Did it really take off, was it a success ?..if I remember was it late 60s-70s
jimcab:
Did it really take off, was it a success ?..if I remember was it late 60s-70s
Hi jimcab, was having a look at this a while back, might be of interest britishpathe.com/video/lorry … ife-device.
Oily
I believe BRS were users but not sure if many other companies followed suit, the device was always advertised in a two page dramatic scene of an artic that had come to grief in Commercial Motor etc, obviously labouring the fact that it didn’t have one fitted! Cost may well have been a stumbling block for many General Hauliers to buy and use them but no doubt someone on here will have, I’m sure the subject has come up before. Franky.
The device was certainly quite heavily advertised in the late sixties, and I’m sure it was simple and effective.
As I remember, the main cause of jacknifing at the time was that the weight came forward onto the steering axle, taking the weight off the drive axle. This could then lock up and skid sideways causing the jacknife. Possibly this was the reason for American trucks having small to non existent front brakes.
The idea of the Hope anti jacknife Was that when you pressed the brake, the fifth wheel and trailer were also progressively locked together, so that the lorry was more like a rigid.
What made it redundant (again, only from memory) was that ‘balanced braking’ was invented about 1968/69. This balanced the amount of air to the steering and drive axle, keeping the drive axle firmly on the ground and avoiding the problem. Obviously it didn’t solve it completely, or jacknifing would have disappeared, but I think it spelled the end of the Hope device.
Certainly my 1969 Mastiff had that balanced braking and I don’t remember having any ‘fresh underpants please’ moments from that point of view.
Drivers older than me may have more to say!
John.
My only knowledge of the Hope anti jackknife was when the old established firm of Nelsons of Arnside bought their first artics,two J reg ERF’s and because they were obviously wary of artics “The Queen” aka Maureen Ross (owner) insisted that they be fitted with the Hope device.She had sat behind the wheel of my first artic twelve months previous and castigated articulation,and my driver who had been a top 8 wheelerdriver at Nelsons 
But I recall that one of the Nelsons drivers that got one of the ERF’s (came to work for us 3 years later 
) said this Hope thingy was lethal as if you touched the brakes on bend the outfit wanted to go straight as the device locked the whole outfit up! The driver on the other ERF eventually came to drive at Bewick Transport as well as a one or two others so you can imagine how popular we were at Arnside But they asked to start with us we didn’t “poach” them eh!Cheers Dennis.PS IIRC the two ERF’s were the only ones fitted with The Hope as I don’t recall them fitting the Atky Borderers and F88’s that followed.
Well there was another firm made a anti jacknife system, It was a hydraulic ram type that was fitted to the tractor unit, The trailer had a round type of jaw fitted & there was a shackle type sort of pin that was fitted along with a R clip, They were a pain in the arse if the ground was a bit uneven, These were fitted to TK Bedford units, But when these were replaced the new ones were minus this bit, Regards Larry.
Dennis
Back in the very early 70’s I had a Dodge unit fitted with the Hope device. It was ,essentially a brake fitted to the turntable which worked with the footbrake to provide some rigidity to the outfit. Now this unit only ever ran with the trailer it came with ,so I never tried it out with another trailer, but when the footbrake was applied the out fit stayed in the line it was in. IE if unit and trailer was bent when you braked ,you stayed bent, if the outfit was in a straight line it stayed straight. it made for some interesting moments
In the hands of a regular driver who was aware that the Hope device was fitted it did improve matters in the jackknife field, and remember this was in the time s pre-ASB, you soon learnt to do most of your braking in a straight line …and to avoid hard braking on a corner. In the time that I had it , it never folded up once, but as an experiment once on an old airfield runway on snow I stood on the brakes whilst doing about 30mph empty to see what would happen…it just went straight on in a straight line. I repeated this but turned the wheel as I braked… it still went straight on but the unit was at an angle to the trailer.
Good thing or bad it was another tool in the box to try and prevent jackknifes and any tool is better than none.
Bassman