Non-slip duff at TGB show
Page 34
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• By fitting a small but powerful engine onto its trailer-mounted gantry platform unloader, the Primrose Group of Burnley, Lanes, has reduced to between 14 and 18 minutes the time taken to unload an average trailer and made it possible for the driver to carry out the task without aid and independently of the cab.
The device was demonstrated for the first time at the three-day show of ERF, Dennis, Primrose. Perkins and Telehoist vehicles and products held at TGB Motors Ltd, Clitheroe, Lanes, part of the Primrose Group and now its main dealer and ERF distributor. In addition, TGB is northern distributor for all Telehoist equipment and industrial dealer for Perkins engines.
Mr W. D. Dawson, Primrose mechanical handling divisional manager, told CM that considerable interest had already been shown in the new power pack. Originally a crane arrangement in common use in Canada for enabling lorries to load or unload themselves with stacks of bricks, the Primrose unloader has been redesigned as a four-legged structure able to take higher loads and handle a greater variety of products.
In conjunction with RFF Engineering (International) Co Ltd, of Harrogate, who exhibited at the show in a new demonstration caravan which is shortly to tour the Continent, TGB is now fitting Air-O-Matic, an air-pressure power steering conversion unit, to commercial vehicles. This is American manufactured equipment and is one of several devices in general use in the US for which RFF Engineering has become sole agent in the UK and Europe.
Another item for which RFF has become agent is the NoSpin limited-slip differential
manufactured by Detroit Automotive kt Products. Unlike lockable differentials, the limited-slip operates automatically; the half-shafts are driven through spring-loaded dogs and a cam ring on each side. If one wheel encounters slippery ground the springs keep the driving dogs engaged and prevent it slipping. At the same time drive is maintained at the other wheel. When cornering under normal conditions the reaction against the cam ring compresses the spring and disengages the dogs so that the outer wheel can free-wheel. Straight ahead, the reaction disappears and the driving dogs snap back.
The device can now be fitted to the 300 different models of Eaton axles at a cost of approximately £.80 to buy and fit.
Over 150 people attended the show on its opening day.