Car Conveyor with Built-in Elevating Section
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riA PARTICULARLY interesting and original feature of the latest car conveyor in the range of Carveyor vehicles built by the Carter Engineering Co. (Tamworth), Ltd., Tamworth, comprises a built-in lift for loading the top deck, which takes the place of the rear 10-ft. section of the top deck when it is
in the raised position. The vehicle is designed to carry three B.M.C. cars on the top deck and two on the lower deck.
A patented feature of the system comprises the use of four vertical steel tubes which are screw-threaded externally, the front screws having three threads per inch whilst the rear screws have two threads per inch. The screw mechanism incorporates a Ringspann clutch, equipped with a torque-limitation device, which automatically disengages the drive from the gearbox power take-off when the lift reaches its upper or lower position, and also acts as a safeguard against overload. A small reversing gearbox is located between the clutch and final drive.which is of the worm-gear type.
The difference in thread pitch of the front and rear elevating tubes gives a differential action, so that the section is horizontal when it is raised to the upperdeck level and is inclined at a slope of 1 in 6 when it is in the lower position to match the ramp angle of the corresponding section of the lower deck. A car is driven on to the elevating section at the lower level for raising to the top deck.
The main structure is built of coldrolled steel section members, and the subframe and cross-members are welded into an integral frame to reduce the height of the lower deck, which has a minimum height of 3 ft. 5 in. Although the overall width is 7 ft. 6 in., the transverse distance between the vertical pillars is 6 ft. 10 in., which is sufficient to accommodate a Jaguar Mk. X. car. The upper deck is equipped with 12-in, hinged flaps at the front and rear and has an overall length of 30 ft.
The vehicle is mounted on an Albion Victor chassis powered by a Leyland 0.350 diesel engine and is designed to haul a four-wheel drawbar trailer with a capacity of four cars. The trailer is equipped with four-wheel brakes. • U.S. TRAILER PRODUCTION
ACCORDING to Mr. W. E. Grace, 1-3. president of the Freuhauf Trailer Co., of America, 65,000 semi-trailers and trailers will be built in the U.S.A. this year. He also said that American trailer production amounted to 55,000 units in 1961 of which Freuhauf built 36 per cent.