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The Keesler Legacy: Pioneering our Nation's First "Power Lift" Detachable Gooseneck Trailer
Redefining Equipment Transportation
By Jim Thomas - CEG Senior Editor
Clyde C. Keesler invented the first "Power Lift" detachable gooseneck trailer making life a lot easier and safer for contractors.
Clyde C. Keesler saw the future of trailers in 1948.
At the Road Show in Chicago that year. Talbert introduced a removable gooseneck trailer. With the gooseneck removed, the operator was able to load and unload equipment over the front of the trailer, making the process of transporting equipment safer and more efficient.
The slip-type gooseneck was removed by sliding it off the fifth wheel of the tractor with a tractor winch. After loading, the gooseneck had to be forced back up on the fifth wheel which was extremely difficult with heavy loads. Mr. Keesler recognized that the gooseneck needed power.
Over the next year, he designed a "power lift detachable gooseneck". It lifted loads with a cable operated ram while still attached to the fifth wheel. The ram was operated by a tractor winch. In 1949, Mr. Keesler patented his invention. The first, a 30-ton was sold to Alban Tractor Co. of Baltimore, MD in 1950.
Mr. Keesler's contributions to the engineering and construction fields started many years earlier. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1914 with a mechanical engineering degree and began working as chief engineer for Watson Wagon Co., Canstota, NY in 1917.
He married Norma Vansurdam that same year. They had two children, Francis in 1918 an Frederick in 1922.
They moved to Norwood, PA in 1925 where Mr. Keesler worked as an area sales representative for Eagle Wagon Co., a wheelbarrow company which also sold various small construction tools and hardware.
He rented office space in the city with several other representatives, among them Percy Ransome, George Furnival and George Tillinghast who was a Rogers Trailer representative. When Mr. Tillinghast moved to Flordia in 1926, Mr. Keesler inherited the Rogers account and served as a sales representative for the manufacturer until 1930. When the Depression hit, he moved his office to his home in Prospect Park, Pa, where he continued to sell Rogers trailers. His territory included two-thirds of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington and two counties in Virginia.
In 1942, Mr. Keesler moved to Albion, PA to work for Rogers. The manufacturer's entire production during this period was used for the military. During the World War II era, he made many engineering contributions to the design of trailers, including a new air brake design, side brackets, side channel reinforcing, a sloped rear extension and drop sign construction. With 1946, Rogers returned to peacetime production and Mr. Keesler moved back to Prospect Park, renovating his basement into an office and parts department. The next year, Fred Keesler joined his father as a salesman.
C.C. & F.F. Keesler was formed in 1948, a parnership of Clyde, Norma and Fred Keesler.
The relationship between the Keeslers and Rogers Bros. Corp. was a close one. Without compensation, Clyde assigned the patent of his power lift detachable gooseneck to Rogers Bros. in 1950, the same year the first such trailer was sold.
C.C. & F.F. Keesler built on their present location at 135 Lincoln Ave., Prospect Park. The original building was designed by Clyde. It included an office, parts room and the only known showroom for trailers. As the demand for service increased, a trailer shop was added in 1957.
Clyde designed and installed a frame straightener with the capability of straightening up to 100 ton trailers without heat. According to Fred Keesler, it may be the only such straightener in existence.
Continuing his reputation for innovation in the trailer industry, Clyed helped design the hyrdaulic detachable gooseneck (1958)., which replaced the cable operated ram with a hydraulic cylinder. This improvement reduced the weight of the tractor trailer by eliminating the tractor winch. It also reduced the weight of the ram.
C.C. & F.F. Keesler began selling P&H cranes in 1957 and added a crane shop for service in 1960.
Clyde Keesler died on Oct. 24, 1961 in Media, PA at the age of 71. His spirit continues at Keesler in Prospect Park and across the globe where contractors, however unknowingly, load and unload equipment quickly and safely.