Always love seeing vintage Mack B-Series trucks, especially with the integrated sleeper. But the twin Briggs and Stratton single cylinder (5hp?) gas engines perched on the shelf on the front of the trailer are a bit of a mystery. I’m sure someone here will have the answer.
That’s were refrigeration equipment typically resides on a refrigerated trailer. Is this even a reefer? I don’t see any compressors or condensers. And why two engines? With such modest-sized gas tanks? It’s operated by the Elsa Canning Co. from Texas, although the location here might be in California.
I’m guessing generators for power to the sleeper when the main engine is off.
. . .which turned out to be a really dumb guess.
Don’t be too hard on yourself; that wasn’t an unreasonable early supposition.
Looks like an old “ice-blower” trailer. Cooling was supplied by ice packed in the nose of the trailer. Cooling was kept uniform by a blower motor that circulated air past the ice and throughout the trailer. The trailers like this I remember had the fan powered by the truck electrical system when hooked up. The separate engine was started if a loaded trailer was to be parked separated from the truck as could occur at processing plants. Never saw one of these with 2 engines though. Might be something else entirely, but my bet is this is an ice-blower trailer.
That makes sense, and your comment triggered a memory about hearing this once before. I’m quite sure that’s what it must be.
Interesting. Sort of a transition between plain ice-packing and refrigeration. It would certainly be easier and cleaner than packing ice over and around the load.
I knew about ice packed trailers and refrigerated ones. But i never heard of this transition thing. Interesting, thanks for explaining
Funny last year I brought my kid a “cooling cube” based on the same principle. Two plastic ice packs per side and an electric motorb lowing the air. Mini a/c but did the job.
It had to have used for local only as the fuel tanks as so small. Absent is a recoil starter on either engine, it must have been a real pain starting them so high off the ground.
I’m surprised that there isn’t a ladder attached to the front of the trailer to make wrapping the cord to start and refueling easier.
Notice the little doors (one closed and one barely visible one on the opposite side open) flanking the engines, which look like 7 1/4 horsepower “large-frame” B&S engines to me. The doors look like they are insulated, and remind me of the hatches used to ice railroad cars years ago. Might they be the same here, either to fill ice compartments, or to allow cold air circulation through the trailer? There may be similar small doors located low on the rear doors, as well, also connected with cooling the compartment. I wonder if the engines were for redundancy or if they were running sequentially to extend the running time (notice the small fuel tank on each engine, and no auxiliary tank provision. I hope someone can expand on this.
Redundant engines must have meant the cargo was precious. Agree they look like large frame motors. But those B series Macks were everywhere when I was a kid, and even were fairly common later. The follow on R series was ubiquitous as well, and those were styled by Bob Bourke, the ’53 Studebaker Starliner stylist.
Bunker blower trailer.
@GOM is correct. There was a local truck line here in the 60s-70s that used these, model 14 B&S engines. I worked for the state B&S distributor and sold parts to them.
I love Mack Trucks. They were once popular here in Europe, too. Especially the cabover models. The marque is a true legend in what was called “middle east trucking” back in the da.
Sweet Mack B-series! Once also assembled here, around 15 km south-east of my place. Their jobs: moving earth, hauling bricks and everything else that was heavy.
Realy. Holland also assembled GM cars well into the 80s to. Thought manufacturing was limited to the States and Australia.
Some more info here:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/truckstop-classics-ftf-trucks-screaming-jimmies-going-dutch/
It would appear not to be an early attempt at a lane monitoring system.
The Wikipedia entry for the Great Dane trailer company mentions this type of trailer. The claim is that, in response to increased demand for fresh produce after WWII, the company, beginning in 1947, built refrigerated trailers. The early versions contained a wet ice bunker and a gasoline engine air circulation system.