Improving the Braking of Trailers.
Page 11
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0 NE of the most difficult problems facing the user of trailers is that of providing them with really adequate means of braking. In the average trailer considerable troub:e is experienced owing to the fact that, when the towing vehicle is rounding corners, the cable operating the trailer brakes, and which has to pass between the tractor and trailer, is alternately tightened and loosened. This not only tends to break the cable, but also makes the braking very irregular; sometimes the trailer brakes may be hard on, and at other times practically off.
To obviate this trouble, a special trailer brake control gear has been produced by the designers of the wellknown Sewer chassis. It is interesting to note that this gear can be supplied to suit any make of chassis with only slight adaptation. In appearanee the fitment somewhat resembles an oidinary steering gear. It comprises a hand wheel attached to a shaft, at the lower end of which is a worm engaging with a worm wheel, the last-named being connected to a winds ing drum, to which is secured one end of the trailer brake cable. In order to apply the brace, a vertical handle on the hand wheel is depressed. This act puts out of engagement a friction clutch just beneath the hand wheel, and normally held engaged by means of a spring. Once the clutch is out of engagement, the hand wheel may be turned until a sufficient length of the cable is wound on to the drum. When the required tension is reached, the handle is released and the brake is then held on by means of the friction clutch.
In the case of an abnormal strain coming on the cable, as when the trailer rounds a corner, or when the tractor brake is released before that, of the trailer, the worm, which is reversible, is turned by the worm wheel against the resistance of the frittion clutch, and sufficient slip is thus permitted to prevent fracture of the cable. After rounding the corner, the pressure can be reapplied as and when required.
The whole of the apparatus is very simple, and should prove eminently effec tive. Its use shouldcertainly remove one of the greatest difficulties which have been experienced with trailers, and so help to render their use more popular, thus assisting in obtaining the best service from each power unit.
Several efforts have already been made to achieve similar results in the way of reducing the risk of breaking the operating cables, but most of these have not proved satisfactory. The gear is a thoroughly sound job of neat proportions. It is supplied with fittings for attachment, together with about 20 ft. M steel cable, at the price of £13. It is marketed in the British Empire and Dominions by the Saurei Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd., 21, Augustus Street, Albany Street, N.W.1.