MBR Systems The Gulf Oil Co. Houston, Texas     The Mechanical Bag Retriever (MBR) was an experimental one-man refuse collection vehicle financed by the Gulf Oil Company. It was invented by Thomas Heffington of Bellaire, Texas in 1969, and began testing in that town during 1971. Improvements to the machine were patented by Glen L. Dutton in 1972 and 1973 respectively, and assigned to Gulf Oil Company. The MBR consisted of a modified side loader equipped with a grapple boom, which the operator used to retrieve refuse in plastic sacks or bundled refuse of any kind. The arm then released the bundles over a conveyor belt feeding into the packer body. At least three MBRs are known to have been built. Two were mounted on 20-yard E-Z Pack side loaders, and the other on a Helix Tite-Pak, and using International Harvester C0 1810 chassis. The vehicle cab was cut in half to allow placement of the conveyor belt beside the drivers position.     Gulf financed the project as a way to promote the use of plastic sacks for refuse disposal, a product which it produced at the time. The system was tested in Bellaire during the period from 1971-1974. It was offered for sale nationally by Gulf Oil under the name MBR Systems, with complete units for sale or lease using the International truck and a 20-yard Helix packer body. A 4-cylinder IHC auxiliary gasoline engine provided full-time power for the hydraulic system. Presumably the completed MBR was assembled by a shop somewhere in the Houston metropolitan area. It is unknown how many units (if any) were actually sold, or when the MBR was discontinued. However, according to a 1980 article by the late Marc Stragier, the original MBR demonstrator trucks were sold to "Tegyi collection service in western Pennsylvania." Early MBR with E-Z Pack body being tested in Bellaire, Texas circa 1971 Later model E-Z Pack/MBR with an expanded trough to receive the bags MBR mounted on a Helix Tite-Pak side loader Another view of the Helix-bodied MBR; the 21-foot reach of the arm could span a parked car Above: MBR on Ford C-Series tilt cab owned by Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1974 SELECTED PATENTS Patent # Description Inventor Assignee Date US3730367 Mobile refuse retriever Heffington May 29, 1969 US3796331 Apparatus for mechanically gathering... Dutton Gulf Oil April 6, 1972 US3889829 Mobile refuse collection truck Dutton Gulf Oil Nov. 26, 1973 REFERENCES Public Works Magazine, June 1971, page 141 Worth Seeing: A New Mechanical Bag Retriever... Solid Wastes Management/Refuse Removal Journal, October 1980, page 70 Godzilla, Litter Pig and Trash Hog Just part of History of Automation Vintage Gulf MBR literature in PDF at the Classic Refuse Trucks Library 5/13/19 (Revised 1/15/23) © 2019 All Rights Reserved Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers Photos from factory brochures/trade advertisements except as noted