Easier turns with long artics
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• Samuel Williams (Transport) Ltd, of Dagenham, recently demonstrated a new type of semi-trailer which will effectively ease the manoeuvring problems encountered with long articulated vehicles and also provide other advantages.
The trailer was built by Arrow Construction Equipment Ltd of Blyth (like Samuel Williams, a subsidiary of the Williams Hudson Group) to their Target design. It is a peripheral frame 40ft model and it has been fitted with Halo automatic steering axles. Design features of this unit give many advantages over existing types including a considerable reduction in tyre wear, a shorter turning radius enabling the vehicle to turn into limited entrances, the virtual elimination of jack-knifing, a considerably reduced risk of turning over and, on a smaller scale, reductions in fuel consumption due to the elimination of drag and tyre scrub.
For the demonstration the new trailer was put through a series of manoeuvres on a test area laid out to represent narrow streets. A 40ft wide-spaced bogie conventional trailer was tested first to indicate the difficulty—or near impossibility—of some of the tests. The new trailer accomplished the manoeuvres with ease without the need for shunting and without running on the pavement area.