Classic Refuse Trucks WESTERN

Western Body & Hoist Company
Western Shu-Pak

Adding to Western's fortunes, the company secured the rights to build a new side-loading refuse body designed by John Shubin of San Pedro, California. The Shu-Pak, as it came to be known, was an innovative design that was among the first of the true "one-man" refuse trucks. Shown above is a 1962 Shu-Pak which was one of a large fleet owned by Sanitation Service Company of Santa Barbara. Unlike conventional side loaders, the Shu-Pak was mounted on specially modified truck frames that dipped down sharply behind the cab, allowing for an extra low loading height. The only real competition for this design was from Western's cross-town rival Bowles , who built their own drop-frame side loader called Load-n-Pack.

Combined with dual steering/brake controls and an automatic transmission, the operator had but a few easy steps from the cab to the curb to the hopper and back on his way again.

Here we see the details of the walk-up dual control arrangement as used on the Sanitation Service Company trucks. The operator stands on the running board, outside of the truck cab. Other than the extra controls, the stock Reo cab is basically unmodified, with the door removed. The operator is exposed to the elements, but on other variations, a better enclosure was provided.

The packing method also was a radical departure from typical American side loaders of the time, which typically used a full-travel packer plate the compress the load. On those type side loaders, no trash could be loaded until the packing cycle was completed, and the blade had returned to the front of the body.

However, the Shu-Pack used the "inverted drawer" type packer plate, the same method which was employed on the earliest rear load packers of 1930's Europe. This method allowed for continuous loading; the operator need not necessarily stop loading just because the packer was cycling. Let's take a look inside Shu-Pak in the following cut-away drawings:

The refuse is loaded in the hopper (A), which lies between the storage body and the vehicle cab. The packer blade (yellow highlight) is now retracted, and stored underneath the front bulkhead (B). A small opening at the base of the front wall (C) of the body allows passage of refuse from the hopper into the body.

The packer blade, or drawer, then moves rearward and pushes the load through the opening, up the inclined ramp (D) and into the body. The blade travels only far enough to clear the hopper (A), and then retracts again. With each packing cycle, the incoming refuse pushes the previous charge deeper into the body. As the body fills, a churning compaction will occur. Note how some refuse was sheared off by the front wall (C) and rides on top of the packing blade follower plate. Once the blade retracts, this refuse (and any more refuse the operator throws in the hopper) will fall back on to the hopper floor.

The packer blade may be cycled intermittently, as needed by the operator, or it may be cycled continuously during heavier stops. The operator may load refuse uninterrupted, at any point during the packing cycle, as long as there room in the hopper. An optional "crusher" panel (not shown) could be fitted to the front wall of the body, which helped to tamp-down bulkier loads. Note how the vehicle frame is modified to drop down (E), allowing for a far lower loading height than could be achieved on conventional straight-frame trucks.

Drop-frame packers like the Shu-Pak resurrected older technology to create a thoroughly modern design. This drop-frame tipper built by White Motor Company was one of a 774 unit order for the Department of Sanitation, New York City, placed in 1932. It had no compaction unit, with the low loading hopper being cleared by periodic rearward tipping of the body. It does however bear striking resemblance to the Shu-Pak.

Such pioneers as Fernand Rey and Jacob Ochsner also proposed side loaders with packer blades in the 1930's, though it is not known if they were ever built in great numbers, if at all.

An overhead view of the packer plate (with the top follower plate removed) shows the twin, opposed hydraulic cylinders. Red highlights show retracted position, blade fully forward. Yellow highlights indicate position of cylinders fully extended during pack cycle with blade fully rearward, pushing the load into the body. The opposed layout made possible a more compact packer blade, without excessive cylinder protrusion which would have crowded the hopper area. Interestingly, the original patents described a straight-thrust cylinder arrangement with the rams mounted under the truck cab, which was obviously impractical as it would necessitate expensive modification. Most modern side and front loaders use an over/under cross-ram arrangement with longer cylinders which maximize the stroke of the of the packer blade.

Here, a mechanic is fitting a vehicle for dual control. In this case, the truck manufacturer (such as International Harvester) supplies a rolling truck chassis with bodywork from the cowl forward only; everything else, including the windshield, is added by the body manufacturer or a third party shop. Other vocations that commonly use the "cowl forward" truck chassis are school buses and armored cars.

Above shows a finished truck, with an extra wide walk-in cab added. Unlike the Reo shown at the top of this page, this cab provides protection for the drivers in inclement weather.

The manufacturer of this Shu-Pak is identified as "M & H Body" of San Leandro, a suburb of San Francisco. It is more likely that this firm merely installed the Shu-Pak body, and possibly did the dual-control cab conversion. However remote though, it is still possible that M & H actually had the rights to manufacture the Shu-Pak for the northern California market.

SHU-PAK FRONT LOADER

This rare bird is a Western Shu-Pak front loader from around 1965. It differs in many ways from the original Shu-Pak, with a swinging pendulum packer blade, and body-on-frame construction. In the lower photo, with the body tilted, the packer blade and one on the pendulum links are visible. With the blade suspended by these links, it was able to travel through the hopper without ever touching the floor, and thus reducing wear and friction losses. It appears to have a telescopic follower plate attached between the blade and the top of the body. Packer blade cylinders were mounted behind the plate in the same manner as the original Shu-Pak

It is interesting that this body employs straight lift arms, which limit steering control when lowered, and seems kind of "old hat" for 1965.

John Shubin was involved in litigation with Bowles over patent infringement at about this time. The specifics and the outcome of the lawsuit are not known, but it may have had to do with similarities between this model and the Bowles Load-n-Pack. For what it's worth, the Load-n-Pack appeared around 1959. The Shu-Pak front loader was patented, but the application was not filed until June of 1965.

SHU-PAK IN THE LATE 1960's

A later model 29 cubic yard Western Shu-Pak side-loader shown with the body tilted for discharge of the load. The simplicity of this design reduced dead weight allowing for maximum legal payloads. For example, the biggest 37 cubic yard Shu-Pak body weighed 8000 pounds and measured 18 feet in length. By comparison, the largest available rear load body of the 1960's was the 31 yard Leach 2-R Packmaster which tipped the scales at whopping 15,590 pounds, and was over 26 feet long! Aside from this weight savings, of equal importance to prospective customers and municipalities was the fact that by potentially eliminating one or more crew members, the savings would pay for the vehicle cost in short order. These features helped make the Shu-Pak a big success in California, and eventually in many other cities across the rest of the country.

Shown above are some of the optional features for the Shu-Pak. At left is the crusher panel, hinged to the storage body which swings down to flatten the load prior to packing by the main panel. This was quite useful to quickly crush lightweight bulky items such as brush or cardboard boxes. The center photo shows a special hoist for emptying 55 gallon barrels. This was the system rejected by Scottsdale, Arizona, though that city later contracted with Western to design and build some of their famous automated loaders. Even if it was not truly "automated", this barrel loader was no doubt useful for collectors assigned to beaches or other places which used these heavy containers. At right is a side loading container hoist for 1-2 yard cans.

The Shu-Pak remained in production through the 1970's (later as Maxon Shu-Pak), but was eventually sold to Belgium Standard Industries, with production moved to Canada. They remain in production to this day as Shu-Pak Equipment Company of Cambridge, Ontario.

4/6/08