English - Nooteboom Giants on the Road Magazine English - Nr. 3 - 2016 | Page 45

HISTORY PENDLE AXLES A pendle axle for heavy transport trailers is suspended between the wheels and is connected at the top via a tower bearing or turntable to the trailer’s chassis. The axles can oscillate around the centre so that the weight is distributed as evenly as possible over the ground surface. This means that a trailer with pendle axles can easily drive over a kerb or in some cases even over a pedestrian refuge. INTERESTING HISTORY History lessons in school always started with prehistoric times and it took years before we got around to the 20th century. It’s a shame, because recent history is rather more interesting. So, our history of the pendle axle starts in the present day. The overview begins with the Manoovr in 2015 and then we go back a few years each time. 2015 THE MANOOVR GENERATION In October 2015 Nooteboom presented the new Manoovr generation. What was the big change? The turntable above the wheels was replaced by a tower bearing. To put it simply, a pin and bush. This existed already, but in the older versions the pin was connected to the trailer’s chassis and the bush to the side of the axle. With the Manoovr this is the other way around: the bush to the chassis and the pin to the axle. The advantage? A trailer that’s 70mm lower. This may not seem like much but for semi low-loaders this is extremely important and in combination with pendle axles it was a major breakthrough. At last there was an ultra-low semi low-loader with 12 tonnes per axle anywhere in Europe. In addition to this clever invention the entire pendle axle was optimised for a long life and minimum maintenance requirements. ■  T he PX-2 is mounted on a turntable; the Manoovr is equipped with a tower bearing The floor height on the PX-2 was reduced by 10 centimetres by using 245 tyres ■   2010 THE PX-2 AND THE MCO-PX Nooteboom invests millions in product development and innovation every year. In 2010 - at the height of the worldwide financial crisis – Nooteboom came up with the PX-2, a pendle axle with numerous inventive improvements compared with the PX-1 that was launched in 2005. The increased length of the vertical travel, from 40 to 60 centimetres was particularly important. ■  The Super Wing Carrier (SWC) can deliver the blades in places that are difficult to access 45