Rocketail Adds Contact Hinge to Aerodynamic Wing System

Rocketail announced a new contact response hinge that allows its aerodynamic Wings to be closed when needed.

The system is comprised of three components which include, 2 side Wings attached to the rear corner posts of dry vans and reefer trailers, and a Top Element attached at the top-rear of the trailer.

“After releasing our initial system in the early Spring of 2019, which was designed with a ‘fixed’ Wing hinge,, we quickly realized that many carriers needed to close the Wings for various reasons, such as, securing high value loads by backing trailers up to buildings and/or other parked trailers, or backing into certain docks lacking the necessary space required by the deployed Wings” explained Bren Marshell, vice president of sales for Rocketail.

Rocketail’s engineering team designed a new ‘dynamic’ hinge that immediately ‘responds’ to any form of contact to the surface of the Wings. If you back into another trailer, dock door, or any other surface, the Wings simply collapse against the trailer.

The Wings will automatically redeploy without any driver intervention when a truck pulls away from the surface.

The Rocketail Wing extends only 12 inches from the rear of the trailer, eliminating a main cause of rear collision damage. Fully integrated with the trailer door, the Rocketail Wings are always deployed using cable hinges that lock the Wings in their maximum aerodynamic open position each time the doors are closed. The system shifts the wings flush with the sides of the trailer each time the doors are opened, allowing the doors to swing a full 270 degrees without being blocked.