Roto-Pac and Load-Master: A History of the City Tank Corporation
By Eric Voytko

The Beginning: 1948 Roto-Pac     City Tank Corporation of Corona, Queens, was a builder of street flusher rigs, and as such probably had, by 1948, established a sales relationship with the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY). Additionally, Hagen Industries, whose portfolio also included Morse-Boulger, a manufacturer of municipal incinerators, was the owner City Tank.     Being situated next door to the nation's biggest buyer of refuse trucks, it was only natural that City Tank would get into the refuse body business. The DSNY had built up a large fleet of escalator, or conveyor type refuse loaders during the previous decade. These 'Kurtz Conveyors' were actually designed by a Department mechanic, with the City owning patent rights. A continuously rotating chain-and-flight conveyor carried refuse up the tailgate and into the enclosed body, with no compaction. The DSNY was not equipped for large-scale manufacturing, thus the construction of these early bodies was contracted to established builders such as Heil and Gar Wood.     Their first product was actually yet another DSNY in-house design created by Foreman Mechanic Ernest Miller in 1945. Whereas the early DSNY conveyor trucks merely loaded the refuse mechanically, Miller's design used a rotating pulverizer drum within its loading hopper, which offered some degree of compaction by crushing refuse as it forced it into the body. City Tank would begin manufacturing an improved version of the Miller design in 1948, and it was offered for sale publicly as the Roto-Pac.     The heart of the early Roto-Pac was the rotary crusher drum, driven by a large hydraulic motor on the side of the hopper. The drum was equipped with four vanes, mounted ninety degrees apart and each spanning the width of the drum. The vanes were located within slots cut into the drum, and were alternately extended and retracted by eccentric guides in at the side of the drum, crushing and dragging refuse from the hopper continuously as crews loaded it. The vanes crushed the incoming refuse against the spring-loaded floor plate, forming a constriction at the base of the hopper. The plate was adjustable and could be set to crush bulkier refuse, or to pass straight ash loads. Profile of the Roto-Pac, and cut-away drawing of the rotary vane pulverizer     A compression ratio of three to one was advertised for the new Roto-Pac. Other advantages touted were its low loading height and continuous loading method. The crushed refuse was claimed to make better incinerator fuel, and increased scow loads. Roto-Pac was essentially a DSNY-designed truck with many features the department had traditionally prized, and City Tank probably had high expectations for their new product.     However, the DSNY wound up buying from Gar Wood in 1949, with an order for 400 trucks equipped with Load-Packer bodies, plus an additional 100 Load-Packer tailgates that were retrofitted to older 22-yard bodies. It was the City's first major purchase of batch-loading packers, and undoubtedly was a serious blow to City Tank. A mere 62 Roto-Pac tailgates were ordered by the DSNY to upgrade existing department trucks.     Perhaps the pulverizer drum was considered too costly to maintain and repair, as it would be subject to constant and severe punishment. Or, the City may have been sold on the Gar Wood's larger hopper, which could handle bulkier items, or simply by a lower bid for the Load-Packer. The Roto-Pac was advertised nationally in Municipal Index in 1949 and 1950, but seems never to have found much found acceptance. City Tank's first attempt to gain a foothold in New York may have failed, but they would regroup for 1951 with a completely revised body, that would at last get the attention of the DSNY. Patent # Description Inventor Assignee Date US2573269 Loader for Refuse Collecting Trucks Ernest C.C. Miller April 10, 1946 US2627988 Refuse Truck Loader Thomas, et al City Tank Corp April 17, 1948 US2573270 Loader for Refuse Collecting Trucks Ernest C.C. Miller November 22, 1948 US2557142 Refuse Truck Tailgate Donald S. Reitz City Tank Corp December 7, 1948 7/4/10 © 2010 All Rights Reserved Photos from factory brochures/advertisements except as noted Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers