Classic Refuse Trucks GAR WOOD

Load-Packer "B"

This high-styled "B" Load-Packer kept the streets of Columbus, Indiana, clean and rubbish-free. Columbus is the home of diesel engine manufacturer Cummins.

The following diagram describes the packer mechanism of Load-Packers of the 1938-1951 period:

There were minor cosmetic and structural differences among the early Load-Packers, but they all used the same basic packer layout, consisting of a ram panel and a retaining panel. Figure 1 shows how loading the hopper is accomplished through a door (manually opened) in the ram panel. The retainer panel is latched in postion, holding the previously compacted load.

In figure two, the packing cycle is ready to begin. The operator first closes and latches the ram door, then pulls the control lever. Then the retainer panel snaps open, (under heavy spring tension) moving rearward over the hopper load until it contacts the back of the ram panel.

Now, twin hydraulic cylinders force ram panel forward into body. Retainer panel is also forced forward and acts as a "shear", sliding down and progressively scraping the back of the ram panel during its travel. At the end of forward travel, retainer panel engages one-way latches which lock it in this position. Ram panel then reverses direction, stopping at the edge of the tailgate, and hopper is ready for another load. Since the ram panel has to return back through the hopper, the total cycle time and "reload time" are the same. That is to say, no refuse could be added to the hopper until the total cycle was completed.

Primitive by modern standards, these packers were highly advanced for their time. Note the position of the hydraulic cylinders in relation to the ram panel, an arrangement which was to form one half the Cyril Gollnick's slide/sweep method used on the Leach 2R Packmaster, and still in common use today.

8/1/04 (revised 9/29/04)