ALAMO WELDING BECOMES PAK-MOR MANUFACTURING A 1949 ten yard Alamo Pak-Mor discharging its load. The full travel packer blade allowed for 'no-tilt' unloading, a tremendous advantage over the rear loaders of that era. LeLaurin's packer body had evidently sparked interest by other communities looking for economical ways to modernize their refuse collection fleets. San Antonio mayor Alfred Callaghan prepared a letter of recommendation, praising the LeLaurin body that had served the city so well. Louis LeLaurin sold the rights to his patents to Jimmie Thurmond, and the stage was set to mass-produce the unique cylindrical packer body, with its ability to "pack more" into each load. Thus, the name Pak-Mor was trademarked as the new name for the product. According to company history, the launch date of the new endeavor was 1947, with manufacturing operations based at Thurmond's Alamo Welding & Boiler Works on N. Flores Street, in San Antonio. A new factory was built in 1949 at 1123 SE Military Drive, near Roosevelt Avenue, which would serve as the company home for the next half century. At left: Jimmie V. Thurmond, Sr. This 1950 demonstrator shows off the Pak-Mor's extra large hopper opening. Open barn doors reveal plow-shaped packer By 1952, the young company incorporated as Pak-Mor Manufacturing Company. The Thurmonds sold Alamo Welding, and concentrated their efforts on the refuse body business. A company document of the period indicates that Louis LeLaurin appears to have remained as chief technical engineer, supervising and approving product development at least through mid-decade. The barrel shaped refuse trucks were a huge success, and were sold nationwide through a growing distributor network. They started an export division, first to Latin America and eventually going worldwide. That same year, Pak-Mor unveiled what was then the world's largest refuse truck, a massive 30 cubic yard semi-trailer side loader. It was essentially the same as the 9, 12 and 15 yard truck-mounted versions, but was independently powered by a 95 horsepower Ford auxiliary engine. With its own powerplant, the big trailer could be detached from the truck tractor and left 'on-site', as a stationary packer. Many would be adapted for use as refuse transfer trailers. High loading sill heights were one of the few disadvantages that standard side loaders had. However, these big semi-trailer versions stood substantially lower than their truck-mounted brethren, allowing for lower loading heights, on par even with rear loaders. Thus, the trailer versions would eventually be identified as the Pak-Mor Lo-Boye. 1952 Pak-Mor 30 cubic yard trailer. The idler sprocket for the endless loop roller chain can be seen protruding beyond the rear doors A 15-yarder for Little Rock, Arkansas on a 1951 International cabover Pak-Mor's motto was "the proof is at the dump", as illustrated by this truck readying for discharge at a landfill outside of Fredericksburg, Virginia Reverse-slanted finger stays fixed to inside of roof helped minimize "fall back" of compacted load into hopper area. However, as body became filled, hopper sides had to be extended to load the last stops. With sides raised, dumping barrels became increasingly difficult for workmen. Note how loading height in this scene is above head level. When Dempster displayed their Dumpmaster Front Loader at the July 1955 APWA show, it was feeding a Pak-Mor body with a customized top opening The Pak-Mor circular body could be configured various ways, such as this custom "top loader" used to collect Palm fronds by Miami, Florida Hoquiam, Washington: chain-driven packer plate in motion 1957 Pak-Mor demonstrator on a Ford C-series tilt cab 4/5/09 © 2009 Eric Voytko All Rights Reserved Photos from factory brochures/advertisements except as noted Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers