So there’s me pulling at the curtains in the pouring rain and and roadworks tipper on the other side of the road gives me the thumbs up, presses a button and his top curtain winds out while he’s sat in the the cab. I laughed and gave him the two finger salute he laughed and gave me the thumbs up.
So why don’t we have electric curtains?
It’s just more to go wrong.
The tipper I used to drive had a manual sheeting system over a 40yard skip - a nightmare during windy weather 
I’ve spoken to guys doing roadworks tipping, seems like a good little number, the vehicles are usually pretty decent and well maintained as far as I’ve seen. Whereas your average curtainsider is a bit long in the tooth.
I do have some vague memories of a system…
I cant see it on youtube so maybe it was dream...could I patent it?....here it is for free to all of you: Side sheet has a pole running the full length at its base. This can be clipped behind the rave of the trailer. The top of the side sheet is also attached to a pole running its full length. The top pole rotates by an electric motor.
The motor can rollup the sheet around the top into the roof, or, let it down, clip base onto rave, and winding up will tension the sheet.
.
Can`t recall how the front and back was attached or stopped from flapping around.
Franglais:
I do have some vague memories of a system…
I cant see it on youtube so maybe it was dream...could I patent it?....here it is for free to all of you: Side sheet has a pole running the full length at its base. This can be clipped behind the rave of the trailer. The top of the side sheet is also attached to a pole running its full length. The top pole rotates by an electric motor.
The motor can rollup the sheet around the top into the roof, or, let it down, clip base onto rave, and winding up will tension the sheet.
.
Can`t recall how the front and back was attached or stopped from flapping around.
I think B&Q had something like this, no buckles, just a motor to tension the curtain
Wheel Nut:
Franglais:
I do have some vague memories of a system…
I cant see it on youtube so maybe it was dream...could I patent it?....here it is for free to all of you: Side sheet has a pole running the full length at its base. This can be clipped behind the rave of the trailer. The top of the side sheet is also attached to a pole running its full length. The top pole rotates by an electric motor.
The motor can rollup the sheet around the top into the roof, or, let it down, clip base onto rave, and winding up will tension the sheet.
.
Can`t recall how the front and back was attached or stopped from flapping around.I think B&Q had something like this, no buckles, just a motor to tension the curtain
Yep, no buckles.
I seem to have memory of dark green(?) Spanish trucks running it? San Jose? Olloquigei*?
*apologies for spelling
Sorry. Double post.
I seem to…
Vaguely remember Asda trialling some sort of automatic curtainsider.
Instead of running front to back, the curtain was rolled up and then rolled back down again.
Likely the same reason we dont have automatic legs on trailers. Great idea but unless its maintained, it’ll end up failing.
In my experience, you’re lucky if the garage bothers to service the curtains once a year, so can you imagine the resistance to keeping these going. Plus first time they break, there’ll be a heck of a repair bill.
I would have though for XL curtains you’d still need the clips so you run into essentially the same hassle as manual ones. Plus they need to sort out the strapping bit too which takes ages.
Easier solution, go put everything in a box trailer.
trevHCS:
In my experience, you’re lucky if the garage bothers to service the curtains once a year, so can you imagine the resistance to keeping these going.
Not as much as a problem than pulling the curtains open by hand. When you pull the curtains open by hand you’re not just pulling backwards, you’re pulling down as well, basically pulling at a 45 degree angle, so you are basically pulling the wheels on the runners against the runner itself so it acts partially like a brake. A horizontal wire is just going to pull left to right/right to left with no downwards pressure so you don’t get the additional resistance.
Build5:
So there’s me pulling at the curtains in the pouring rain and and roadworks tipper on the other side of the road gives me the thumbs up, presses a button and his top curtain winds out while he’s sat in the the cab. I laughed and gave him the two finger salute he laughed and gave me the thumbs up.So why don’t we have electric curtains?
The frilly pelmet and tassels would get jammed in the runner, silly 
. Besides, most drivers prefer manual curtains so they can twiddle with the tassels and play peek-a-boo looking out of the bottom left corner of the side window at fellow peek-a-boo fetishists parked alongside. 
yourhavingalarf:
I seem to…Vaguely remember Asda trialling some sort of automatic curtainsider.
Instead of running front to back, the curtain was rolled up and then rolled back down again.
Still got a few that we use for trunking, cant ever remember them actually being opened though, all ours are loaded and tipped out the back doors.
Punchy Dan, like the Mad Professor 
Fuzrat:
Still got a few that we use for trunking, cant ever remember them actually being opened though, all ours are loaded and tipped out the back doors.
That reassures…
Me that my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me.
You have to question the logic of a transport operation that specifies curtainsiders for a job that always tips out the back doors.
Wasn’t there a coachbuilder in Loughborough (Southfields) many years ago who had a go at Electric Curtains?
A lot of the beer transporters in Belgium and the Netherlands have electric curtains that roll upwards . The top of the trailer was a fair bit narrower than the bottom so when the curtain was down and pulled taught it held the pallets/barrels in place
I gave up working on curtains after working in a storm with them flying about. I now lazy just do boxes only. No interaction with load.
Someone mentioned automatic landing legs, well we had them over 40 years ago, they were a pain then. I reckon they will still be a pain. They jammed, they went up separately or not at all, they dropped down on their own, they had a mind of their own.
