Aluminium trailer cuts loading time
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• Introduction of aluminium box van semitrailers by Econofreight of Stockton-onTees has allowed the company to reduce the turn-round time of its lorries from about 45 to 15min. The trailers-12 are in service —operate on a standard 6-mile run between Billingham docks and a customer's ware house. The high payload—each trailer can carry 20 tons—stems to a great extent from the use of aluminium.
The bodies were designed and constructed by Locomotors Ltd., Andover, in cooperation with Taskers Ltd., which produced the special semi-trailer chassis. All the aluminium, in the form of sheet and various standard road transport sections, was supplied by Alcan Industries Ltd. The completed trailers are 3311 3iin. long and 8ft 2in. wide and have a tare of about 6 tons 13cwt. An interesting feature of the riveted and bolted construction is the fact that the body is divided into five self-contained compartments, with separate doors, each of which carries a load of 4 tons.
Particular attention has been paid in the design to the strength of the compartments, as they may often be subjected to the impact of a fully loaded fork-lift truck. As the back panel is most vulnerable, the rear of each of these is stiffened by two triangular supports fabricated from aluminium angle sections. For this reason the compartments do not occupy the full width of the trailer.