We’re lead to believe the concept of the Dump body was first realized in the farms of 19th century western Europe. Thornycroft, a UK-based vehicle manufacturer, developed a steam dust-cart in 1896 with a tipper mechanism. The first motorized dump vehicles in the United States were developed by small equipment companies such as The Fruehauf Trailer Corporation, Galion Buggy Co. and Lauth-Juergens among many others around 1910. Hydraulic dump beds were introduced by Wood Hoist Co. shortly after. Such companies flourished during World War I due to massive wartime demand. August Fruehauf had obtained military contracts for his semi-trailer, invented in 1914 and later created the partner vehicle, the semi-truck for use in World War I. After the war, Fruehauf introduced hydraulics in his trailers. They offered hydraulic lift gates, hydraulic winches and a dump trailer in the early 1920s. Fruehauf became the premier supplier of dump trailers and their famed “bathtub dump” was considered to be the best by heavy haulers, road and mining construction firms.
Companies like Galion Buggy Co. continued to grow after the war by manufacturing a number of express bodies and some smaller dump bodies that could be easily installed on either stock or converted (heavy-duty suspension and drivetrain) Model T chassis prior to 1920. Galion and Wood Mfg. Co. built all of the dump bodies offered by Ford on their heavy-duty AA and BB chassis during the 1930s. Galion (now Galion Godwin Truck Body Co.) is the oldest known truck body manufacturer still in operation today.
The first known [Canadian] dump truck was developed in Saint John, New Brunswick when Robert T. Mawhinney attached a dump box to a flat bed truck in 1920. The lifting device was a winch attached to a cable that fed over sheave (pulley) mounted on a mast behind the cab. The cable was connected to the lower front end of the wooden dump box which was attached by a pivot at the back of the truck frame. The operator turned a crank to raise and lower the box. Thus, the first dump bed apparatus on a wheeled vehicle was patented in Canada.
