Classic Machinery: The history of the Towed Scraper

The history of the towed scraper: by Richard Campbell

Early ‘Fresno’ type towed scrapers (named after the area in the US where the type originated) were nothing more than simple pans pulled by mules, oxen or horses and dumped by hand – slow and backbreaking work. The man who really got things started, and in fact the father of modern earthmoving, Robert LeTourneau, designed and built the first practical towed scraper in 1923 that was drawn by a track type tractor. The modernisation of earthmoving had begun.

At the height of their popularity in the mid to late 1940s there were some 30 manufacturers in the US alone offering towed scrapers, of both cable and hydraulically operated varieties.

In this stroll down memory lane we will examine some of these offerings starting, as is only appropriate, with LeTourneau.

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