Most flatbed trailers come in two standard sizes either 48x102 or 53x102. There are other sizes such as a 45x102 or 48x96 or 53x96 but not a whole lot of supply or demand for the 96 inch wide trailers. 45x102 flatbeds are not widely popular, but most local haulers use this size to install a Princeton or Moffett kit on the back to be able to haul a forklift for local or short hauls.
Alexander Winton made the first flatbed trailer in Ohio in 1899
This provided a major issue. If the automobiles were driven to their clients, all the miles and wear would be placed solely on the vehicle not to mention the actual delivery would be costly.
This led him to develop the idea of the semi-truck to deal with the delivery of his manufactured vehicles.
He resolved this concern with a new idea that he called an automobile hauler that might bring the brand-new lorry on a trailer.
In 1899, Winton Motor Carriage began producing the hauler for its own usage in addition to other automobile makers. Today’s semi truck is typically an 18-wheeled articulated truck that consists of the truck, typically referred to as the tractor, and the trailer.
These tractors include 3 axles with the front axles being utilized to steer the tractor and the rear axle and the double wheels (or dualies) propel or move power for the tractor. This is the drive axle.
Boxed or raw freight, like lumber needed to be hauled on a flatbed semi-trailer platform without sides.
These loads were invariably high weight and required steel reinforcement. These trailers came with I –Beam axles, mountain-type brake systems and main-plus helper springs.
Some customers modified flatbed trailers with grain boxes or livestock cages for multiple uses. These semi-trailers eventually were used in the piggy-backing and fishy-backing systems created in the 1950’s which gave way to the later invention of the shipping container.