Peterbilt: The Need For Trucks In The Trucking Industry

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Peterbilt
When our country was at war, the military identified the need for trucks. Trucks were very important because it was difficult to find away to transport all the supplies, troops, and food. After WW1, this brought an increase in good roads plus an expanding economy. This helped grow the trucking industry. The 1920’s were the years of innovation. The balloon tires were introduced along with the rail road’s that were established “piggy-back” service. The first mechanically refrigerated van was introduced. In 1925, there were 500,000 miles of hard surface roads in the U.S. In 1926, a fully loaded 2 ton truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days.
Theodore Alfred Peterman was the founder of Peterbilt Motors Company in 1937. Theodore had a problem. He couldn’t get logs from the forest to the lumber mill quickly or efficiently. The first truck Peterman and his employees helped rebuild was an old army truck. The army truck helped solve his problem. He figured out that if he placed the battery on the starter instead of the crank, it would work. Peterman did not live to long after starting his business and selling his invention for six years. His wife Ida Peterman sold the business to seven individuals within the Peterbilt organization a year after Theodore died. He did in 1945. When it was sold to those seven individuals, it was expanded into a serious producer of heavy duty trucks. The shareholders eventually sold it to PACCAR (Pacific Car & Foundry Co.) They had already acquired the assets of Kenworth in 1945 and was planning on becoming a player in the heavy truck market. Pacific Car made Peterbilt Motors a wholly owned subsidiary. Peterbilt finally carried its own tradition while retaining its ...

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...hed “piggy-back” service. The first mechanically refrigerated van was introduced. In 1925, there were 500,000 miles of hard surface roads in the U.S. In 1926, a fully loaded 2 ton truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days.
Theodore Peterman couldn’t have been better inspiration for trucking industries. It started out with just an idea on how to move the logs from the forest to his lumber fast and efficiently and it turned out to be one of the most well known trucking industries in today’s economy. Unfortunately, Theodore had past November 16, 1944 of cancer. His wife Ida had to sell the organization and land. Peterbilt trucking has helped with not only carrying heavy equipment but also became a great asset to our society. The Peterbilt industry has worked on making Peterbilt trucks more Eco friendly. This became their environmental mission.

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