# US 2016/0355218 A1 · Trailer sidewall construction > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2016/0355218 A1 - Document ID: US20160355218A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/237,891 - Filed: 2016-08-16 - Published: 2016-12-08 - Earliest claimed: 2015-11-17 - Assignees: Titan Trailers Inc. - Applicants: Titan Trailers Inc. - Inventors: Andrew Joseph MAERTENS; Michael KLOEPFER - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20160355218A1 ## CPC - B62D 33/046: {built up with flat self-supporting panels; Fixed connections between panels (B62D29/045, B62D33/048 take precedence)} - B60P 1/006: {charge and discharge with pusher plates (plates fixed to endless chains or belts B60P1/365)} - B60P 3/00: Vehicles adapted to transport, to carry or to comprise special loads or objects (ambulances or other vehicles with special provisions for transporting patients or disabled persons, or their personal conveyances A61G3/00; hearses A61G21/00; fire-fighting land vehicles A62C27/00; refuse-collecting vehicles B65F3/00, B65F7/00; snow-removing vehicles E01H; armoured or armed vehicles F41H7/00; self-propelled mine-clearing vehicles F41H11/16) - B62D 33/033: removable {(B62D33/0273 takes precedence)} - B62D 63/08: Component parts or accessories - B62D 33/023: Sideboard or tailgate structures {(vehicle side panels in general B62D25/02)} - B62D: MOTOR VEHICLES; TRAILERS (steering, or guiding on a desired track, of agricultural machines or implements A01B69/00; wheels, castors, axles, increasing wheel adhesion B60B; vehicle tyres, tyre inflation or tyre changing B60C; connections between vehicles of a train or the like B60D; vehicles for use on rail and road, amphibious or convertible vehicles B60F; suspension arrangements B60G; heating, cooling, ventilating or other air treating devices B60H; windows, windscreens, non-fixed roofs, doors or similar devices, protective coverings for vehicles not in use B60J; propulsion plant arrangements, auxiliary drives, transmissions, controls, instrumentation or dashboards B60K; electric equipment or propulsion of electrically-propelled vehicles B60L; power supply for electrically-propelled vehicles B60M; passenger accommodation not otherwise provided for B60N; adaptations for load transportation or to carry special loads or objects B60P; arrangement of signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor, for vehicles in general B60Q; vehicles, vehicle fittings or vehicle parts not otherwise provided for B60R; servicing, cleaning, repairing, supporting, lifting, or manoeuvring, not otherwise provided for, B60S; brake arrangements, brake control systems or parts thereof B60T; air-cushion vehicles B60V; motor-cycles, accessories therefor B62J, B62K; testing of vehicles G01M) - B60P: VEHICLES ADAPTED FOR LOAD TRANSPORTATION OR TO TRANSPORT, TO CARRY, OR TO COMPRISE SPECIAL LOADS OR OBJECTS (vehicles with special provisions for transporting patients or disabled persons, or their personal conveyances A61G3/00) ## Abstract A trailer for transporting bulk material has a container mounted on a chassis and wheeled suspension. The container has opposing sidewalls, a floor, a front wall, and a rear opening. The trailer further has an unloading system comprising a plow and a plow motor system. The plow is disposed in the container and shaped and sized to span substantially a transverse cross-section of the container. The plow motor system is operable to move the plow longitudinally in the container to urge or push the bulk material in the container toward and out of the rear opening of the container. At least one of the sidewalls comprises a removable panel installed longitudinally along a bottom of the sidewall, wherein an inward-facing surface of the removable panel and an inward-facing surface of the sidewall are substantially co-planar. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A sidewall for a container of a trailer for transporting bulk material, the sidewall configured to receive a removable panel. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The sidewall according to claim 1, wherein the sidewall is configured to receive the removable panel longitudinally along a bottom of the sidewall. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The sidewall according to claim 1, wherein, when the removable panel is received in the sidewall, an inward-facing surface of the removable panel and an inward-facing surface of the sidewall are substantially co-planar. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The sidewall according to claim 3, wherein the inward-facing surface of the removable panel and the inward-facing surface of the sidewall are substantially co-planar when the inward-facing surface of the removable panel and the inward-facing surface of the sidewall are substantially free of any profile, ridge, or protrusion greater than 1/16″ in extension from a plane of the surface of the removable panel and the surface of the sidewall. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The sidewall according to claim 3 comprising the removable panel, wherein the removable panel is formed with a lower panel relief sized and shaped to receive an upward-extending arm of a corner slat of a walking floor mounted in the container, wherein the corner slat is mounted adjacent a bottom corner of the container formed at an intersection of the sidewall and a floor of the container, wherein an inward-facing surface of the upward-extending arm of the corner slat and the inward-facing surface of the removable panel are substantially coplanar. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The sidewall according to claim 3 further comprising a panel comprising a corner seal formed integrally with the panel, the corner seal extending inwardly from the inward-facing surface of the sidewall, the corner seal comprising an upward-facing surface to contact and support a downward-facing surface of a corner slat of a walking floor when mounted in the container, wherein the corner slat is mounted adjacent a bottom corner of the container formed at an intersection of the sidewall and a floor of the container. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The sidewall according to claim 1 comprising a sidewall relief sized and configured to receive the removable panel, the sidewall relief having a depth approximately equal to a thickness of the removable panel. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The sidewall according to claim 7 comprising a retaining flange extending downwardly into the sidewall relief, wherein the removable panel comprises a retaining flange relief sized and configured to slidingly receive the retaining flange, wherein the retaining flange comprises an outward-facing surface that contacts an inward-facing surface of the retaining flange relief to hold the removable panel in the sidewall relief. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The sidewall according to claim 8, wherein an inward-facing surface of the retaining flange and the inward-facing surface of the removable panel are substantially coplanar when the removable panel is installed in the sidewall. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The sidewall according to claim 1 comprising the removable panel. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The sidewall according to claim 1, wherein the removable panel is formed of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The sidewall according to claim 1 formed of extruded aluminum panels. ### Claim 13 A removable panel for installation in a sidewall of a container of a trailer for transporting bulk material, wherein the removable panel is sized and shaped such that an inward-facing surface of the removable panel and an inward-facing surface of the sidewall are substantially co-planar when the removable panel is installed in the sidewall. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The removable panel according to claim 13, wherein the inward-facing surface of the removable panel and the inward-facing surface of the sidewall are substantially co-planar when the inward-facing surface of the removable panel and the inward-facing surface of the sidewall are substantially free of any profile, ridge, or protrusion greater than 1/16″ in extension from a plane of the surface of the removable panel and the surface of the sidewall. ### Claim 15 (depends on 13) The removable panel according to claim 13 formed with a lower panel relief sized and shaped to receive an upward-extending arm of a corner slat of a walking floor mounted in the container, wherein the corner slat is mounted adjacent a bottom corner of the container formed at an intersection of the sidewall and a floor of the container, wherein an inward-facing surface of the upward-extending arm of the corner slat and the inward-facing surface of the removable panel are substantially coplanar. ### Claim 16 (depends on 13) The removable panel according to claim 13 comprising a retaining flange relief sized and configured to slidingly receive a retaining flange of the sidewall, the retaining flange extending downwardly into a sidewall relief of the sidewall, the sidewall relief sized and configured to receive the removable panel, the sidewall relief having a depth approximately equal to a thickness of the removable panel, wherein the retaining flange comprises an outward-facing surface that contacts an inward-facing surface of the retaining flange relief to hold the removable panel in the sidewall relief. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The removable panel according to claim 16, wherein an inward-facing surface of the retaining flange and the inward-facing surface of the removable panel are substantially coplanar when the removable panel is installed in the sidewall. ### Claim 18 (depends on 13) The removable panel according to claim 13 formed of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene.