Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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This invention relates to a tractor and
trailer in combination for use in transporting
automobiles and the like and, in particular, a tractor
and trailer in combination where the trailer includes
a truck body portion that can be detachably secured to
a bed of the tractor so that the entire trailer can be
separated from the tractorO
Tractor and trailer combinations used to
transport automobiles and the like are well known.
Typically, these tractor-trailer combina-tions can
transport eleven or -twelve vehicles at one time,
though some are known to transport fourteen vehicles
at one time. The vehicles are au-tomobiles and the
like, including light trucks, small vans and generally
any size of vehicle that is similar to an automobile.
Some vehicle positions on the tractor-trailer
comhination are suitable only for small vehicles
whereas other positions can support either small or
large vehicles. With the known tractor-trailer
combinations, there are support means constructed in
the form of a truck body on a bed of the tractor. The
truck body usually supports four or five vehicles and
includes support means overtop of the cab for one
vehicle. At the rear of the truck body, there is
located a fifth wheel for pivotally attaching a
trailer with the remaining vehicles being supported by
the trailer. When automobiles and the like are
transported using the known tractor-trailer
combination, the tractor is always attached to the
same trailer. Even though a different trailer would
be used with a given tractor, no useful purpose would ;~
be served as the truck body is not readily detachable
from the tractor. When automobiles are to be picked
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up at a manufacturing plant, the tractor-trailer
combination would either be left at the plant or would
travel to the plant so that the vehicles could be
loaded as soon as the combination arrived. Then the
tractor-trailer combination could travel to individual
dealers to drop off the vehicles, a few at a time, or,
the vehicles could be delivered to a central location
~here they would be unloaded and stored before
ultimately being loaded onto a different tractor-
trailer combination for delivery to a dealer ordealers. Each time the vehicles are loaded or
unloaded, there is a serious risk of damage. The
known tractor~trailer combinations are therefore
inefficient and much more expensive to opera-te as one
tractor, including the truck body, is required for
each trailer.
The existing system of having one tractor
per trailer can be extremely expensive in operator
remuneration, capital cost expenditure, operating
costs, licencing costs and repair costs. Any
reduction in the ratio of tractors to trailers will
achieve substantial cost savings.
It is an object of the present invention to
provide a tractor-trailer combination for transporting
automobiles and the like where the truck body is
detachable from a bed of the tractor and the truck
body becomes part of the trailer so that the ratio of
tractors to trailers can be decreased to fifty percent
or less.
A tractor and trailer in combination is
designed to transport at least ten automobiles and the
like, the tractor and trailer combinatisn having:
(a) a trailer having a frame with means to
support said automobiles and the like
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thereon~ said trailer having a front truck
body portion and a rear portion, said truck
body portion and rear portion being
pivotable relative to one another and being
detachable from one another;
(b~ a tractor having a cab and a truck bed
located to the rear of said cab, said bed
having a frame;
(c) releasable locking means on each of said bed
and said truck body portion, said locking
means on said tractor corresponding with
said locking means on said trailer, said
locking means having a locked position and
an unlocked position;
~d) in a locked position, said locking means
holding said truck body portion of said
trailer in a fixed position on said bed and,
in an unlocked position said truck body
portion being detachable from said tractor;
(e) said trailer having support means so that
said trailer can be supported in an upright
position, whether loaded or unloaded, when
separated from said tractor, for re-
attaching said tractor.
A method of using a tractor and trailer in
combina~ion uses a trailer designed to transport motor
vehicles such as automobiles, small trucks, small
farming equipment and small vans where the trailer has
a front truck body portion and a rear portion. The
tractor has a cab with a bed located to a rear of said
cab. The front truck body portion of said trailer i5
detachably mountable on said bed. There are means to
support said trailer in an upright position for
reattaching to said tractor when said trailer is
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completely detached from said tractor. The method
includes loading a trailer that is not attached to any
tractor with said motor vehicles subsequently
attaching a tractor to said trailer, delivering said
trailer to another location using said tractor,
activating the means to support the trailer when the
tractor is detached, detaching said tractor from said
trailer and subsequently unloading said automobiles
from said trailer.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a side view of a trailer in a
locked position on a tractor;
Figure 2 is a side view of a trailer
detached from a tractor;
Figure 3 is a partial top view of a tractor
bed;
Figure 4 is a partial sectional view of
guide means on a tractor bed and trailer; and
Figure 5 is a partial bottom view of a truck
body portion of a trailer.
In Figure 1, there is shown a tractor and
trailer in combination 2 with a trailer 4 being
designed to transport automobiles and the like. The
trailer 4 has a frame 6 with means 8 to support said
automobiles and the like thereon. The trailer shown
in Figure 1 is designed to support eleven vehicles but
trailers can be designed to support any reasonable
number of vehicles of ten or more. The trailer 2 has
a front truck body portion 10 and a rear portion 12,
the portions 10, 12 being pivotal relative to one
another about a pivot point 14 in a fifth wheel 15
connected to a rear of the truck body portion 10.
The pivot point 14 divides the truck body portion 10
from the rear portion 12.
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A tractor 16 has a cab 18 with a truck bed
20 located to the rear of said cab. The bed 20 has a
frame 22.
Not shown in Figure 1 are releasable locking
means on each of said bed and said truck body portion
with the locking means on the tractor corresponding
with the locking means on the trailer. In a locked
position, as shown in Figure 1, the truck body portion
10 is held in a fixed position on the bed 22. The
trailer 4 is detachable from the tractor 16 and, in an
unlocked position, as shown in Figure 2, the truck
body portion 10 can be removed from the bed 22. When
detached, the trailer 4 is supported in an upright
position by support means, which are hydraulic
outriggers 24 which are connected to a front and rear
of each side (only two of which are shown) of the
truck body portion 10. The trailer 4 has a
cantilevered section 26 which can support a motor
vehicle and extends above the cab 16 when the trailer
and tractor are connected to one another. The
outriggers hold the trailer in an upright position,
whether loaded or unloaded, when the trailer is
separated from the tractor so that the tractor can he
easily re-attached to the trailer. The support means
for the trailer 4 also include wheels 28 of the
trailer 4. The outriggers 24 are retracted in Figure
1 and extended in Figure 2.
In Figure 3, the bed 20 of the tractor has
pins 28 that are opera-ted by pneumatic air connections
30 (only partially shown in Figure 3). The pins are
spring-loaded by springs 32, the springs 32 forcing
the pins outwardly against the force of the pneumatic
air. The force of the pneumatic air is strong enough
to overcome the force of the springs and thereby move
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the pins 28 inwardly. When the force of the air isdecreased or removed entirely, the pins extend
outwardly from one another. The truck bed 20 has
axles 34 for wheels 36, the axles 34 being in tandem
to one another. A fifth wheel 38 is shown
schematically and is mounted on a frame 22 of the bed
20. The bed 20 has a front 40 and a rear 42. The
fifth wheel 38 is located near the front 40 and the
pins 28 are located near the rear 42.
As shown in Figure 4, the frame 22 of the
bed 20 has angle iron 44 mounted to an upper outer
surface thereof to provide guide means for receiving
the truck body portion of the trailer. Similarly, the
truck body portion of the trailer has a central
platform 46 with angle iron 48 welded to a lower
surface thereof. The angle iron 44 and the angle iron
48 provide guide means during the process of
connecting the tractor to the trailer. The angle iron
48 and the angle iron 44 are mounted parallel to one
another and are located so that when the tractor is
moved towards the trailer from a detached position,
the guide means 44 slides within the guide means 48.
When the truck body is in a locked position on the
tractor, the guide means 44 and the corresponding
guide means 48 are in the position shown in Figure 4
along their entire length. The two angle irons 44
form a ridge while the angle irons 48 form a
corresponding channel, the ridge and channel extending
parallel to a side of the trailer and tractor and
being sized to fit within one another as the trailer
is being mounted on the tractor.
In Figure 5, it can be seen that the truck
body portion has a frame 6 which surrounds the central
platform 46. The angle iron 48 extends from a front
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50 to a rear 52 of the truck body portion. Within the
frame 6, there are suitable openings (not shown) and
receptacles 54 to receive the extended pins 28 when
the truck body portion and bed are in a locked
position. Near the front 50 of the truck body
portion, there is mounted on a baseplate 55 a kingpin
56 which is sized and oriented to detachably and
lockingly engage the fifth wheel 38 of the bed when
the bed and truck body portion are in a locked
position. When the bed and truck body portion are in
a locked position, the pins 28 on the bed 20 are in an
extended position through the openings on the truck
body portion 10 and the kingpin 56 is lockingly
engaged with the fifth wheel 38. Thus, the truck body
portion is held in a fixed position on the bed 20.
When mounting the trailer on the tractor,
the trailer is supported by the wheels 28 and the
outriggers 24 in the position shown in Figure 2. The
tractor is moved rearwardly so that a bed 20 extends
beneath the truck body portion 10 of the trailer 4
20 with the guide means 44 slidably engaged with the `
guide means 48. During this procedure, the pneumatic
air supply is activated to retract the pins 28. The
tractor is moved rearwardly until the kingpin 56 of
the truck body engages the fifth wheel 38 of the
25 tractor bed. T~le air supply to the pins 28 is then `
shut off so that the springs 32 force the pins 28 into
the openings and receptacles of the truck body. The
tractor and trailer are then held in a fixed position
and the outriggers 24 can be retracted. The tractor
and trailer combination can then be used to transport
automobiles and the like. When detaching the tractor
from the trailer, the reverse procedure is followed.
First, the hydraulic outriggers are extended to engage
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a supporting surface 58 and support the trailer in an
upright position after the tractor has been detached.
Next, air is forced into the pins 28 to retrack them
against the force of the springs 32 and the fifth
wheel 38 is opened to allow the kingpin ~6 to be
removed. The tractor is then slowly moved forward
until it is clear of the trailer 4 as shown in Figure
2.
The present invention has numerous
advantages for the automobile transport industry.
When the tractor and trailer are in a locked position
relative to one another as shown in Figure 1, the
combination func-tions in an identical manner to
conventional motor vehicle transport means. However,
the ~act that the truck body portion of the trailer is
readily detachable from the tractor allows the ratio
of tractors to trailers to be reduced substantially to
fifty percent and even as low as twenty-five percent.
With conventional tractor-trailers used to transport
motor vehicles, the tractor to trailer ratio is one
hundred percent. In other words, there is one tractor
for each trailer. With the present invention, the
tractor to trailer ratio can be greatly reduced.
With a lower tractor to trailer ratio, the ~,~
tractors in a transport fleet will be worked harder
and will travel greater distances in a shorter period ~-
of time. The tractor 1eet will be able to be
replaced more frequently while it is still relatively
new. There will be no incentive to prolong the use o~ ~
30 a tractor beyond a reasonable time just because the ;
trailer is still in good condition. rrhe life of the
trailer and the lie o the tractor will be entirely
independent. This results in substantial savings in
operator remuneration (i.e. fewer operators), capital
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costs, operating costs, licencing costs and repairs.
In addition, since the transport of vehicles can be
done much more efficiently, there will be many fewer
occasions when it will be necessary for an operator to
seek overnight accommodations rather than re~urning to
a home base. In addition to accommodation costs,
overtime costs and meal costs for the operator will be
greatly reduced.
For motor vehicle manufacturers, a number of
trailers, without tractors, can be left on site and
the manufacturers can load the trailers at their
convenience. When the motor vehicles loaded onto the
trailers are ready for delivery, a tractor can attend
at the manufacturing site with an empty trailer. The
empty trailer can be left on the site and the tractor
can then be attached to a trailer that is already
loaded with motor vehicles. This will be able to be
accomplished efficiently as it will not be necessary
for the operator of the tractor to wait until the
trailer has been loaded. It can be loaded before the
operator arrives. Then, if desired, the tractor and
trailer combination can be taken to a central storage
area before delivery to a dealer and the trailer can
be left in the loaded condition at the storage area
while the tractor returns to the home base or to
transport other motor vehicles mounted on other
trailers. For example, the same tractor and operator
could spend an entire day travelling between the
central storage area and a manufacturing plant to drop
off empty trailers and to pick up loaded trailers and
return them to the storage area. The motor vehicles
remain on the trailers in the storage area until such
time as they are actually delivered to a dealer. The
risk of damage to the vehicles is reduced and the
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vehicles will take less storage space when they are
left on the trailer. With a conventional tractor-
trailer combination, the vehicles may have to be
removed from the trailer and reloaded several times
before they are ultimately delivered to a dealer.
Each time that the vehicles are loaded or unloaded
increases the risk of damage to a vehicle. With the
tractor and trailer combination of the present
invention, the number of times that the vehicles are
loaded or unloaded can be reduced to a minimum. Also,
the manufacturer has the opportunity to load the
vehicles itself and can therefore assume all
responsibility for all damage up to the point that the
vehicles are removed from the manufacturing site. The
operator will not have to load the vehicles from the
manufacturer but only unload them when they are
delivered to a dealer.
The cost of licencing trailers is much less
than the cost of licencing tractors. Therefore, by
20 reducing the number of tractors, the licencing costs ~;
will be greatly reduced. Also, with conventional
tractor-trailer combinations, each tractor of a fleet
of a particular vehicle transporter will usually be
licenced for interstate commerce. With the tractor
and trailer combination of the present invention,
since a much greater flexibility is obtained in the
use of the tractors, a relatively small proportion of
the tractors can be licenced for interstate commerce
as those tractors are much more readily available
while the main part of the fleet can be used entirely
within a particular state.
Another advantage of the present invention
is that the invention can be retrofitted to
conventional tractor and trailer combinations. Since
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it may be necessary to activate the outriggers of the
trailer independently of the trac-tor, a sepaxate power
pack will be mounted directly on the trailer. The
separate power pack is not shown in the drawings as it
S would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
Also, the hydraulic and pnewnatic control means on the
tractor or the trailer are not shown as these are
considered to be conventional.
Numerous variations, within the scope of the
attached claims will be readily apparent to those
skilled in the art. For a particular conventional
tractor and trailer combination, it may be necessary
to make further modifications to the combination
beyond those described in this application. For
example, for some conventional tractor and trailer
combinations, the support means for the vehicle
located above the cab of the tractor is not
cantilevered but is supported by posts extending from
the support means to the front bumper of the tractor.
With this arrangement, the posts will either have to
be made detachable from the tractor or an upper end of
these posts will have to be made detachable from the
support means. Preferably, the upper end of the posts
will be detachable. As another example, where a
trailer has a cantilevered section as shown in the
drawings, it may be necessary to reinforce this
cantilevered section so that it will support a
vehicle. Usually the vehicle in the cantilevered
section is the first to be loaded onto and the last to
be loaded from the trailer. The trailer, unloaded,
will weigh approximately 40,000 pounds whereas a motor
vehicle will weight approximately 4,000-5,0000 pounds.
Usually, only the smaller vehicles are mounted on the
cantilevered section. Therefore, the presence of a
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vehicle in the cantilevered section will not cause the
trailer to tilt forward when the rest of the trailer
is unloaded. There are no wheels on the truck body
portion.
In addition to the savings previously
mentioned, the present invention can also result in
reduced office employees, reduced storage facilities,
reduced computer and communication equipment required
to track and control cargo, reduced Worker's
Compensation costs and reduced property maintenance
costs.
EXAMPLE #1
By way of general example, based on the
premise that each new unit for an existing tractor and
trailer ~osts approximately $200,000.00, 400 units
would cost $80,000,000.00. By using the present
invention with a tractor to trailer ratio of 1:4, the
cost for the equipment would he reduced by
$31,000,000.00. Similarly, licences and insurance
would be reduced by $900,000.00 per annum. Similarly,
manpower requirements would be reduced by at least 20
resulting in annual savings of $4,000,000.00. In
addition, significant savings would be achieved for
overnight motel charges and meals, reduced Worker's
Compensation claims, cargo claims and equipment
maintenance expenses.
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