Answer:
Explanation:
Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. These may be joined by a chain, rope, bar, hitch, three-point, fifth wheel, coupling, drawbar, integrated platform, or other means of keeping the objects together while in motion.
Towing may be as simple as a tractor pulling a tree stump. The most familiar form is the transport of disabled or otherwise indisposed vehicles by a tow truck or "wrecker". Other familiar forms are the tractor-trailer combination, and cargo or leisure vehicles coupled via ball or pintle and gudgeon trailer hitches to smaller trucks and cars. In the opposite extreme are extremely heavy duty tank recovery vehicles, and enormous ballast tractors involved in heavy hauling towing loads stretching into the millions of pounds.
Necessarily, government and towing sector standards have been developed for carriers, lighting, and coupling to ensure safety and interoperability of towing equipment.
Historically, barges were hauled along rivers or canals using tow ropes drawn by men or draught animals walking along towpaths on the banks. Later came chain boats. Today, tug boats are used to maneuver larger vessels and barges. Over thousands of years the maritime field has refined towing to a science.
Aircraft can tow other aircraft as well. Troop and cargo-carrying gliders are towed behind powered aircraft, which remains a popular means of getting modern leisureractor-trailer boxes are also fairly common, and work much like containers, above, but frequently with the stand and dolly integrated permanently into the box.
Trailers for speciality applications that may require a specialized vehicle, such as a farm tractor; military truck, tank, or personnel carrier; or an unusually large semi-truck. Unpowered train cars pulled behind a locomotive can als considered in this category.
Towing safety
Sailors tow a V-22 Osprey to a pier at Naval Station Norfolk
There are many safety considerations to properly towing a trailer or caravan, starting with vehicle towing capacity and ranging through equalizer hitches to properly and legally connecting the safety chains.
According to the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Association, more than 65,000 crashes involving passenger vehicles towing trailers occurred in 2004 in the US, increasing nearly 20 percent from the previous year.
In 2006, Master Lock did their annual study on towing safety to see how many Americans tow their cargo correctly. The study, Towing Troubles included responses from trailer owners across the country and found that while the majority of trailer owners believe they know what they are doing when it comes to towing, most were lacking the proper education. Master Lock reported that 70 percent of trailer owners did not fully know the correct way to tow their cargo.[citation needed]
An important factor in towing safety is 'tongue weight', the weight with which the trailer presses down on the tow vehicle's hitch. Insufficient tongue weight can cause the trailer to sway back and forth when towed. Too much tongue weight can cause problems with the tow vehicle.[1]
Towbar wiring
Vehicle-specific
Of the many cars fitted with towbars, most are likely to have fitted towing electrics which are 'hidden' from the car.
Since the early 2000s, vehicle technology advancements have introduced CAN bus network systems which allowed the interaction of different systems, and also the detection of a trailer or caravan. In some cases, the manufacturers have not only designed automobiles to sense the presence of a trailer, but they have also added enhanced new features within the systems connected to the network. This actually makes it important that these particular vehicles can "see" the trailer or caravan. A few of these new features are for safety and stability, but most are merely convenience features, such as automatically switching off the rear fog light and parking sensors.
The main new safety feature, appearing now[when?] on some cars, is the trailer stability program (TSP), which automatically turns on when a trailer is detected in the network through the dedicated sensors. These systems can detect the "snaking" of a trailer or caravan and counteract it by braking individual wheels, reducing engine torque and slowing the vehicle down. Activation of TSP normally requires a vehicle-specific wiring loom to be installed.
