Classic Refuse Trucks HERCULES and GALION

Hercules Steel Products Company
and
Galion Allsteel Body Company
Galion, Ohio

Hercules Steel Products would have seemed to be the company well equipped to build a refuse packer body. Since the 1930's, the firm had produced hydraulic hoists, power take-off (PTO) units and dump bodies. However, aside from making some dump type garbage collection bodies (as shown above, from the mid 1940's), the firm seems to have steered clear of this segment of the truck body market. To be fair, the demand for mechanical refuse packers was not always overwhelming in the years after the second world war, and the open refuse truck would remain a common method of collection for years to come, especially in smaller cities.

Meanwhile, local rival Galion Allsteel was producing similar products, and was a supplier of dump bodies to Ford Motor Company of Michigan. Following the war, Galion did produce a mechanical refuse loader, very similar to the Heil Colecto-Pak bucket loader.

Galion bucket loader in operation in 1946

The Galion bucket loader was non-compacting, and relied on gravity to consolidate the load. A single hydraulic hoist simultaneously raised the bucket and tilted the body, so the contents fell toward the back and away from the opening. To discharge the load, a pair of chains on the bucket were clipped on to the tailgate. As the bucket ascended, the chains unlatched and raised the tailgate, allowing the load to empty out the back of the body.

City of Mansfield, Ohio bought this nine-yard Galion body in 1949

The production of the bucket loader past 1949 is unknown. However, by the fall of 1954, Galion was advertising an all-new mechanical refuse collection body. The new body was called the Galion E-Z Pack, and the specific details on this design are not currently known. However, the E-Z Pack name would soon appear on an all-new design, which would be of great significance to the refuse body industry.

7/5/09