It seems that there are all sorts of different terms for universal things in this industry. For instance, the term for the trailer brake lever-here in the states, the following terms are used:
Trolley valve (most common)
Hand valve (more northeastern US)
K-Bar (older, more west-coast)
There are also a couple of terms for unusual practices, such as coasting down a hill in neutral:
Georgia Overdrive (or, in Georgia, Alabama Overdrive)
Geronimo gear (not too common)
And, of course, the ladies who practise the world’s oldest profession in truckstops:
The hand valve - as is common issue on US trucks is gone from Euro trucks, and has been for many years.
The Georgia/Alabama overdrive has also been termed the Aberdeen overdrive occasionally in Blighty.
But most truck terms I’ve ever come across are pretty much universal, tho I’ve not seen many of the “Lot lizard” type around - maybe I parked up in the wrong spots to see such “interesting goings on”
Alex, They don’t have a trailer air supply control in Europe The air supply is conected as soon as you hook the line on and the brakes are released, there is however a similar valve built into most modern trailers but you have to release this before getting back in the cab. Older trailers have old rachet hand brakes. The first stage of any modern in cab hand brake lever activates just the trailer barkes when rolling, puul it all the way back and all the brakes come in to force.
Pat Hasler:
Alex, They don’t have a trailer air supply control in Europe The air supply is conected as soon as you hook the line on and the brakes are released, there is however a similar valve built into most modern trailers but you have to release this before getting back in the cab. Older trailers have old rachet hand brakes. The first stage of any modern in cab hand brake lever activates just the trailer barkes when rolling, puul it all the way back and all the brakes come in to force.
That will be why I can never find the shunt valve on a US trailer then! I always keep checking for them, don’t want to get out of the habit…
Must say that they are a nice addition to a trailer, a nice lil knob you can pull to set the trailer brakes while you couple up. I know about the part setting on the handbrake, but I’ve never, ever used it, then again, never used the trolley brake here either…
We used to call the Gorgia Overdrive, the Angel Gear over here. On the grounds that you would be joining the angels far to soon, if you used it to much .
I havn’t heard it much in the last 10 years tho’. I think Irish overdrive is getting more used, at least in Scotland, where Abereen Overdrive wouldn’t be very PC.
We always used to call it either rubber duck, or silent 6th malc, dunno why! it seems mad when most of the boxes were 6 speed at least (in artics anyway) what happened to the “dead man” is that the vale in the US there on about?
Hi
years ago all trailer brake hoses had a tap which you could turn on or off, but when we joined the european union these were outlawed, and we also went from a 3 air line system to a 2 line system. the trailer brake was similar to a car handbrake…it was on a ratchet and cable system, but most trailers now have a complete air handbrake and is controlled by a push on/off button. we have a trailer emergency system that if a loss of air is detected, a broken air line for example…the brakes automatically come on…an inconvenience sometimes…we used to have an emergency brake called a “dead man” and it was a seperate lever controlled from inside the cab and pulled by hand…but no locking device…it was a great device in winter if there was ice and snow about and you started to jacknife…you could control the skid with the “deadman”…a much safer system than today…it depends on the vehicle but some cabs today have an emergence brake built into the handbrake…just pull it back a couple of inches for it to work the trailer brakes…down hill and not in gear was called freewheeling or out of cog…ladies of the night were called that…or prostitutes and today are slappers…hope i`ve helped
have a nice day
The air supply is conected as soon as you hook the line on and the brakes are released, there is however a similar valve built into most modern trailers but you have to release this before getting back in the cab. Older trailers have old rachet hand brakes. The first stage of any modern in cab hand brake lever activates just the trailer barkes when rolling, puul it all the way back and all the brakes come in to force. 
