Tow truck

A 1920 Chevrolet tow truck

Ferdinand Porsche of Austro-Daimler developed an artillery tractor for the Austro-Hungarian army in 1908, the M 08. One of the batch was constructed as a recovery vehicle for the others, with a large winch on the rear platform.^[1]

The wrecker (with lifting jib) was invented in 1916 by Ernest Holmes Sr. of Chattanooga, Tennessee, a garage worker who was inspired after he needed blocks, ropes, and six men to pull a car out of a creek. After improving his design he began manufacturing them commercially.^[2] The International Towing and Recovery Hall of Fame and Museum in his home town displays restored antique wreckers, tools, equipment, and pictorial histories of motor-vehicle towing, a type of work that Holmes originated.

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Ferdinand Porsche

Ferdinand Porsche

Ferdinand Porsche was an Austro-Bohemian automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing car, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, several other important developments and Porsche automobiles.

Austro-Daimler

Austro-Daimler

Austro-Daimler was an Austro-Hungarian automaker company, from 1899 until 1934. It was a subsidiary of the German Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) until 1909.

Artillery tractor

Artillery tractor

An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked.

Ernest Holmes Sr.

Ernest Holmes Sr.

Ernest W. Holmes Sr. was born in Hobbs Island, Alabama. He became the inventor of the first tow truck when he fastened various parts to his 1913 Cadillac. He then founded Ernest Holmes Co, which still spiritually lives on through Miller Industries. He later would also serve a term as a member of the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga and the American Society of Automotive Engineers.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee's fourth-largest city and one of the two principal cities of East Tennessee, along with Knoxville. It anchors the Chattanooga metropolitan area, Tennessee's fourth-largest metropolitan statistical area, as well as a larger three-state area that includes Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia, and Northeast Alabama.

Five general types of tow truck are in common usage, usually based on the type or size of vehicle to be towed:

• Boom: uses an adjustable boom with a winch to recover vehicles from a ditch, over an embankment, or any place the vehicle cannot be safely reached by backing up. Some booms are fixed; some use heavy pivoting A-frames; others are equipped with hydraulic-powered telescopic cylinders. The heaviest types of boom can rotate, effectively turning the tow truck into a sort of mobile crane, called a "rotator", and are usually reserved for incidents involving heavy vehicles.^[3] In the past, boom trucks used a "hook and chain" system where chains are looped around the vehicle frame or axle, then lifted by a boom winch. A towbar with heavy rubberized mats connects the truck and vehicle, so it can be towed on its other axle. "Slings" and "belt lifts" are a further development, with rubber straps replacing part of the chains.^[4][5][6] Slings are not used much today because they can scratch the bumpers of cars. However, they are sometimes used for towing vehicles that have been in an accident or have one or two of the front or rear wheels missing, or for pickup trucks and other vehicles that have steel bumpers. Cars equipped with all-wheel drive cannot be towed with a sling, as it can cause problems with the car's drivetrain.^[7]
• Wheel-lift (also called a "spectacle lift" or "underlift"): developed from the hook-and-chain technology to produce a large metal yoke that can be fitted under the front or rear wheels to cradle them, drawing the front or rear end of the vehicle clear of the ground by a pneumatic or hydraulic hoist so it can be towed. This apparatus generally picks up the drive wheels of the vehicle (i.e. the front wheels if it is front-wheel drive, the rear wheels if it is rear-wheel drive), touching only the tires.^[5] The wheel lift was designed by Arthur W. Nelson of Weld Built Body Co. in 1967.^[8] The name spectacle lift is common in Europe; the cradle resembles a pair of squared spectacles (eyeglasses). Medium and heavy trucks use a variation, the "underlift" or "chassis lift", which lifts the axle or frame instead of the wheels. Wheel-lift trucks can have adapters which can also lift the chassis.^[4]
• Integrated (also called a "self-loader", "snatcher", "quick pick" or "repo truck"): boom and wheel-lift integrated into one unit. Used in light-duty trucks to repossess vehicles or move illegally-parked vehicles. Most have controls for the apparatus inside the cab of the tow truck to make quick pickup possible without the inconvenience of exiting the truck to hook up the vehicle.^[9][10] Though similar to a wheel-lift truck, an integrated truck differs in that the end of its boom features movable arms that can more easily and quickly clamp onto the wheels of a vehicle, often controlled from the cabin of the truck. On a wheel-lift truck, the wheels of a vehicle must be manually secured to the yoke by the operator before being lifted. There are also heavy-duty trucks manufactured with integrated lifts.
• Flatbed (also called a "rollback", "slide" or "tilt tray"): the entire back of the truck is fitted with a bed that can be hydraulically inclined and slid back to ground level, allowing the vehicle to be placed on it under its own power or pulled on by a winch.^[11] Because they carry rather than tow the vehicle, they can be used on a completely immobile vehicle; in the US, they are used to carry badly-damaged cars from crashes.
• Lift flatbed: a boom uses a wheel-lift frame to lift the vehicle vertically and load it on the bed. This type of truck can remove vehicles that are parallel-parked. It is commonly used in Europe.

Boom truck with underlift

Wheel-lift tow truck

Integrated tow truck

Flatbed with wheel-lift

Lift flatbed

These are the most common arrangements; others also exist, such as flatbed units that offer a wheel-lift, boom trucks that can recover but not tow, and wheel-lift units that offer a combination boom with sling.

There are also several sizes and weight categories of tow truck. The lightest models are usually based on light truck and van chassis offering boom and tow weights of around 5 to 10 short tons (4.5–9.1 metric tons), making them ideal for car towing. Medium-duty tow trucks have a boom capacity of 15 to 20 short tons (14–18 metric tons). Heavy-duty tow trucks, based on chassis used by semi-trucks, with multiple axles and the ability to tow fully-loaded semi-truck and trailer combinations, have a boom capacity from 25 to 50 short tons (23–45 metric tons). Rotators are the heaviest type of tow truck, ranging from 40 to 75 short tons (36–68 metric tons) (though lighter models do exist) and often come with many other features per customer specification.^[12]

Most flatbed-type vehicles are based on medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks to provide the chassis strength necessary to carry entire vehicles.

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Ditch

Ditch

A ditch is a small to moderate trench created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches are commonly seen around farmland, especially in areas that have required drainage, such as The Fens in eastern England and much of the Netherlands.

Shear legs

Shear legs

Shear legs, also known as sheers, shears, or sheer legs, are a form of two-legged lifting device. Shear legs may be permanent, formed of a solid A-frame and supports, as commonly seen on land and the floating sheerleg, or temporary, as aboard a vessel lacking a fixed crane or derrick.

Telescopic cylinder

Telescopic cylinder

Telescopic cylinders are a special design of a hydraulic cylinder or pneumatic cylinder as well as pulley system which provide an exceptionally long output travel from a very compact retracted length. Typically the collapsed length of a telescopic cylinder is 20 to 40% of the fully extended length depending on the number of stages. Some pneumatic telescoping units are manufactured with retracted lengths of under 15% of overall extended unit length. This feature is very attractive to machine design engineers when a conventional single stage rod style actuator will not fit in an application to produce the required output stroke.

Lifting hook

Lifting hook

A lifting hook is a device for grabbing and lifting loads by means of a device such as a hoist or crane. A lifting hook is usually equipped with a safety latch to prevent the disengagement of the lifting wire rope sling, chain or rope to which the load is attached.

Heavy trucks working on a recovery

A wheel-lift truck towing a damaged Ford Focus

Loading a flatbed with a winch

An improperly-parked car being recovered.

Heavy tow truck recovering a bus

Tow trucks are usually operated by private businesses, except for major highways and toll roads, where the road authority may operate the tow trucks for that stretch of road. Some police departments own tow trucks; in the US, however, it is common to contract police tows to private companies. Businesses who operate a large fleet of vehicles, such as school bus companies or package delivery services, often own one or several tow trucks for the purposes of towing their own vehicles. Government departments with large fleets (such as the police departments, fire departments, transportation authorities and departments of public works of major cities) may similarly own one or more tow trucks. Police department tow trucks may also be used to impound other vehicles. Heavy tow trucks are often called to clear semi-truck accidents and straighten out jackknifed trucks. In rural or unorganized areas, companies which operate tow trucks can sometimes also offer additional services appropriate to highway clearance where government-provided ones are unavailable, such as fire suppression.

The military also deploys tow trucks for recovery of stranded vehicles. In the US Army, a variant of the HEMTT truck is used for this purpose, the M984 wrecker.^[13] For recovery in combat situations while under fire, many armies with large vehicle fleets also deploy armoured recovery vehicles. These vehicles fulfill a similar role, but are resistant to heavy fire and capable of traversing rough terrain with their tracks, as well as towing vehicles beyond the weight limits of wheeled wreckers, such as tanks (many are based on tank designs for this reason).^[14]

Each state and territory of Australia has its own regulations and acts for the operation of tow trucks. Tow trucks are generally divided into two categories, either by standard, trade and private towing or accident towing. Accident towing tow trucks are clearly identifiable by number plates ending in either "ATT" or "TT". Tow trucks that are not endorsed for accident towing may use general number plates of any combination pursuant to each state's own registering system. An example of a statute regulating the operation of tow trucks and towing companies in Victoria is the Victorian Accident Towing Services Act.^[15]

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Towing

Towing

Towing is coupling two or more objects together so that they may be pulled by a designated power source or sources. The towing source may be a motorized land vehicle, vessel, animal, or human, and the load being anything that can be pulled. These may be joined by a chain, rope, bar, hitch, three-point, fifth wheel, coupling, drawbar, integrated platform, or other means of keeping the objects together while in motion.

Ford Focus

Ford Focus

The Ford Focus is a compact car manufactured by Ford Motor Company since 1998. It was created under Alexander Trotman's Ford 2000 plan, which aimed to globalize model development and sell one compact vehicle worldwide. The original Focus was primarily designed by Ford of Europe's German and British teams. Production of the fourth generation Focus began in 2018 in Germany and China.

Highway

Highway

A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or a translation for autobahn, autoroute, etc.

Toll road

Toll road

A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and maintenance.

School bus

School bus

A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus. Various configurations of school buses are used worldwide; the most iconic examples are the yellow school buses of the United States which are also found in other parts of the world.

Fire department

Fire department

A fire department or fire brigade, also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression services.

Confiscation

Confiscation

Confiscation is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, or of any seizure of property as punishment or in enforcement of the law.

Jackknifing

Jackknifing

Jackknifing is the folding of an articulated vehicle so that it resembles the acute angle of a folding pocket knife. If a vehicle towing a trailer skids, the trailer can push the towing vehicle from behind until it spins the vehicle around and faces backwards. This may be caused by equipment failure, improper braking, or adverse road conditions such as an icy road surface. In extreme circumstances, a driver may attempt to jackknife the vehicle deliberately to halt it following brake failure.

Vehicle recovery (military)

Vehicle recovery (military)

Vehicle recovery is a type of military operation conducted to extricate wheeled and tracked vehicles that have become immobile due to condition of the soil, nature of terrain in general, loss of traction due to an attempt to negotiate an obstacle, having broken down, or from sustaining non-combat or combat damage. Vehicles used in military operations can be hard to extricate from sand, snow, or mud.

Armoured recovery vehicle

Armoured recovery vehicle

An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, and/or inoperable armoured fighting vehicles, such as tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Most ARVs have motorized tracks, like a tank or bulldozer, enabling the ARV to operate on uneven ground. The term "Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle" (ARRV) is also used.

Continuous track

Continuous track

Continuous track is a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle better than steel or rubber tyres on an equivalent vehicle, enabling continuous tracked vehicles to traverse soft ground with less likelihood of becoming stuck due to sinking.

Accident Towing Services Act

Accident Towing Services Act

The Accident Towing Services Act 2007 is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime statute regulating the vehicle towing industry which provides towing and recovery services for light and heavy road vehicles across Victoria. It is predominately founded on safety and consumer protection sentiments. The Act continued economic controls over the industry and contains occupational regulation characteristics. The style of the underlying regulatory scheme varies in parts and represents a blend which is prescriptive in some parts and performance and process-based in others.