The Evolution of the Semi-Truck, Part 2: Fruehauf Trailer Corporation

In our first post discussing the evolution of the semi truck, we talked about Alexander Winton and the Winton Motor Carriage Company. Today we will talk about the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation came to be.

For more images of Fruehauf's semi-trailers, visit The Old Motor

In 1914, August Charles Fruehauf (1868-1830) was a blacksmith and carriage builder living near Detroit when a local lumber merchant (Frederic Sibley) asked him to build a trailer for his boat, that would be hauled behind a Ford automobile. In just a couple of days, Fruehauf and his team developed plans for how this "semi-trailer" would function. Sibley was so happy with the product, that he contracted for more trailers to be built for hauling his lumber. This side job became a successful business and, in 1918, it came to be named the Fruehauf Trailer Company. Over the next few decades, under Fruehauf and his son, the company developed many different types of trailers. 

Piggybacking on his original creation, he also paved the way for the the shipping container, the 5th wheel, and many other innovations... many of which are still in use today. Fruehauf developed over 150 patents for military products alone, for use in World Wars I, II and the Korean War. In total, the amount of patents he developed went well into the thousands.


Up Next: John C. Endebrock, and putting it all together