Holmes-Owen Loader Ernest Holmes Company Chattanooga, Tennessee     James Edward Owen of High Point, North Carolina patented his first truck loader in 1937, and designed and improved version after World War II. These were accessory "lift arms", which were attached to a standard dump truck and powering a front-mounted shovel. The hydraulically-powered arms raised the bucket over the cab, and dumped the contents into the dump body. A general-purpose type loader, it was used for loading dirt, and also found duty collecting piles of rubbish from streets, mostly dumped by motor road sweepers during the course of their routes.     By 1951, Owen's loader was being built and distributed by the Ernest Holmes Company, the well-known manufacturer of tow truck bodies. By the mid-1950s, modified versions of the Holmes-Owen Loader were being used with compaction refuse bodies to lift and dump detachable containers, which served businesses and large dwellings. Perhaps not coincidentally, Owen's home town of High Point also produced the Packa-Van refuse body. The City of Asheville (NC) had in service a Packa-Van with Holmes-Owen arms by 1955, serving 36 containers. The same year saw a collaboration with Dempster, with similar rigs being marketed as the Dempster Dumpmaster system, and using a cylindrical Pak-Mor body. These were quickly supplanted by bodies and arms of Dempster's own design, which were simpler and far more efficient.     Holmes-Owen continued to build their tuck loaders for a few years, but they were discontinued sometime in the 1960s. Although never a major force in refuse collection, they had a dramatic influence on the industry, spawning the first eastern front load refuse trucks. Holmes-Owen Loader competed with Lodal, MB, Western Industrial and P-B Loader, all of which built similar products. See Also: Dempster Dumpmaster, Packa-Van and U.S. Front Loader Development A rare Holmes-Owen Loader used with a large, non-compacting open rubbish body by a Southern California hauler. Although Holmes was available nationwide, the SoCal market was already saturated with locally-produced front-load equipment (From the S. Vincen Bowles Photo Archive) SELECTED PATENTS Patent # Description Inventor Assignee Date US2119139 Loading Device Owen, et.al. American Devices Inc. August 24, 1937 US2441591 Loading device for trucks or other mobile vehicles Owen June 18, 1948 8/6/16 © 2016 All Rights Reserved Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers Photos from factory brochures/trade advertisements except as noted