Classic Refuse Trucks BOWLES DEALER ALBUM

S. Vincen Bowles Company
Dealer Album (Page Six)

A Big Bowles roll-off unit on a REO tandem, which appears to have a heavily modified frame, it may have even been extended by the factory.

With the box now on board, ready to roll. The body looks to be a 22 foot model (about 45 cubic yards). Bowles front loader bodies were also available in roll-off versions.

A smaller model shown here actually used clip-on "frame extenders" to to line up with the box on the ground. The extenders were then removed during transport.

The Bowles Load-N-Packer was their first attempt at a dedicated residential collection body. It is similar in concept to the Shu-Pak in that it rests on a factory-modified drop-frame chassis, and uses a partial-packing system that pushes refuse backward and upward into the storage body. However, whereas the Shu-Pak used pusher cylinders ahead of the packer plate, Bowles utilized a suspended or "pendulum" type link arms to pull the 10" x 72" packer blade through the six cubic yard hopper. As of this writing, I have unfortunately been unable to obtain detailed drawings or patent information on the mechanism.

Bodies came in 25 or 30 cubic yards capacity, not counting the six yard hopper. The packer blade travelled 36", and could be operated manually or continuously exerting 45,000 pounds of force on the load. A Bowles designed and built walk-in cab (as shown on this example) could be added for $1140.00 with right hand drive for "one-man" operation.

Drop-frame packers were a radical new design in 1959, and Bowles and Western Body (who built the Shu-Pak at that time) had a corner on the market for this new technology. I have found records of a lawsuit filed by the Shubin brothers against Bowles in the early 1960's, but the details and outcome are not known. Shu-Pak would seem to have won the sales war in the end, and the drop-frame style SL eventually became the dominant residential collection truck in the west. Converto, one of Bowles' eastern allies also sold this truck as the Load-N-Pack.

9/3/06