{{short description|American garbage truck}} {{refimprove|date=May 2017}} thumb|right|upright=1.2|A Garwood Load Packer in 1943 The '''Garwood Load Packer''' (sometimes stylized as '''Gar Wood Load-Packer''') is an American waste collection vehicle that was built by Garwood Industries in Detroit, Michigan. Engineered by Melvin Donald Silvey, the Packer brought significant changes in the mode and automation of garbage collection in the United States.
The Load Packer was one of the first vehicles to utilize a compactor, increasing the truck's hauling capacity and reducing the costs of larger payloads. The Load Packer was introduced in 1938, but significant numbers weren't manufactured until after World War II. Various reports of communities buying, or considering buying, Load Packers can be found in newspapers of the era—one such report from 1948 in Redondo Beach, California, cited a cost of $7,200 {{USDCY|7200|1948}} for a Load Packer as compared to $4,200 {{USDCY|4000|1948}} for a then-conventional garbage truck, but "it should pay for itself the first year" due to efficiency improvements.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-redondo-reflex-automatic-truck-picks/138340387/ |title=Automatic Truck Picks Up Rubbish in Demonstration |newspaper=The Redondo Reflex |location=Redondo Beach, California |page=1 |date=October 22, 1948 |accessdate=January 8, 2024 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
By 1949, over 2,500 of these trucks were in use across the United States and Canada.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tigerdude.com/garbage/rearload/garwood/loadpacker.html |title=Gar Wood Load-Packer |website=tigerdude.com |date=2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216095735/http://www.tigerdude.com/garbage/rearload/garwood/loadpacker.html |archive-date=December 16, 2018 |via=Wayback Machine}}</ref> The trucks were also used outside of North America, beginning as early as 1949 in Australia.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/newcastle-morning-herald-and-miners-adv/138341221/ |title=Garbage Truck for Lake Shire |newspaper=Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate |location=Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia |page=3 |date=December 16, 1948 |accessdate=January 8, 2024 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Today, almost all waste collection vehicles utilize some type of compaction mechanism.
==See also== * Garfield Wood (1880–1971), founder and namesake of Garwood Industries
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Waste collection vehicles Category:Cars of the United States
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