1914 Fruehauf Truck Trailer
Add to SetSummary
In 1914 Detroit blacksmith August Fruehauf devised a simple single axle trailer for lumber dealer Frederic Sibley. Hooked to a modified Ford Model T, it carried Sibley's boat on vacation trips. Sibley then had Fruehauf modify the trailer for hauling lumber. This "semi-trailer," as Fruehauf called it, is the ancestor of trailers carrying freight all over American roads today.
In 1914 Detroit blacksmith August Fruehauf devised a simple single axle trailer for lumber dealer Frederic Sibley. Hooked to a modified Ford Model T, it carried Sibley's boat on vacation trips. Sibley then had Fruehauf modify the trailer for hauling lumber. This "semi-trailer," as Fruehauf called it, is the ancestor of trailers carrying freight all over American roads today.
Artifact
Truck trailer
Date Made
1914
Creators
Place of Creation
United States, Michigan, Detroit
Creator Notes
Made by August Charles Fruehauf and Otto Neumann in Detroit, Michigan.
Location
Not on exhibit to the public.
Object ID
62.114.1
Credit
From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Fruehauf Corporation.
Material
Iron (Metal)
Wood (Plant material)
Rubber (Material)
Color
Black (Color)
Yellow
Dimensions
Height: 72 in
Width: 71 in
Length: 167 in
Inscriptions
Forward sections on each side: F. M. SIBLEY/ LUMBER CO. Trailer chassis on left side: FRUEHAUF/ TRAILER/ DETROIT
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