TWO VANS IN ONE
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The Crane Fruehauf TwinTamer ADEVELOPMENT of particular interest to operators having city deliveries to be carried out at the end of long hauls has been produced by Crane Fruehauf Trailers Ltd. Named the Twin-Tainer it is basically two 17 ft. containers locked together for long hauls to become a 34 ft_ tandem-axle van. At the end of the trunk journey they can be separated to become two 17 ft. single-axle vans suitable for city use and local delivery work.
Used in this way the Twin-Tainer could do away with the need to transfer loads between trunk and local delivery vehicles.
The Twin-Tainer is a development of the Twin-Twenty which has been produced for some years by Crane Fruehauf's American associate, Fruehauf Trailer Corporation.
The prototype has been fully tested by Crane Fruehauf, and is now being tried in normal working conditions by Union Cartage Ltd.
When linked together as a rigid 34 ft. semitrailer for long distance runs the two 17 R. containers share tandem-axle air suspension running gear fitted under the rear container. The containers are then uncoupled to become single axle semi-trailer vans, each with their own support legs and air suspension, capable of being coupled to other tractors.
For recoupling, one of the containers is backed up to the other until coupling pins.are engaged, and the front axle and support legs are moved back into their previous positions.
Coupling and uncoupling take only a few minutes, and the makers state that either as a 34 ft. van or two 17 ft. vans the Twin-Tainer meets all the requirements ofthe Construction and Use Regulations.
The prototype is a dry freight vehicle but Crane Fruehauf say the Twin-Tainer principle is equally applicable to refrigerated and insulated vehicles; they are considering whether to start full production.