turbo590 Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Guy'sI attended an auction on Tuesday November 22nd, 2010...Thiele Body (Industries) LLC, here in Windber, PA after 108 years in business was liquidated through Chapter 7 Bankruptcy...my heart was broken, BUT I had a goal of obtaining the "photograph" memorabilia, and I got it...pictures from the 50's up until present day..we are talking "old" iron here....this is just the tip of the iceberg...trucks/trailers/etcI have all the pictures scanned in and uploaded to my FOTKI account...please check them out...there is some real history here..and the reference material is priceless...LOTS of MACK pictures.....Kurt McLucashttp://public.fotki.com/turbo590/thiele-industries-t/Sample picture:Thiele Body Company - Thiele Industries Inc – Johnstown, PA - Windber, Pennsylvania – 1901 - W. J. THIELE, JOHNSTOWN, PA - Thiele Body Company was established by W. J. Thiele, who manufactured horse drawn wagons of various types. Gravity or over center type dump bodies were manufactured as well as the hand crank operated dump bodies with cable controls and with the hand cranking mechanism located at the front. Hand operated cable lifts, fire truck type bodies and open side type huckster bodies were also manufactured and installed. The bodies were mounted on the Model T Fords as well as Thomas Flyer trucks. 1920: W. J. THIELE & SONS, INC., PINE & CHERRY STREETS, JOHNSTOWN, PA. Thiele manufactured van bodies consisting of metal sheets nailed to all wood framing with 1/2” oval molding, installed over nails and sealed. They also had form-fitted canvas roofs. 1930: Thiele started manufacturing all steel dump bodies using Garwood and Galion hoists. 1945: Thiele added Marion under-body hoists to its product line. The company also manufactured aluminum kit vans for assembly in the field. 1946: Thiele manufactured the first all aluminum dump body, and was the first to use a full rubber mounting between the aluminum body and the chassis frame and was the first to use a one-piece floor and a one-piece front and roll, which eliminated the add-on cab protectors commonly used in the industry. 1948: Thiele was among the first three major manufacturers to install front mounted telescopic hoists in lieu of the underbody type of hoist. The company also added side loading refuse bodies to its line. 1951: Thiele manufactured its first underbody piston hoist with double lift arms in a complete range of capacities. 1954: January - THIELE, INC., SPRUCE STREET, WINDBER, PA. Thiele developed and manufactured dump body sides of one-piece construction with the boxed top rail formed in sheet metal with the dirt-shedder on bottom formed in sheet metal. Thiele also installed a channel on the interior of the boxed top rail, thus eliminating the outside welding with all welding being done on the interior and adding double strength due to the channel insert to the top rail. 1966: W. J. THIELE & SONS, INC. and THIELE, INC. MERGE. In 1966, the Johnstown plant was closed and all manufacturing was confined to the Windber facility. Thiele received the second order issued by Ryder 1-Way. It was an order for 1,200 van bodies. 1972: Thiele received the first United States government order for 1,000 units for tactical combat units manufactured to civilian specifications instead of military specifications. The company also started manufacturing refuse trailers for Dempster Brothers. 1974: Thiele redesigned its under-body hoist and was the first to use the multi-purpose cylinder, which is both single-acting and double-acting, using the same cylinder and increasing the pressure to 2,500 PSI on both sides of the piston head. 1976: Thiele increased its manufacturing facility by an additional 15,000 square feet. This extra space was devoted exclusively to the manufacture of underbody hoists, meaning that all sizes of underbody hoists could now be shipped to other dump body manufacturers. 1980:Thiele increased and added additional items to its refuse trailer line, including walking floors, open top, compactor compatible and self-contained units as well as packer type trailers. 1981: Thiele redesigned a special lift gate for the city of New York with a common hinge point for lift/gate dump body utilizing unimount and non-shear bolt-type brackets. 1983: Thiele increased its production of various special design bodies for imported chassis including dump units as well as enclosed arbor. 1984: Thiele increased its Chor-Boy line to include fold down/removable sides and various size configurations for the larger, heavy-duty one-ton type chassis. 1993, March 9: THIELE INDUSTRIES, INC. At this time time, Thiele has a 225,000 square foot facility. Thiele Industries, Inc., is a designer and manufacturer of steel and aluminum truck bodies, including dump bodies, from the smallest units installed on mini trucks to the largest off-the-road type for single axle, tandem axle and trailer units. Thiele has increased it’s manufacturing to include refuse trailers in aluminum and steel construction: push-out type, live-floor type, closed top, open top and half roof. Thiele also manufactures a complete line of underbody hoists from class 10 through and including Class 120, which encompasses the entire line of underbody hoists available to the industry from the lightest to the heaviest. All hoists manufactured by Thiele Industries, Inc. are approved by the National Truck Equipment Association. Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/17025-the-end-of-theile-manufacturing-body-company-windber-pa/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Great pictures. Thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/17025-the-end-of-theile-manufacturing-body-company-windber-pa/#findComment-69292 Share on other sites More sharing options...
1960 B-81 Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 The truck in your post looks like one of the ones NYC Department of Sanitation used a Fresh Kills landfill. Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/17025-the-end-of-theile-manufacturing-body-company-windber-pa/#findComment-69297 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackcl96 Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Theile was strong around here,,,,Guys that had them made, always came back for their next truckFirst time we seen problems with Theile was in 1994 Freinds of mine ordered aluminum dumps againThey had a build and delivery date set,, and Theile was 3 months late with the final truckPoor workmanship on just about everything (remember these are long time customers)Many cracks in the welds in the first year The floors wore thin faster then their older bodiesFound a few guys from around here in that album^^Franzosa Trucking Just went up for sale recentlyThe load bearing canopy was common around here,,Was rated for 5 ton ^^N&B EnterprisesSat on the lot for a while and had a Detroit that got passed by little Mack motorshe didn't keep it too long Quote Thanks for hearing me out.You can have the soap box now---------JIM Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/17025-the-end-of-theile-manufacturing-body-company-windber-pa/#findComment-69576 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaddeusW Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 Torbo,Do you have a hanks truck pictures forum account? Plenty of guys would love to see these pictures over there! Quote -Thad What America needs is less bull and more Bulldog! Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/17025-the-end-of-theile-manufacturing-body-company-windber-pa/#findComment-69610 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaddeusW Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 The truck in your post looks like one of the ones NYC Department of Sanitation used a Fresh Kills landfill.They are. This is one of the strangest dump body gates I have even seen, and I have never seen one like it anywhere else. A lift gate is used as a tail gate. Pretty unique and I have seen one of those DSNY dumps not too long ago when some moron dumped about 6-8 cu-yards of dirt across the street from our business. I called it in and a big front loader and the funky dump truck came over to clean it three days later. Quote -Thad What America needs is less bull and more Bulldog! Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/17025-the-end-of-theile-manufacturing-body-company-windber-pa/#findComment-69611 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaddeusW Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 WHERE DID THIS TRUCK GO? An export model perhaps? Front driven axle, 14.00R24 rubber and from the picture it looks like it might even have 8 spoke 80k rears. What a beast! Quote -Thad What America needs is less bull and more Bulldog! Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/17025-the-end-of-theile-manufacturing-body-company-windber-pa/#findComment-69613 Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo590 Posted January 24, 2011 Author Share Posted January 24, 2011 WHERE DID THIS TRUCK GO? An export model perhaps? Front driven axle, 14.00R24 rubber and from the picture it looks like it might even have 8 spoke 80k rears. What a beast!From what I had heard...this Mack was one of few that landed in the Fresh Kills landfill in NY.I do frequent "Hank's" site for reference pictures...I do need to setup an account no doubt.I spent some of my younger years with a friend "stoking" the coal furnaces late at night to keep the plant warm and the paint bays...later on in life I bought 2 bodies from Theile when I owned my excavating business...this was prior to 1994..when issues started to arise.When at the auction..of course I heard of many stories..outside the ones I already heard...none so good...within 6 hours, what took years to obtain, was all gone, tools/equipment/building...Thank you to everyone for looking at the pictures....I think I was lucky to obtain them.Kurt McLucas Quote Link to comment https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/17025-the-end-of-theile-manufacturing-body-company-windber-pa/#findComment-71521 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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