By HCEA Canada
Pictured here in the early 1930s are three Euclid scrapers in action.
Pulled by a Caterpillar Sixty crawler tractor, these 1 cubic-metre capacity units were built by the Euclid Road Machinery Company based in Ohio.
Aptly named the ‘Contractor’s Special Wheeler Scraper’ due to the ground-drive type of mechanization, it helped to revolutionize the earthmoving techniques of the era. As seen, pulled by a crawler, one scraper operator could handle multiple scrapers, which was a great improvement over previous methods involving horse drawn scrapers.
Euclid had introduced the Wheeler Scraper in 1924 and based on the acceptance of the design by contractors in 1926 the company created its Road Machinery Division. In the early 1930s they introduced a self-powered bottom-dump hauler and by 1940 it was well on its way producing motor scrapers and rear-dump hauler ‘Eucs’ destined for quarries and construction jobs.
The post-war era saw rapid growth for Euclid as they manufactured scrapers, bulldozers, introduced the articulated front-end loader design and by 1974, had built the Titan Model 33-19, the first 350-ton capacity rear-dump hauler built in London, Ontario.
If ever you find yourself in coal country near Sparwood, British Columbia, be sure to see the retired 33-19 on display. Guaranteed you can’t miss it! It was powered by 16-cylinder, 2,460 kW locomotive engine coupled to a generator that fed the four rear traction motors.
Fortunately, HCEA Canada has in our antique equipment roster a 1920s vintage Euclid Wheeler Scraper identical to the ones pictured, which had spent its working life in Western Canada. It was restored to fully operational a decade ago by our volunteers and it is on duty at all our working demonstration events.
To see more than 60 restored pieces of vintage construction equipment in action, be sure to attend the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) Canada’s 2021 events, including Wheels & Tracks in Motion, held in June, and the Last Blast in October. Both events are held at the Simcoe County Museum near Barrie, Ontario.
HCEA Canada is a Proud Community Heritage Partner of the Simcoe County Museum.
