes transport engineer, have redesigned the equipment to make this possible.
A retracting framework is arranged to carry the folded tilt completely clear of the bodywork on the latest design and the winding mechanism has been improved by the fitting of two two-speed winches—one for opening and the other for closing—at the forward end of the semi-trailer.
Although the folding tilt adds some 9cwt to the unladen weight of the trailer, deletion of such items as sheet rack, ladder, ropes and rope tensioners will reduce this penalty to only 6cwt. A saving in turnround time amounting to some 45 min will contribute significantly to the productivity of the company's trunk vehicles—especially as most of this work is over short routes.
The semi-trailer is a 34ft long by 8.2ft wide sided flat and it is equipped with Aeroride suspension mounted on Michelin 10-22.5 tubeless tyres. Hinged dropsides, manufactured from aluminium Expamet, are fitted and they are equipped with positive-lock quick-release catches of German design. With an unladen weight of just under 5 tons the semi-trailer is plated for use at 30 tons gross when used with a two-axle tractive unit.
• Headquarters offices of the Road Construction Units for the Midlands and the NorthEast opened last week in Leamington and Harrogate respectively, for the design and supervision of major road schemes in a new partnership between the Ministry of Transport and the County Councils.
Mr. R. J. Bridle, a deputy county surveyor for Cheshire. is to be director of the Midland unit and Mr. W. G. Lake, an assistant chief engineer with the Ministry is deputy director.
The director of the North Eastern unit is Mr. G. F. Norris, a deputy chief engineer in the Ministry, and his deputy will be Mr. J. A. M. Mackenzie who is chief resident engineer with Durham County Council.
• A NEW £110,000 heavy commercial vehicle repair depot was opened at Silvermills, Edinburgh, last week. It takes over the work formerly carried out at Alexanders' Pitt Street depot, which will now deal with cars and light vans. When fully operational, it will employ between 35 and 40 and will handle some 50 vehicles a day.