PeterbiltWhen our country was at war, the military identified the need for trucks. Trucks were very important because it was difficult to find a way to transport all the supplies, troops and food. After World War I, this led to an increase in good roads and an expanding economy. This has helped grow the trucking industry. The 1920s were the years of innovation. Balloon tires were introduced along with the railroads with "piggy-back" service. The first mechanically refrigerated van is introduced. By 1925, there were 500,000 miles of hard surface roads in the United States. In 1926, a fully loaded 2-ton truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days. Theodore Alfred Peterman was the founder of the Peterbilt Motors Company in 1937. Theodore had a problem. He couldn't get the logs from the forest to the sawmill quickly and efficiently. The first truck that Peterman and his employees helped rebuild was an old Army truck. The army truck helped solve his problem. He figured that if he placed the battery on the starter motor instead of the crank, it would work. Peterman did not live long after starting his business and selling his invention for six years. His wife Ida Peterman sold the business to seven people within the Peterbilt organization a year after Theodore's death. It did so in 1945. When it was sold to those seven people, it expanded into a serious manufacturer of heavy trucks. The shareholders eventually sold it to PACCAR (Pacific Car & Foundry Co.). They had already acquired Kenworth's assets in 1945 and were planning to become a player in the heavy truck market. Pacific Car made Peterbilt Motors a wholly owned subsidiary. Peterbilt has finally carried on its tradition while maintaining its... "piggy-back" service middle of paper. The first mechanically refrigerated van is introduced. By 1925, there were 500,000 miles of hard surface roads in the United States. In 1926, a fully loaded 2-ton truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days. Theodore Peterman couldn't have been a better inspiration for the trucking industry. It all started with simply an idea on how to move logs from forest to lumber quickly and efficiently and has turned out to be one of the best-known trucking industries in today's economy. Unfortunately, Theodore had overcome cancer on November 16, 1944. His wife Ida had to sell the organization and the land. Peterbilt trucking has helped not only transport heavy equipment, but has also become a great asset to our company. The Peterbilt industry has worked to make Peterbilt trucks more environmentally friendly. This has become their environmental mission.