This invention relates in general to the washing of truck or trailer body interiors, and in particular relates to apparatus and method for washing such interiors through an automatic washing cycle.
Various devices and systems have previously been employed for washing the interiors of truck or trailer bodies. Washing systems have been provided in which nozzles are mounted on small, wheeled vehicles which can roll into and out of the trailer. Such arrangements are relatively complicated and expensive to build and maintain, and furthermore are not fully automatic in operation such that the cycle time for washing a trailer is relatively long. Another washing system is of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,318, issued Sept. 5, 1972, assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. The washing system which is disclosed therein employs a series of nozzles carried on the end of a boom which is fixed in position as a trailer being washed is backed and then driven forward so that the nozzles respectively enter and emerge from the trailer. In such a system the operator or driver controls the speed of the trailer as it is moved in relation to the nozzles so that the proper washing action is achieved.