Shown above is the first Dempster Dumpmaster in regular service. The Truck belonged to the City of Asheville, North Carolina, which lies about one hundred miles east of the Dempster Factory in Knoxville. This front loader attachment was coupled to a 20-yard Packa-Van body built by Brown Truck and Trailer Company of Charlotte, North Carolina, and was in service as early as August of 1955. This truck serviced 36 two-yard containers throughout town. The dump time per box was claimed to be one minute. On its 30 mile route, the truck collected 20 boxes in 3-1/2 hours with a maximum payload of 28 boxes. The city reported being quite pleased with their Dumpmaster, and had on order more boxes of 1-1/2 at 3 yards capacity. 
The Packa-Van was a full travel side loader, their earliest known model dating to 1953. It is similar to the old MB Packer, having a packer plate traversing the body which was powered by a winch and cable arrangement. Packa-Vans used an electric clutch to connect the winch to the truck powerplant, which is somewhat unique, and claimed 35,000 pounds packer plate force. To what extent these were modified by Dempster is not fully known, though the top door arrangement for this application is one obvious difference. Not much else is known about Packa-Van, and whether the firm ever made a hydraulic version. Another company, Marion Metal Products had been building a hydraulic side loader, the Hydropaka, since the 1940's, which could potentially have been coupled to a Dumpmaster. This seems unlikely though, since barring major modifications, the Marion body height was probably way too low for a front loader application. The arrival of the Hydro E-Z Pack in 1956 would spell the decline of the old mechanical packers, most of which had vanished by the early 1960's. 
Fleet of three GMC/Packa-Vans and two Ford/Roto-Pacs at Youngstown, Ohio in 1956 
1/6/08 © 2008 Photos from factory brochures/advertisements except as noted Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers |