Back In The Day…
The Trailer Grows Up
By Julian Leggett
ROM the time, only ten years ago, when it was little more than a big wooden box perched precariously between two wheels, the trailer has come a long way.
Just recently, an auto-and-trailer unit was traveling the desert road beside the Salton sea, with the speedometer needle hovering close to seventy. As the driver picked up the telephone to inform his family in the trailer that they were nearing their destination, there was a loud bang. The driver felt a quick tug at the steering wheel, a sudden drag on the car. But nothing else happened. There was no loss of control, no careening. Cautiously he set the brakes and brought the two vehicles to a stop. Investigation revealed that one of the trailer tires had blown out-at seventy miles an hour-yet not even a dish was out of place in the trailer’s cupboard.
Had this happened in the early days, a serious accident might have followed that blowout. But today’s trailer is built for safety and comfort, carefully engineered to withstand the road hazards likely to be encountered at the high speeds demanded by the modern motorist. Factory-constructed models of the 300,000 rolling homes on American highways boast such features as: Quick-acting hydraulic or electric brakes; channel steel underframes; rugged bodies of oak, elm and airplane spruce; steel-clad plywood walls; spun glass or similar insulation; ball-and-socket couplers that practically eliminate the possibility of the trailer breaking away from the tow car; drop-type windows that disappear into the walls instead of swinging outward at eye level to create a night hazard; cookstoves with steel safety shields and asbestos wings for protection against fire and hot grease; electric refrigerators that freeze ice cubes and retain their low food-preserving temperatures for fourteen to eighteen hours between stops; steel rub rail around the trailer at the lower edge of the body to afford protection from contact with trees; safe space and water heaters ; electric lights; disappearing wash basins; soft, folding beds; screw-type ventilators operated from inside the trailer; screened and storm windows and even collapsible rubber bathtubs. Gasoline consumption, in pulling a trailer, approximates only one mile less per gallon than when the tow car travels alone. One reason for this is that the modern trailer is lightweight. The trailer on which the tire blew out at seventy weighed only 1,100 pounds. Years of experimental building showed engineers that lightweight construction is not only the most economical but also the safest. Most motorists have only to close their eyes to picture yesterday’s box-on-wheels swaying dizzily down the road behind the tow car.
I found this in Modern Mechanix where they have printed up the whole article and have pictures of all of its pages, so if you want to read more just go on over.
I am particularly taken with the Illustration work (in the picture I posted and in the others over at Modern Mechanix) - displaying the new trailer with the shiny new car as apposed to the older versions.
How come the old days seem so naive to us, and inviting, and amusing…These magazines - as well as the items displayed in them are now collector items.
What will our grandchildren collect - CDs? disposable cares? 5 year old antique computers? or will they still be collecting our grandparent modern days, skipping us altogether?
I wonder.
