By HCEA Canada
Pictured here in 1915 is a ‘Champion’ gravel plant in operation in Huron County, Ontario. Colborne Township had contracted Boss & Brazier Ltd. to crush pit run gravel for use in road building and maintenance.
Built in nearby Goderich by the Dominion Road Machinery Co., the gravel plant consisted of a jaw crusher, elevating bucket line and a rotary screen to produce two sizes of aggregate. The output of crushing plant was rated as 50 cubic yards per hour.
The gravel plant structure supporting the rotary screen also provided the aggregate bins. The drivers of the small dump trucks of the day could self-load from the hopper, eliminating the need for a shovel to load.
As early as 1898 the parent company based in Pennsylvania had patented a line of portable Champion crushers.
Originally located in Hamilton, the Canadian version of the parent Good Roads Machinery Co. produced dump wagons, plows, rollers and horse drawn graders.
Check out more vintage heavy equipment
- Adams #10 road grader
- International Harvester TD6 crawler tractor
- Marion Model 21 three-quarter yard steam shovel
By 1915, the renamed firm had relocated to Goderich, Ontario to be known as the Dominion Road Machinery Company. In the mid-1950s they focused on building Champion road graders and in the 1970s appropriately changed the name to Champion Road Machinery Ltd.
This article is provided by the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) Canada. HCEA Canada is a Proud Community Heritage Partner of the Simcoe County Museum.
To see more than 60 restored pieces of vintage construction equipment in action, be sure to attend Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) Canada’s 2019 Last Blast Event, which takes place Oct. 19 at the Simcoe County Museum near Barrie, Ontario.
