Load Lugger Brooks Equipment and Mfg. Company Knoxville, Tennessee By Eric Voytko 1939 Brooks Load Lugger hauling rock at a quarry     Brothers Ernest and Wallace Brooks formed their company in December of 1937, with the merger of two Knoxville firms, The Day Pulverizing Company and Brooks-Payne-Osborne Equipment Company. They produced mining, quarry and road construction equipment, with the latter becoming the main product after a few years. In 1938, the Load Lugger was introduced, a lift truck body with a hydraulic-powered boom which was used to load and dump portable metal containers. The original Load Lugger used a dead lift hoist to load containers, which were carried at the back of the truck. It closely resembled the Dempster Dumpster, which appeared on the market about the same time (and was made in the same city), and was envisioned as a dirt/rock hauler for the construction industry.     In 1940, Brooks patented an improved version, entirely unlike the Dempster, which used a pivoting boom that reached back over the container, and lifted it directly on to the truck bed. Twin hydraulic cylinders, affixed to the front of the body, acted directly on the lift arms to operate the boom, while rear-mounted outriggers prevented the front end from rising when hoisting heavy loads. The filled container was carried to the dumpsite, and tilted rearward to discharge the load. The Brooks system allowed for somewhat longer and more spacious container to be used than the box-like Dempster "Dumpsters", improving its potential as a refuse hauler. 1946 Brooks Load-Lugger advertisement     With the return of civilian manufacturing in 1946, Brooks began advertising their Load Lugger as a garbage hauler. By 1950, a 15-cubic yard enclosed refuse body was available, being fed from a hand-loaded 3/4-cubic yard bucket, which was periodically dumped by the lift arms. In 1956, the company was sold to Borg Warner, and moved to Michigan as a subsidiary of their Ingersoll Kalamazoo Division. Although the Load-Lugger could be used to lift and haul many things, Borg Warner continued the emphasis on refuse collection, introducing large, enclosed skips with hinged doors for use by apartments and businesses. A roll-off unit was added to the line called the Huge Haul, with boxes up to 40-cubic yards.     In early 1961, The Heil Company announced that it had purchased Load-Lugger from Borg Warner. Production was moved to Heil's factory at Milwaukee, with the Load Lugger and Huge Haul trade names being used for many years on Heil products. Decades later, Heil sold off the line, with the newly-independent Huge Haul name being applied to both luggers and roll-offs and manufactured in Big Bend, Wisconsin. Benlee of Romulus, Michigan purchased Huge Haul in March, 2016.     The lugger-type container and lift pioneered by the Brooks brothers (usually referred to as a "skip") remains popular today, particularly for scrap hauling, where it has been a favorite since its inception. In Europe and Great Britain, it is also used widely as a commercial refuse container (the equivalent of American 10-yard rear-load containers), which can be serviced by specially-equipped heavy packer trucks. The many uses of the Load Lugger 1950 15-yard enclosed body. A 3/4 yard rear bucket was hand-loaded, then raised and dumped into the body. Hauling a scrap metal container (left), dumping a refuse container (right) Borg Warner Load Lugger with enclosed container for apartments and offices Container in transport position, resting on truck bed With outriggers extended to stabilize truck, container is lifted towards ground With container locked in, the boom up-ends it to discharge the load 1960 advertisement for the Huge Haul, Borg-Warner's roll-off system SELECTED PATENTS Patent # Description Inventor Assignee Date US2313514 Loading, hauling, and dumping apparatus Brooks Brooks Equip. April 10, 1940 US2345790 Bucket or receptacle for loading... Brooks Brooks Equip. April 10, 1940 US2345789 Jacklike support for loading, hauling, ... Brooks Brooks Equip. April 10, 1940 See also: Heil, Huge Haul, Benlee 9/4/16 © 2016 All Rights Reserved Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers Photos from factory brochures/trade advertisements except as noted