The belly of the beast: an interior shot of the six cubic yard hopper of a late 1950's Partial Packer showing the guideways in the hopper walls, and reinforced roller tracks on the floor.
Another inside view showing one of the two 4.5" single stage, double-acting packer cylinders (later increased to 5.0") which had a 68" stroke. Use of these cylinders cut down on weight and initial cost, as well well as being far easier to service than a telescopic unit. Fluid ports and hoses were protected by routing them outside of the body. A force of 40,000 pounds pressure was exerted on the load (60,000 pounds on the Full-Pack models).
Above: Video of a Bowles packer plate courtesy of Bill Tetreault and Local Rubbish
This 1955 Bowles Loader and enclosed body pre-dates the company's Compactor models, and represents the type of truck that gave Bowles their initial start. Bowles would build any combination of body and loader that the customer desired, with or without a packer. The older version shown here, displays the old style straight-line lift arms that hinged about two feet from the front end.
The ladder made into the side wall indicates that there was probably still need for "swampers" to occasionally go inside the body !
This photo shows a man loading the detachable bucket, and gives a good look at the old-style straight lift arms which have more modern side type forks. The space over the cab on this model looks as if its contiguous with the main body, and not a separate salvage rack as on the packer type loaders. The body would be periodically tipped to consolidate the load towards the rear. With all those cardboard boxes, they really could have benefitted from a Compactor !
