 
Ebeling Manufacturing Company (EMCO)
Plainview, Texas
by Eric Voytko
In the wake of the groundbreaking, on-the-job trials of automated refuse loaders carried out in the city of Scottsdale, Arizona during the early 1970s, Ebeling Manufacturing become the first company to market route-ready automated systems to cities across America. Brothers Ernest and Franklin Ebeling launched EMCO officially in 1973, but had been working on automated designs since 1969. The EMCO hoist, a chain-driven lift mechanism, was a variation of the experimental Rapid Rail hoist created by Marc Stragier for the city of Scottsdale. While Scottsdale had used 90 and 300 gallon round plastic containers for residential collections, necessitating a "gripper" arm lift, the EMCO system was designed for their own 1-4 yard rectangular bins. A hook-type coupler was used, eliminating the need for the complex gripper
The following series of photos from the late 1970s shows the EMCO hoist emptying a four yard can in a residential alley collection system. The packer body is a modified H-series side loader by Pak-Mor:
Lift extends horizontally away from truck to engage container
Chain hoist raises container off of ground, retracts horizontally towards truck
Chain hoist lifts can, which is inverted as it follows curve of tracks towards the top
As the EMCO was one of the few commercially available rail lifts available during the mid-seventies, it was selected by Scottsdale to replace some of their existing fleet when that city ceased building their own experimental refuse trucks. Two Pak-Mor barrel trucks with EMCO hoists were purchased in 1977, modified with gripper arms by Government Innovators Inc., the company formed by Marc Stragier which would later be known as Rapid Rail. This kind of 'cross-breeding' among brands was not uncommon in the early years of automated systems.
EMCO had also developed their own round packer body, and was able to supply buyers with either complete automated refuse systems, or individual components which could be custom-tailored to a communities collection needs. The truck pictured below is a good example. This 1977 Chevy cabover is fitted with an EMCO packer and rail lift, with gripper arm made by Rapid Rail:
EMCO packer and hoist with Rapid Rail gripper used by Sydney, Nebraska
EMCO in the 1980's
The early 1980s saw the introduction of an all-new lift system, powered by two hydraulic cylinders; one 18" stroke ram for lifting, and a 30" stroke ram for horizontal extension. The EMCO packer body was available in 20, 25 or 30 cubic yard capacities. It featured a powered, bubble tailgate assembly and a unique packer cylinder. The horizontally mounted telescopic ram had only two stages.; the first stage was extended for packing, and the second for ejecting. Thus, an abnormally large protrusion was needed in the packer blade to house the cylinder, as shown on the 30 yard body below:
As their speed increased, automated systems become more and more attractive to cost-conscious municipalities. The new EMCO lift could hoist, dump and return containers in 10-16 seconds. This was a big improvement over the chain hoist system of the 1970s, which had a cycle time of 26-30 seconds. The company scored its biggest sale in 1981 to the City of St. Louis, and also listed Detroit and Phoenix among its customers. The images below demonstrate the lifting and dumping action using a 3 yard container:
Innovative EMCO fell victim to the punishing interest rates of the early 1980s, which led to the sale of the company to an investment group in 1983. What promised to be a much-needed financial shot in arm turned into disaster as EMCO went into receivership. In later years, the EMCO system was subsequently produced as part of the product line of Rand Automated Compaction Systems of Raleigh, North Carolina. When Rand folded in the early 1990s, the EMCO resurfaced as the Impac by Mabar Inc. of Fairview, Oklahoma. Mabar became Pendpac, which eventually discontinued the Impac side loader. Today, the original EMCO design is once again being built in Texas by Southwestern Equipment Company (SEC) and is known as the Challenger.
SELECTED PATENTS
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Patent # |
Description |
Inventor |
Assignee |
Date |
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US3910434A |
Mechanically actuated side loading... |
Ebeling, et.al. |
EMCO |
October 29, 1973 |
4/5/09 (revised 5/6/18)
© 2009
All Rights Reserved
Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers
Photos from factory brochures/trade advertisements except as noted
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