Rudolf Diesel, a German inventor and mechanical engineer, is most well-known for his invention of the diesel engine. His treatise, “Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat-Engine to Replace the Steam Engine and the Combustion Engines Known Today,” formed the basis of his invention of the diesel engine.

1895
Rudolf Diesel is granted a patent for an efficient, compression ignition engine.

“[T]he Motor Carrier Act of 1980…is historic legislation [to the trucking industry]. It will remove 45 years of excessive and inflationary government restrictions and red tape. It will have a powerful anti-inflationary effect, reducing consumer costs by as much as $8 billion each year. And by ending wasteful practices, it will conserve annually hundreds of millions of gallons of precious fuel…The heart of the Motor Carrier Act of 1980 is its call for prompt and sweeping change of the regulations that have insulated the trucking industry from competition since 1935. No longer will trucks travel empty because of rules absurdly limiting the kinds of’ goods a truck may carry. No longer will trucks be forced to travel hundreds of miles out of their way for no reason or prohibited senselessly from stopping to pick up and deliver goods at points along their routes. The Motor Carrier Act of 1980 will bring the trucking industry into the free enterprise system, where it belongs. It will create a strong presumption in favor of entry by new truckers and expanded service by existing firms. It will build upon progress the Interstate Commerce Commission has begun to make in opening opportunities for minorities, for women, and for all truckers who are eager to provide good service at a competitive price.”

– President Jimmy Carter, Motor Carrier Act of 1980 Statement on Signing S. 2245 Into Law.

Deregulation (or, more accurately, greatly reduced regulation) of interstate trucking saw virtually no increase in the volume of freight handled. However, since the Act was passed, the number of new firms has dramatically increased, especially low-cost, non-union carriers. Deregulation also allowed contract rate making without regulatory review, and it opened the field to freight brokers who could manage better matchups between the demand for transport services and the availability of carriers.

The Red Ball Express was a famous truck convoy system that supplied Allied forces moving quickly through Europe after breaking out from the D-Day beaches in Normandy in 1944. To expedite cargo shipment to the front, trucks emblazoned with bright red circles attached to the grille followed a marked route that was closed to civilian traffic. These trucks also had priority on regular roads.

The Goodyear Wingfoot Express fleet’s design and extensive trips were completed with one purpose in mind — to convince shippers and truckers that trucks on pneumatic tires need no longer be limited to local hauls. At the time, truckers didn’t believe long hauls were practical and refused to give the new air-filled tires a reasonable try.

It wasn’t an easy task. On April 9, 1917, drivers Harry Apple and Harry Smeltzer climbed aboard a five-ton Packard truck with pneumatic tires and headed east. Their cargo wasn’t a payload on that first run. Instead, they carried a dozen spare tires, an air compressor, 500 feet of rope, a heavy block and tackle, extra gas, oil, and water. They needed them all and more.

Accompanying the Packard was a photographer, a public relations man, three engineers, and a shop foreman. Barely outside of Akron, the truck became mired in mud. From there on, the crew experienced broken bridges, two engine failures, a blowout every 75 miles, and other sundry problems.

Walter Shively, the tire engineer, promptly applied the lessons learned and frantic hours were spent redesigning and improving the tires. Stronger beads and heavier side walls greatly reduced the blowout problem. Within the year seven trucks were making the Akron-New England trip with a running time of 80 hours.

In 1918, at the request of the American Red Cross, the trucks were sent to Chicago to transport 18 tons of badly needed medical supplies to Baltimore Harbor, destined for France. That run took just 100 hours.

But the biggest challenge was yet to come. In the fall of 1918, the caravan completed the first of four 7,763-mile round trips from Boston to San Francisco. There isn’t a record of how long that first trip took, but by the time the last trip was completed there was a new transcontinental record of just 14 days from coast to coast.

The Goodyear Wingfoot Express is a true milestone of the trucking industry.

In 1938, the forerunner of Thermo King Corp. built its first mechanical refrigeration unit for a trailer. The three men who made trailer refrigeration possible were Joseph Numero, a lawyer turned entrepreneur who owned a movie theater; M.B. Green, a business school graduate who formed a quasi-partnership with Numero; and Frederick McKinley Jones, a self-taught African American handyman who worked for Numero at the movie theater.

The story of how the first refrigeration unit was born is an industry classic. One sultry summer afternoon Numero was playing golf with Harry Werner, founder of Werner Transportation Co., and an unnamed air conditioner “expert.” Werner was called to the phone to hear that one of his rigs had broken down and 10 tons of perishable food had to be thrown away.

Exasperated, he turned to the air conditioning man and said, “If you can cool a whole theater, why can’t you cool my trailers?” The expert gave a hundred reasons why it couldn’t be done. But, on impulse, Numero blurted, “We’ll build you a unit … in 30 days!”

Back at the theater, Numero challenged Jones to the task, and the handyman-turned-engineer immediately went into action. He obtained a 4-cylinder Waukesha engine, picked up components here and there, scoured junkyards for needed parts, and put them all together in a huge package. It was clumsy, cumbersome, weighed 2,800 lbs, and was mounted under the trailer with a lot of external plumbing. But it worked, at least when the trailer was standing still. On the road, however, dirt clogged the system and jammed the controls.

Jones went back to his shop, shaved off 400 lbs, made numerous improvements, and the Thermo King Model A went to market. Yet all agreed that a better location was needed. Next came the nose-mounted self-contained version, and the rest of the story is history. Vast improvements followed, including diesel or propane power, sophisticated controls, and the ability to heat as well as cool. Within a few years it opened vast new opportunities for long haul trucking and boosted the fledgling frozen food industry to a prominent place on the nation’s dining room tables.