When a trucker gets out of the truck’s sleeping compartment and leaves, perhaps to flex his muscles or take a cold shower and a cup of coffee, that individual seems to be enjoying the job. Sure, today’s beefy-looking 18-wheelers attribute their fame and vigor to their comparatively larger engines and off-road conquering design. Sometimes, though, it’s worth looking back on the well-trodden path this profession has followed.
But first, what is a semi-trailer?
There’s certainly a lot we don’t know about 18-wheelers, including the fact that they’re “semi-trucks.” As it turns out, the mastermind behind the whole idea, one Alexander Winton from Cleveland, Ohio, came up with the first of these designs. His semi-trailer vehicles featured a cargo trailer attached to and supported at the front end by a tractor fifth wheel.
And, today’s tractor trailers or 18-wheelers are a bit different than they were in the 1890s. Yes, the unique crop of vehicles is truly an eyesore when cruising our country roads, but they are a fundamental necessity. Some can even carry up to 800,000 pounds. More than 70% of all merchandise in the US reaches its final destination thanks to these convenient vehicles.
History at a glance:
1898: Alexander Winton creates the first semi-trailers
1899: Winton begins to commercially produce the trucks.
1916: Mack joins the fray with his rear-axle truck
1920: The first “truck boom.”
1939: Peterbilt sells the first semi-trucks
1953: Freightliner introduces the first sleeper roof
1986: The Peterbilt 379 becomes the best-selling truck
Alexander Winton: How he invented the first trailer truck designed to haul cars.
The idea of shipping goods by road was born in the 1890s when an automobile manufacturer discovered a need for a convenient vehicle to transport goods. Alexander Winton of The Winton Motor Carriage Company of Cleveland created an 18-wheeler while running his car sales business. The Scottish man was experiencing tremendous growth in his car business and needed to be “smooth” and better than his competitors.
You see, Winton would experience endless difficulties delivering cars to his large number of buyers spread across the US. He feared that he would literally have to drive the new car to the customer’s garage and risk damaging it. The very idea of driving someone a thousand miles away would practically cost a lot, perhaps more than shipping them.
As a result, the car delivery problem facilitated the introduction of the trucking concept with 18-wheelers. All that was needed was a tractor and the truck, although one surprising drawback of all was that the semi-trailer could only haul one vehicle at a time.
But the invention of the “car carrier” not only paved the way for mass sales, but also ushered in a new era in car shipping. In 1899, the renowned automobile manufacturer finally released the first semi-trailer. Before that, notably in 1898, he had managed to sell as many as 22 cars made and another 100 cars by 1899.
As mentioned above, the first semi included the skeleton of a custom tractor, but with a cart secured to the rear. It meant that, contrary to the common idea at the time: the engines were built in the front, the engine was in the rear.
And, while early versions proved useful, they were labor intensive and yet could only carry a single car. However, its growth in demand created a whirlwind of modifications aimed at improving its utility and productivity. The phenomenon resulted in Alexander Winton’s competing car manufacturing companies relentlessly trying to usurp him in business.
The expansion:
With him focusing on creating better performing engines, his interest in improving the design of his early semi-trucks would continue to wane. Credit goes to names like Detroit’s August Charles Fruehauf, who helped facilitate the ship-shipping process. But it is John C. Endebrock (1918) who had so much experience building horse-drawn carriages that he decided to use the same knowledge and inspire the creation of the “trailmobile”.
The 1918 design would allow the trailer to be hitched to the vehicle easily and by a single operator. It was an improvement over the previous one that needed at least three men to connect it to the car’s chassis, and therefore an instant success. To this day, Trailmobile continues to exist as a great brand.
There was yet another modification in the 1920s, thanks to George Cassens. He was a savvy car salesman who often delivered cars to buyers. He therefore created a semi-trailer that could carry up to four, and its hauling capacity increased. Much of the inspiration for creating it came from the prohibitively high shipping costs.
Just when you thought the new semi-trailer would steal the show, Mack Trucks arrived. Between 1929 and 1944, the firm would grow in popularity thanks to its self-starting truck engines. Mac was suddenly a trendsetter in the industry, especially since all of his trucks were durable. More than 2,601 semi-trailers or full trailers in that period was no small feat.
In a period spanning more than a century, Winton’s two-wheel semi-trailer has evolved into an eighteen-wheel semi-trailer with three axles. And with semi-truck use serving as the backbone of the commercial trucking industry, the fact that more than 70% of all freight is transported by vehicle in the US today is no surprise.