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Moving the boundaries
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Moving floors have largely replaced big tipping trailers for handling waste. They resolve many health and safety issues and their backload ability improves fleet utilisation; no wonder the quarrying and asphalt sectors are interested.
These had Quicksilver high temperature bearings, with insulating, low-friction surfaces fitted between the 'ee-slats.
Dixon. however, wanted to make some improvements on the original sweep-plate mechanism, and, with the help of Finn-Tech's Bert Finnikin, designed one that would minimise product heat-loss, counter any body expansion, and, with its reinforced floor apron and side flaps, clear out all the residues Instead of Keith's electric return arrangement, which occasionally snagged on the floor, the plate now retracts hydraulically via a cable on a spool.
Satisfied with their extensive trials, Tarmac and ETH have now agreed a final specification, with Martrans supplying the chassis and mounting either (Alliweld or Allibulk) bodywork, Harsh sheet, Keith insulated V-floors, and ETH's sweep plate and control systems.
The floor is controlled electronically from the cab or beside the trailer for maximum operational safety, and has a manual override in case of failure, as well as emergency stop buttons at each side.
The insulated Harsh sheet seals against the top-rail's inner edge and is operated remotely, It closes to the rear, with its side hooks engaging and the rear flap sealing I r(EITit
WALK/MG FLOOR
,rer'.7t1 .V..1 • .1,,
Weightlifter managing director David Thomson (left) expects more bulker operators to start using moving floors on return journeys with palletised goods or RDC deliveries.
"They boost fleet efficiency," he says but on waste operations, there are health and safety advantages, too."
Recently, Weightlifter acquired the remains of United Trailers, adding its considerable expertise in moving floor, ejector and blower bodywork to the group portfolio. It followed very detailed monitoring of those particular market sectors and meant the Wisbech facility could resume manufacturing the specialist vehicles.
Now renamed United Trailers (Eastern), it has taken enough orders for its all-new designs to last into the New Year. The first one built was a 92m3(120yd3) bulker with Cargo Floor system for George Smith Haulage.
Based on Weightlifter's own chassis, its newest Cargo Floor (and ejector) trailers have more angular side pillars and deflectors, a beefed-up fifth wheel assembly, plus extra body reinforcement to counter the massive flexing forces within such structures.
A typical specification includes DCA axles, standard or power speed Cargo Floor, and a choice of Dawbarn sheets.
Another dedicated Cargo Floor user is Dutch trailer-maker Kraker, which recently supplied Cambridgeshire-based Donarbon
with a pair of 90m3 moving floor trailers, but many
• such products are far from standard.
Tney range from insulated CF-ISO versions designed to carry flowers, plants, fruit or vegetables, to others with blowing equipment and modified hydraulics, which, it claims, can also be used to pump 24 tonnes of wood pellets into a customer's silo in less than an hour.
Kraker's newest offering is the CF-Eco Hi model with special high-impact floor slats to raise a standard waste trailer's versatility.
Developed in conjunction with Cargo Floor its aluminium floor slats have 3.0mm Hardox cappings set close together and capable of withstanding shock loads from heavy rock, rubble, or gravel to glass, cinders, tree roots or trunks.
Leak-proof and wear-resistant, the floor's evenness also makes it ideal for carrying pallet loads.
off the split tailgate. Last winter, ETH assessed its heat-retention ability using Tarmac thermal imaging, and. claims Dixon, after five hours standing at -2°C ambient, the monitoring gear detected minimal heat-loss, the product remaining at 180°C throughout.
Based at Finn-Tech's workshop near Leek. Staffordshire, the trailer began its double-shift trials driven by Steve Shaw and Bob Poole one carrying dust and aggregates by day, the other delivering asphalt through the night across the Midlands and beyond.
Day or night, drivers can see and usually hear the Barber Greene crew, and, as the material 'walks out' into the hopper, they monitor its progress from within the cab via CCTV cameras.
Once sufficient load has been discharged, the trailer floor is 'walked forward' a yard to prevent any more dropping off the back.
"Those crews tend to prefer it to a rigid tipper," reveals Shaw."especially when laying a full base at night."
He continues: "Under bridges or along tree-lined roads, the moving floor trailer's 27.5-tonne payload goes a lot further than any rigid tipper, without worrying about what's overhead.
Poole adds: "Apart from some residue on the sloping end plate. it delivers any sticky product extremely well. It even shifts the syrupy 'hardy pave', which doesn't always come out of tippers." •
VARIATIONS
There are many variations on the moving floor theme, and some fleets running tipper and walking floor trailers have found ways to better utilise their tractive units. Hargreaves, for example, with its large mixed fleet includes around 25 Spanish-built Granalu standard tippers, plus other bulkers with Cargo Floor, Ha and Keith floor systems.
As well as fitting front-end hydraulics, its UK partner, Hydraulic Discharge Equipment, offers a device to ensure the tractive unit identifies the type of trailer floor system when coupling up. The driver doesn't control it it's simply a function of the trailer.
A standard Keith Walking Floor requires a 90 to 110 lit/min flow rate from the two-channel hydraulic pump, while the Running Floor needs 1801it/min.
In the latter, a shunt wire is placed across terminals five and six, so that on coupling-up a solenoid closes off one channel, routing both outputs down the one supply line.
When coupling to a standard trailer without the shunt wire, the solenoid doesn't operate and the excess fluid is constantly recirculated via the tank.
Hargreaves latest moving floors use Keith's Clean Sweep device with automatic electric retractor, which is a vast improvement on having to climb inside and push the headboard back.