T. Toward & Co Steam Motor Tractor that was exhibited at the Northumberland Agricultural Society Show in Newcastle upon Tyne in July 1898, and described in some detail in the September issue of the Automotor Journal. The tractor is shown towing a trailer (or 'lorry') "It will be observed that the fore-wheels of the latter are removed, the fore part of the body being carried on the rear end of the tractor, which is fitted with a turntable with an adjustable screwed spindle." "By this means the major portion of the load on the lorry can be transferred to the rear part of the tractor, and this increases the load on the rear wheels (the drivers) of the latter, and consequently the adhesion." They make the point that "The tractor system, of course, means in effect an articulated six-wheel vehicle". Drawing a trailer loaded with 30 passengers on 6 August 1898 it travelled the from Newcastle to Durham without a stop for water. After stopping at Market Place for 2 hours where it attracted a large crowd, it turned "nearly in its own length" and made the return journey without any problems on the hills between. The fifth wheel, or turntable, for these vehicles was a full disk, and is pictured in the September 1898 article. The September account also includes details of the delivery and successful testing of one of these vehicles for hauling loads of coal over the hilly roads in Morpeth. Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel The invention of the fifth wheel for motorized trucks is often credited to US inventor Charles H. Martin of the Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel Co. who invented the device in 1915. It was submitted for patent in 1915 and finalized in 1916, with Herman Farr as inventor and Martin as assignee. When they formed the Martin Fifth Wheel company Martin was president and Farr was named secretary. It is a fair question whether the fifth wheel can be considered a milestone separate from the semi-trailer. After all, the purpose of the fifth wheel is to link the tractor and the trailer; indeed, trailers existed before Charles H. Martin introduced the Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel in 1915. At the time, the fifth wheel literally was a wheel that moved with the trailer—unlike today’s technology that secures a kingpin. What makes the fifth wheel so important is the ability it gave fleet owners to