Martin introduced the Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel in 1915. After all, the purpose of the fifth wheel is to link the tractor and the trailer indeed, trailers existed before Charles H. "It's a fair question whether you really can consider the fifth wheel as a milestone separate from the semi-trailer. When they formed the Martin Fifth Wheel company Martin was president and Farr was named secretary. It was submitted for patent in 1915 and finalized in 1916, with Herman Farr as inventor and Martin as assignee. Martin of the Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel Co. The invention of the fifth wheel for motorized trucks is often credited to US inventor Charles H. The September account also includes details of the delivery and successful testing of one of these vehicles for hauling loads of coal over the hilly roads in Morpeth.Ī 1920 advertisement for Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel
Alpenlite 5th wheel owners manual full#
The fifth wheel, or turntable, for these vehicles was a full disk, and is pictured in the September 1898 article. After stopping at Market Place for 2 hours where it attracted a large crowd, it turned "nearly in its own length" and made the return journey without any problems on the hills between. Drawing a trailer loaded with 30 passengers on 6th August 1898 it travelled the 14 miles from Newcastle to Durham without a stop for water. The tractor is shown towing a trailer (or 'lorry') "It will be observed that the fore-wheels of the latter are removed, the fore part of the body being carried on the rear end of the tractor, which is fitted with a turntable with an adjustable screwed spindle." "By this means the major portion of the load on the lorry can be transferred to the rear part of the tractor, and this increases the load on the rear wheels (the drivers) of the latter, and consequently the adhesion." They make the point that "The tractor system, of course, means in effect an articulated six-wheel vehicle".
Toward & Co Steam Motor Tractor that was exhibited at the Northumberland Agricultural Society Show in Newcastle upon Tyne in July 1898, and described in some detail in the September issue of the Automotor Journal. Built by the Steam Carriage and Wagon Company of Chiswick, the trailer and tractor unit were connected by a turntable though the details of the coupling are not revealed apart from a schematic.Īnother early example of the fifth wheel in a motorised vehicle was the Messrs T. Steam Tractors with Fifth-wheel Ī Thornycroft steam tractor with articulated trailer competed in the 1898 heavy vehicle trials in Liverpool which took place from May 24th to May 28th. Edward and Charles Everett, Quincy, Illinois patented a type of fifth wheel in 1850, followed by Gutches' metallic head block and fifth wheel in 1870 and Wilcox fifth wheel in 1905. There were a number of patents awarded for fifth-wheel design. When mass production of buggy parts began in the early 19th century, fifth wheels were among the first products to be made. The trailer needed to be raised so that the trailer's pin would be able to drop into the central hole of the fifth wheel.įifth wheels were originally not a complete circle and were hand forged. A wheel would be placed on the rear frame section of the truck, which at the time had only four wheels, making the additional wheel the "fifth wheel". The device allowed the front axle assembly to pivot in the horizontal plane, to facilitate turning. The term fifth wheel comes from a similar coupling used on four-wheel horse-drawn carriages and wagons. Some camper trailers also use a fifth-wheel configuration, with the coupling installed in the bed of a pickup truck as a towing vehicle "fifth wheel" is therefore sometimes used as a synonym for such campers.
The advantage of this type of coupling is towing stability. The configuration is sometimes called a turn-table in Australia and New Zealand, especially if it is a rotating ball-race-bearing type. To reduce friction, grease is applied to the surface of the fifth wheel. As the connected truck turns, the downward-facing surface of the semi-trailer (with the kingpin at the center) rotates against the upward-facing surface of the fixed fifth wheel, which does not rotate. The coupling consists of a kingpin, a 2-or- 3 + 1⁄ 2-inch-diameter (50.8 or 88.9 mm) vertical steel pin protruding from the bottom of the front of the semi-trailer, and a horseshoe-shaped coupling device called a fifth wheel on the rear of the towing vehicle. The fifth-wheel coupling provides the link between a semi-trailer and the towing truck, tractor unit, leading trailer or dolly. A fifth wheel, already coupled, side view
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