Trade mourns Tautliner pioneer
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MARTYN COOPER. a senior manager at Bowaters in the 1960s and 1970s and one of the driving forces behind the development of the now industry standard Tautliner curtainsider trailer, has died, aged 67.
Gerald Broadbent.the designer of the original Tautliner when he was at Bowyer Brothers of Con &ton. says: "If any one single person drove the development of the Tautliner it was Martyn. He began chasing me in the middle of 1968 he wanted something different for the Bowaters delivery Beet and came up with a number of ideas of his own.
-We worked together for six months before I came up with the
idea of running straps in sleeves through the curtains which ultimately became the Tautliner. He virtually lived with me in order to get it launched. After we patented it at the start of 1969 Bowaters took delivery of its first Tautliners in the summer of that year.
"He was a real gentlemen and his death is a sad loss."