Schwigger

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Log wagon with rigid trailer. The drawbar visible in the foreground was Schwigger's workplace.
Schwigger's workplace in a modern trailer for the transport of crane bridges
Turntable ladder for the Los Angeles Fire Department built as a Tiller Truck . The Tillerman has his workplace in the cabin on the far right of the picture.

A Schwigger is the handlebar of a trailer on a log transporter . In Bavaria , this activity is also known as the Starzer , derived from the Starzbaum , which used to be used as a brake or steering lever on horn sledges . In German-speaking Switzerland, the designation Wäpfer is used for the handlebars of a rigid trailer and Spetter for the operator of a steered rear carriage.

The job designation is derived from Schwencken or Schwingen (steering). The Schwigger had to hold the drawbar of the originally rigid trailer and run after the wagon. In the bends, by moving the drawbar away, he created a drag curve with its own lane for the trailer, so that the trailer's wheels did not cut the curve. On straight sections he could slide the drawbar on the ground and ride on it while standing.

In order to be able to steer round timber better and more precisely in tight bends, the trailer was fitted with a steering system from 1900 onwards, which was operated by a handwheel by an attendant , the Schwigger or Starzer . This steering was mostly operated while sitting on the side of the load. After the Second World War , two- and three-axle trailers were developed which can be steered from the driver's cab.

For reasons of cost, the single-axis back-up machines were still in use for a long time. To do this, the Schwigger sat in tight curves on a permanently installed metal seat at the side below the logs or tree trunks and operated the handwheel. The position behind the wheels was for safety. The activity was nevertheless life-threatening, but relatively well endowed, often with board and lodging , and therefore popular with daring men.

Today's steerable axles for heavy transport -Nachläufern are usually steered by remote control off the charge.

The fire brigades in major North American cities use turntable ladders that are constructed as articulated trucks with a steered rear axle, the so-called Tiller Trucks . The steering of the rear axle is operated by a Tillerman , who sits in his own cabin at the end of the vehicle and takes on the role of Schwiggers.

literature

  • Allgemeine Forstzeitschrift , Volume 34, Issues 1–30, 1979, Bayerischer Landwirtschaftsverlag (Ed.)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Klink: Dimensioning of turns and junctions in forest road construction . In: Allgemeine Forstzeitschrift , 1979, Volume 34, Issues 1–30, pp. 143 ff.
  2. ↑ a b c Schweizerisches Idiotikon, Article Wëpfer, (Volume XVI, Col. 791).
  3. ↑ Swivel. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 15 : Schiefeln – Soul - (IX). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1899 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
  4. ↑ swing. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 15 : Schiefeln – Soul - (IX). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1899 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).