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A Surprising M. of T. Order
Page 94
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All Tractor-trailers Now Limited to 33-ft. Overall Length
FOR two years or more the makers of articulated eightwheeled vehicles have been led to understand that it was quite in order that these machines should be built with an overall length of 36 ft., but their ideas in this connection have been rudely shattered by the new Order, No. 841, of 1929, made by the Minister of Transport, which restricts the overall length of any articulated vehicle to 33 ft., excluding the starting handle.
There are other clauses as follow : Every wheel shall be fitted with a Pneumatic tyre or tyre made of soft or elastic material. If the tyre be not of the pneumatic type the Tim diameter of the wheel shall not be less than 670 ram.
The maximum weight for any wheel on the trailer portion is 31 tons. The total weight of the vehicle and load shall at all times be such and so distributed that the weight transmitted to any strip of the surface, upon which the vehicle rests and which is contained between any two parallel lines drawn 2 ft. apart on that surface at right angles to the length of the vehicle, shall not exceed 10 tons.
D32 There are some interesting points regarding the braking. Where the trailer has not more than two wheels in contact with the ground, the total weight borne by the wheels of the tractor portion upon which the brakes act shall at all times exceed the total weight borne by the wheels of the trailer.
Where the trailer has more than two wheels, the total weight on the wheels of the tractor upon which the brakes act shall be not less than three-quarters of the total weight borne by the wheels of the trailer.
To determine the weight borne by any wheel of a trailer forming part of such a v-chicle, any two wheels of such a trailer shall be regarded as one if the distance between the centres of the areas of contact between them and the road surface be less than 1 ft. 6 ins.
If more than two wheels of the trailer unit be in contact with the ground it must be so constructed that, however the vehicle be loaded, if, when the vehicle be standing upon a level surface, any one wheel of the trailer be lifted and supported six inches above the surface, the load borne by it shall not be increased by more than 10 per cent.
There is something which appears to us to be very unsatisfactory regarding the issue of this Order, as we understand that no reference has been made to the manufacturers concerned, and the issuing of the Order was their first intimation of the change—a somewhat astonishing procedure, to say the least!
It must be remembered that there are no restrictions as to the overall length of a lorry together with an ordinary trailer.
The Order is due to come into operation on the first day of the New Year, but we shall be very surprised if it be permitted to stand in its present form.