 
The Last Quarter Century 
Route King II retained all the best features of its predecessor with enlarged hopper capacity Though the Dempster name would be around for another quarter century, there were clouds on the horizon by the late 1970's when the Route King II rear loader was rolled out. Looking very much like the original, it featured a redesigned sweep panel, now sharply angled instead of flat. This reduced the the packing stresses against the hopper floor, allowing more of the packing action to occur as the the load was carried into the body by the upper panel. This change may have been related to the hopper enlargement, which was now three cubic yards. Or it may have just been that the whole "pre-crushing" concept of the original was just to strenuous on the tailgate structure. Whatever the reason, the new model remained in production for another two decades, easily the most recognizable Dempster as more and more of their competitors fielded homogenous front loader models. By 1981, Dempster was sold again, this time to Technology Incorporated, a conglomerate which later traded as Krug International. The Route Mate, a mid range rear loader based on the old Cleburne Ranger slide-sweep design was offered in 16 and 18 yard bodies. It was eventually abandoned in favor of the Route Chief, essentially a lighter duty clone of the Route King. The King was now available with a 32 yard body. California front loader builder C & O of Santa Fe Springs was absorbed and became a division, serving as Dempsters western headquarters. Also acquired was the legendary British firm of Shelvoke & Drewry in 1986. This development would spell the end for the beloved SD Revopak which was eventually supplanted by the U.S. Dempster rear loader design badged asShelvoke-Dempster Route Chief. 
Slide-sweep design of Route Mate (left) was shelved in favor of Route Chief, a lighter duty version of the RKII During a 1987 strike, Krug International permanently closed the Knoxville factory, abruptly ending over fifty years of production in that city. Dempster's east coast operations were moved south to Toccoa, Georgia. In the early 1990's, Dempster ownership was transferred yet again to Toccoa Metal Technologies, which changed the the name to Dempster Inc. Dempster had been rescued from oblivion, though the California division seems to have been folded at this point, as was the British Shelvoke-Dempster subsidiary in 1991. Dempster Inc. would continue to build refuse equipment for another fifteen years. Despite an eleventh hour attempt to rescue the company by outside investors, Dempster collapsed under the weight of its mounting debt in 2003. Once the leader in commercial refuse systems, the company had been a shell of its former self, and disappeared without great fanfare. It was an unfortunate end for such a famous name in refuse equipment; a company that had shaped the industry by virtually creating a whole new market for refuse equipment and then dominating that field. It is fate that unfortunately has befallen a great many on the pioneers in the industry.
A related article, U.S. Front Loader Development, is also available here at CRT 
1/7/06 © 2006 Eric Voytko All Rights Reserved Photos from factory brochures/advertisements except as noted Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers |
