Rotary Refuse Bodies (Continued) VON KELLER The Cities Equipment Corporation of New York began selling the Von Keller Refuse Collector in the early 1930's. The revolving drum bodies could be ordered in sizes from one to twelve cubic yards, and were pitched forward during loading operations to assist in compaction. Unloading was by tilting the drum carriage rearward as the drum revolved. Advertising for the Von Keller body suggested adding water to the body before loading leaves to reduce wind-blowing of the load during discharge. AMERICAN LaFRANCE The famous maker of fire apparatus added this American LaFrance refuse collector to the product line about 1933. The example shown here appears to share many features with the Von Keller. These early American versions are open-ended drums and lack the rear cone bulkhead used on the German KUKA refuse collectors. Thus, the thirteen degree forward pitch of the drum would be needed to avoid 'fallback' of refuse into the loading opening, which was about 60 inches above street level. Like the KUKA, the American LaFrance body featured internal vanes to automatically trim the load as the drum revolved at idle speed, turning at about 6-12 R.P.M. Unloading was by hydraulic tilt of the drum carriage and reversing the rotation. KEYSTONE Little is known about the Keystone Equipment Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their rotary refuse collector, which appears to have been introduced in the early 1940's, is very similar to the American LaFrance model. It is possible that they bought the design rights for this body from ALF. KUKA MODELS FOR THE AMERICAN MARKET KUKA began to sell the Shark refuse collector body in the United States beginning in the late 1960's, the first serious attempt to market a rotary body in America since the 1940's. These were badged as KUKA, and found limited success in a few cities. An attempt was also made to market the Shark with a sack collection system by the St. Regis Paper Company during the early 1970's. This big Shark is believed to have been owned by the City of Miami, Florida Another American Shark owned by a New Jersey contractor ORBITAL COLLECTION SYSTEMS Based in Washington, D.C., Orbital appears to have been an importer and distributor of European rotary refuse bodies. These were packaged with domestic trucks (International Harvester seems to have been their model of choice) and badged as "Orbie". The Orbie 215G was most likely a KUKA Shark body, while the larger 202 appears to have been built by Talenti of Italy . The smallest rotary in the line, the Orbie 850, closely resembles another Italian make, the Policar. (compare with models on the previous page). The Orbie was the last serious attempt to market the rotary drum refuse collector concept in the United States. They first appeared in 1974, and may have survived until the end of the decade. The Orbie was sold as a complete unit. The body on this Orbie 202 is believed to be an Italian-made Talenti The Orbie 215G is quite obviously has a KUKA 215G body An Orbie scooter next to the 850, which was the smallest Orbie, and appears to have a body made by Policar or Talenti An Orbie 600 Satellite Scooter discharging into a mother truck Another view of the Orbie 202 11/16/09 © 2009 Eric Voytko All rights reserved Photos from factory brochures/advertisements except as noted Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers