![]() By 1985 they had patented an octagonal style half-pack body that in a few short years became one of the most popular styles in the Western United States. Maxon also began aggressively marketing their product nationwide, and made some decent inroads to the east, particularly with their side loader. Maxon's new lightweight Eagle series, sold as a complete refuse truck, was available as a side or front loader. They took the expertise learned from those acquisitions and quickly grew to be on par with Bowles as a major SoCal builder. This construction was pioneered by Fred Smith for Sargent in the 1970s, but had heretofore only seen regular production on a rear loader, the ill-fated Gar Wood Ten Hundred.ġ986 Heil Half-Pack showed heavy west coast influence, including "cross-ram" packing cylindersĮ-Z Pack Hercules also arrived for '86, with industry-first curved-shell front loaderīy 1980, Maxon had dropped the Bemars and Western names in an effort to establish their own identity, and integrate their lineup. A perimeter box was the only reinforcement used. The sidewalls were formed from a single, broad radius sheet with no support ribs. E-Z Pack broke the most new ground with their Hercules Half-Pack, the first front loader with a true curved shell body. Among the eastern builders, Both Heil and E-Z Pack introduced their first-ever half-pack models for 1986, both equipped with Amrep-inspired cross-ram packing cylinders. Aspinwall Engineering also built a copy for the UK market, even carrying the Gar Wood nameplate through 1993. ![]() Ultimately, the Gar Wood front loader design went on to new life in Europe, primarily through FAUN, who still produce it in Germany as the FrontPress. The old Gar Wood front loader is rumored to have also been reincarnated briefly by Heil, but corroboration of this has not been forthcoming. In the United States, Heil opted for the Smith-designed rear loader, which became the Heil Formula 5000 and eventually became their all-time best seller. Sargent Industries folded Gar Wood forever in 1979, electing to license their patented refuse bodies around the world. Once a leader in commercial refuse systems, the company had become a shell of its former self and disappeared without great fanfare. Despite a last ditch effort to rescue the company by outside investors, Dempster collapsed under the weight of its mounting debt in 2003. and continued to build refuse equipment for another fifteen years under this badge. Dempster's eastern operations were moved south to Toccoa, Georgia and in the early 1990s, the ownership was transferred yet again to Toccoa Metal Technologies. During a 1987 strike, Krug International permanently closed the Knoxville factory, abruptly ending over fifty years of production in that city. California builder C&O was absorbed shortly after, and served as Dempster's western headquarters. Another company with clouds on the horizon was Dempster, which was sold for a second time to Technology Incorporated, a company which traded as Krug International. The Cobey refuse line remained relatively unchanged under the Athey badge, but by the close of the 80s both the front and rear load lines were cancelled. Harsco Corporation, parent company of Cobey, closed down their refuse line and sold the truck designs to Athey Products in North Carolina. ![]() Still, the deep recession of the 1970s did not leave the refuse industry untouched, with national business bankruptcies rising to over 50 percent from previous years. Many had strong and dependable reputations, while others were still new and trying to establish their own. The Ever Expanding History of the Front Load Refuse TruckĬalifornia-based C & O (left) was bought by Dempster, essentially becoming an autonomous western division.Ģ002 Dempster DM2 (right) represents the final model from this one-time industry leaderįor some companies, the 1980s saw a continuation of the same success the previous ten years had brought. ![]()
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