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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, the load 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 industry 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 industry has refined towing to a science. Aircraft tow one-another as well. Troop and cargo carrying gliders are towed behind powered aircraft, which remains a popular means of getting modern leisure gliders aloft. == Types of trailers == (詳細はlivestock since they protect the contents from weather. People also rent these types of trailers for moving boxes, furniture and other materials. * *Boat trailers are used specifically for pulling boats. These types of trailers are designed for easy loading in and out of the water and are purchased based on the specific type and style of boat they will be hauling. They are open trailers that are specially shaped to hold and secure boats, but because of this specialty, they are a unique category. * *Recreational vehicles (RV) are utility vehicles or vans that are often equipped with living facilities. While some are self-propelled (integrated truck chassis), many are designed as trailers to be attached to a trailer hitch. These trailer hitches are common on the back of many cars and trucks, and RV trailers are commonly used for camping outings or road trips. In the United Kingdom, RV trailers are known as caravans. *Trailers designed to be hauled in a "big rig" (18-wheel) tractor-trailer configuration, which come in many configurations: * * Flat bed or open trailers, which are platforms with no sides or stakes. This type of trailer works well for hauling large or unconventional shaped objects. Some are small enough to be towed behind cars. * * Tank trailers, which are trailers designed to contain liquids such as milk, water or motor fuel. * * Container trailers are standard intermodal "boxes" that can be fitted with a dolly (wheel truck) and front stand; they can then be used in a standard tractor-trailer combination. The containers are also stacked on ships and used as railroad boxcars. * * Non-containerized tractor-trailer boxes are also fairly common, and work much like containters, 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 "big rig." Unpowered train cars pulled behind a locomotive can also be considered in this category. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「towing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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