TESTS with eddy-current dissipators auxiliary to the usual wheel brakes on various truck and tractor-trailer combinations show that they can safely descend at cruising speed any grade on any highway over which they could be steered at cruising speed if the highway were level.
Dissipators will cut maintenance costs by stretching the life of brake linings and drums. The eddy-current type of dissipator has no wearing parts except its bearings.
Possibly, trucks equipped with more powerful engines and with energy dissipators could cruise at higher speeds, increasing profits by making more trips per year with a given load.
