After years of trailers breaking on his farm , Lane English knew there had to be a better solution . Frustrated by aged , clunky designs , English took his talents to the development of a new type of gooseneck trailer .
“ We ’ ve used goosenecks for the past 25 to 30 years ,” shared English . “ They ’ re a great tool to have on a farm like ours . However , as time went on , they kept breaking . We started to fiddle with the gooseneck design , and , over the years , it has been a lot of trial and error . As we made progress , we figured we needed to patent this and introduce it to the market .”
What English found was that every trailer has a load-line , which starts at the two high beams , goes up to the axles , up the gooseneck and comes together at the hitch . English decided it would be best to solve the problem at the hitch , so he introduced several types of rubber bushings .
“ The last place you want to dissipate shock energy is at the point of attachment , or your coupler ,” said English . “ That is very ineffective . When a truck and gooseneck are on the road , they are fighting each other . Th truck can only handle so much when it comes to shock energy .”
40 NATDA Magazine www . natda . org