Light curtainsider right brew for Tetley
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A PROTOTYPE lightweight curtainsider built by York Trailers at Northallerton has been delivered to Joshua Tetley & Son, the Leeds-based brewers.
Designed for minimum weight, the curtainsidermakes extensive use of aluminium to achieve a kerb weight of 4.37 tonnes (4 tons 6 cwt) — about the same as a conventional flatbed trailer.
The side raves and cross members are in aluminium as is the underrun bumper.
Holes punched out of the main rails in contrast to the normal York production method have helped to get the frame weight down to 30kg/m (20 lb/ft) run compared with the 40kg/m (27 lb/ft) run of the conventional frame.
Aluminium wheels have been specifed and the three leaf suspension is claimed by York to have the same weight as the monoleaf type but "with the harshness taken out."
Cross-member spacing is at 610mm(24in) in contrast to the usual 305mm (12in) and there is a steel box section cross-member to support the centre bulkhead.
One interesting design feature concerns what has become known at York as the Tetley Trolley. Set in runners in the roof is a movable frame from which is hung a transverse curtain to wrap around a part load.
The sides are angled inwards for load stability and the curtains are of double thickness in certain areas where rubbing across the kegs is likely.
This double thickness allows the worn part to be replaced by plastic welding without disturbing the main curtain.
The lightweight trailer costs £12,000 and will be followed by four more if the prototype performs as expected.