  New 1950 Roto-Pac trucks for a Jersey City, New Jersey contractor CRT News Update, Summer 2008 ABOUT OUR COVER TRUCK Our featured truck in this edition was sent in by Anthony Pisciotta, and was owned by his Grandfather. Anthony writes:  My grandfather Dom Palmieri owned a carting company here in NYC from just after he returned from WW2, until he retired in the early 1970s. The photo attached is of his first brand-new truck which was a Federal. I believe he bought it in the very early 1950s. I was told by my grandmother that it cost them almost as much as their first house, which they bought at around the same time, which was about $17,000 in 1952 or 1953.
About six months after he bought this truck, it was hit from behind by a tractor-trailer on a Manhattan street. My grandfather was injured in the wreck and the truck was damaged. My grandmother said the truck was never 100% again. I hope you like the photo Indeed I do like the photo, a classic example of the second generation Roto-Pac which was produced between 1950-1952. The lettering scheme is nearly identical to other units that appeared in company literature of that period, and was probably done at the factory. One of the trucks shown in the CRT Roto-Pac album is almost identical to Dom Palmieri's, both of which appear to have been photographed at the same location, most likely at or near the City Tank shop in Corona, Queens. Many thanks to Anthony for sharing this great old photograph, and the story as well. 
NYC area haulers trucks from Roto-Pac literature of the early fifties: ( L-R ) R. Polidori, Joe Regina Carting, Philip DeGennaro Carting On July 31, Classic Refuse Trucks will be four years old. During this relatively short run, the site has grown from a set of very basic photo albums to a multi-layered collection of articles and features exploring the history of refuse collection vehicles. While some of this material is in need of updating, it has become apparent to me that there is far more material completely absent altogether. Since many of you have a keen interest in the historical aspects, I felt that the first order of business was to compile a list of known refuse body manufacturers, past and present, which would serve as handy reference. I am happy to now announce that list is a reality in the all-new CRT Refuse Body Database. The guide is broken down in to six sections, with manufacturers of the world listed alphabetically. Each entry provides basic information such as country of origin, plant location, the years in which the firm was involved in the trade and the types of products offered. Best of all, there are cross references linked to various albums on and off of the CRT network, pertaining to the each specific entry. For example, all web sites for current builders are linked, and specialist web sites for defunct models (such as with Shelvoke & Drewry) are listed as well. An sample listing for E-Z Pack is shown below:
In some cases, where no other information currently exists, I have linked up some your YouTube videos (such as Knierim) so the reader will be able to at least view an example in action. I have also added re-directs in some cases, where confusion over the brand name might exist. For example, if the reader searches for City Tank Corporation, the listing will redirect them to that company's two brands of refuse trucks, the Roto-Pac and Load-Master. The 'CRT Code' listed is an unofficial prefixing system I use to catalog material by manufacturer, and is there primarily to assist me in organizing the data. Creating in-depth feature albums is a time consuming task. However, with the list in place as a foundation, I will begin to fill in the banks in some cases, putting together some basic albums for those brands so they are at least represented. Major revisions can then be done over time as needed, or as new material becomes available. This new feature replaces the old CRT "Industry Links" page, which is now redundant and will no longer be available. All of the industry links of the old page are included here, and it is difficult to maintain both lists accurately. Currently the list is limited to refuse body (or complete vehicle) builders who produced mechanical loaders/packers, roll-off equipment and related products. Stationary packers are not listed, nor are "accessories" such as cart tippers, and container hoists. Some exceptions have been made for certain pioneers of automated cart dumping mechanisms, and rendering bodies which are similar to or related to refuse body builders. The Database Will Evolve: You may notice omissions, errors or question marks next to some entries, indicating that information is either unknown or unclear (mostly with respect to year of production data). Any information that you, the members can provide would be greatly appreciated. It is my hope that the casual browser will find this new feature interesting, and the historically-minded will appreciate having a handy, centralized database. To the best of my knowledge, a list of this scope for refuse trucks has never been attempted before, and I will strive to make it as accurate as possible. SPARTAN TRUCK BODIES Recently in these pages we had been discussing California micro-builders. These are small, independent builders of refuse equipment whose products are seldom found outside the western United States. One of the brand names mentioned was Spartan Truck Equipment of Sun Valley. Spartan is a truck equipment dealer that has also built their own front loaders and roll-offs in the past. Just a little over one year ago, Bill Tetreault did a great photo shoot out at the yard of Local Rubbish Company, a family owned business hauling trash in Southern California for 68 years. Since this website was on hiatus at that time, the only coverage was on the MSN website, as well as Bill's video work on YouTube. One of Local's front loaders is an interesting top packer nicknamed "The Dinosaur" which is quite likely a Spartan built body. Kathleen from Local indeed confirmed that the body was installed at Spartan (it was purchased used) , but is unsure of the make. For now it is probably safe to tentatively identify it as Spartan built unless evidence to the contrary emerges. 
A living Dinosaur
Meanwhile, I though that it would be appropriate to post a Local Rubbish album for anyone who missed Bill's excellent pictures at MSN, and to showcase these images in a bigger format. In addition to the 'Dinosaur', they have many more classic Bowles units both in their yard and in regular service. I've also included a page of videos of their trucks in action during the spring of 2007. YET ANOTHER WORKING CLASSIC We now take you all the way across America to the Providence, Rhode Island area where an all-original 1978 Pak-Mor RL-330 is still pulling cans for R.J. Souto Disposal of Seekonk, Massachusetts. No photos at this time, but we've got video courtesy of gtpmike2000, a member of our CRT YouTube video group.  This is a great video of a true classic in heavy-duty service. This truck features the old style Pak-Mor tailgate with the packing rams mounted above the trackway. (For reference, the photo at right shows a 1978 model RL-325). Beginning in the late 1970s, the 100 and 200 series began to mount the packer blade cylinders below the trackway, and the 300 series followed suit in about 1985-86. These old style Pak-Mors are getting rare, so I'm happy to see this beast is still on the job after thirty years service. Many thanks to Mike for finding this truck and making video of it for the group. And thanks also to Mr. Souto for keeping this classic in such good shape all these years! (Video may be viewed below) We also have word of a project by CRT Member Nigel Hughes who is developing a working model of a SD Revopak which is of great interest. Nigel fills us in on the details (as posted on the CRT Members Area Message Board in early June: I am building a working model of an S&D Revopak. This model will be made of metal and will have full working parts and will be remote control. It will look like the real thing and work just like the real thing. (There will be a web site in a little bit). The model will be around the same size as the Bruder models that are on the market at this time; this model will be around the same size or just a little bigger. The price of this model I hope will be around £350 for the domestic and around £450 for the bulker. This will have a hoist that will lift the bin and tip it and will have a bin with it. We are about three weeks from starting the prototype, the drawings have been done and we are just about to start building the first one. Please contact me if anyone wants any more information. Sounds like a great idea, and we'll all look forward to seeing the result of this ambitious project. Look for more breaking news on this project as it develops, both here and on the Message Board at the CRT Members Area at MSN Groups. REFUSE TRUCKS ON FILM Once again, Travis Giles has contributed a large list of new film clips for some titles which were on the CRT Films Page, as well as a new title. Video is now available for Exterminator 2 and Random Hearts, which features some vintage iron from the NYC area. Steelyard Blues features some beautiful old front loaders from Dempster and Bemars, while Tommy has an all-too-brief shot of a Dennis Paxit in operation, the first I have ever seen on video. Travis also dug up some video of the Maxon side loader from the comedy Men at Work, and a new title, Fantastic Four in which one of the super-heroes bursts through the side of a C & O front loader! As always, these new titles are noted with an icon for easy reference, and higher quality versions may be found for some titles on MegaUpload by accessing the Titles Only Page. I've also added Stakeout on Dope Street, a hard to find film for which there is unfortunately no video at this time. This film was shown once on Turner Classic Movies earlier this year, and has not been shown again to my knowledge. If you see this on TCM, look for a circa 1950 Leach Packmaster and Gar Wood LP-200 within the first hour of the movie. I tuned in in time to see a scene where these two trucks unload at a dump, and have been advised there was more footage of one of the trucks in an earlier scene, possibly in operation. NOW ON TO THE PHOTOS... First up is a nice photograph obtained by your editor of a Sicard Sanivan being demonstrated for the Department of Sanitation, New York City (DSNY) in 1949. Even though the department had been using mechanized trucks for at least a decade prior to the date this was taken, packer trucks were still a relatively new commodity in the United States, and this show in front of City Hall has drawn a pretty good crowd. The Sanivan was way ahead of its time both from an engineering standpoint as well as aesthetically; the box bracing on its full-eject body makes it look more like a 1960 model than one from '49. 
The DSNY committed to buying one hundred of these advanced bodies, but they hedged their bets with a similar number of Gar Wood Load-Packers and eventually added Roto-Pacs. The latter would become their most common packer right through the 1960s, while Sicard's Sanivan would slowly fade away. For a history and detailed drawings of the Sanivan packer, see the Sicard Album here at CRT. I still have yet to revise the E-Z Pack album, so we will have to make due with some some pictures sent in by Brad Newsome, parts manager for E-Z Pack in Cynthiana, Kentucky. First up is a pair of old vs. new EZ front loaders; at left is the original 1962 folding lift arm design, next to its replacement (with conventional OTC arms) which arrived in the 1980s. This may have been the inspiration for the illustration shown in the last CRT update: 
Here's one of the most unusual rear loaders ever built, the EZ Pack M200/C250 series (M for Municipal, C for Commercial) which debuted in the early 1970s. This is a conventional slide-sweep packer, except that the sweep panel is much bigger than the slide (the opposite of typical industry practice), and the sweep cylinders are mounted rearward as 'pushers'. 
WHAT IS IT ??? Bill Tetreault ran across this next unknown-make front loader during one of his recent excursions in Sun Valley, California. The most unusual feature of this body is the roof-mounted tailgate lift cylinders, which I can't ever recall seeing on a front loader before: 
Bill believes this might possibly be a Pak-Mor, and I can certainly see some similarities with their late model product, particularly with the body bracing structure as seen in this front angle: 
Continued... 
© 2008 Eric Voytko All Rights Reserved Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers Photos from factory brochures/trade advertisements except as noted |