Grapple Trucks - Petersen Industries, Inc. Home of the PETERSEN LIGHTNING LOADER grapple truck for municipal bulky trash collection

Petersen has 50 years experience manufacturing knuckleboom loaders. The first Lightning Loader® for bulk citrus was introduced in 1957, and we've manufactured over 3,700 of them since. In the mid 1970's Petersen was asked to design a knuckleboom that could be used for loading bulky trash. The result was a trash loader concept that has been improved and refined over the last 30 years. Since we do not manufacture any other product, we are exclusively focused on trash loaders and citrus loaders. Petersen's lengthy manufacturing experience allows us to focus on quality and safety while continuing to bring you the best and most diverse product line available.

With the exception of 3 or 4 engineered items, Petersen manufactures all other major components, including most hydraulic cylinders. With complete CNC machining and fabrication facilities, Petersen is able to control every aspect of schedule and quality control. These capabilities, along with a factory installation that integrates the loader, trash body and truck chassis into an optimized system for oversized trash collection; is what separates us from our competition and provides the customer with a single point of responsibility for the performance of the system.

History - 50 Years of Lightning Loader Innovation

	1957 John Petersen, founder, introduces the first Lightning Loader® for lifting baskets of bulk citrus fruit for cannery processing.
	1960 Petersen introduces a knuckleboom grapple loader for installation at sand mine scales for topping and balancing loads.
	1962 Petersen introduces new citrus design to accommodate pallet boxes of fresh fruit. . Petersen has sold over 3,700 "Goats" since 1958, thousands of which are still working today.
	1973 Petersen enters the trash loading market with the model TL-1. To our knowledge this was the first knuckleboom designed specifically for municipal trash collection applications.
	1979 Petersen designed the model TL-3 twin boom trash loader, which was to become the industry standard.
	1987 Built model PL-3 skid mounted trash loader and body, designed for use on cable style rolloff trucks.
	1997 Designed model HL-3 Lightning Loader for use with hooklift trucks.
	1997 Lee Rathbun, Petersen Industries' Current Vice President, introduced the Lightning Rear Steer®, which is driven backwards to load haul trucks.
	1998 Introduced Model BL-3 trash loader for use with rolloff truck. This unit has become a favorite with large waste companies.
	2005 Petersen moves to new 70,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility located on 50 acres in order to increase production capacity.
	2005 The DL3 high capacity debris loader is designed for storm cleanup and high volume collections.
	2006 Petersen designs a knuckleboom system for transporting front-loading containers.
	2007 Petersen Trash Loading System in operation in over 700 cities and counties in the US and Central America.

50 years of Lightning Loader products and many more to come!

ph: 1-800-930-5623 local: 863-676-1493 fax:863-676-6844 mail:4000 SR 60 W, Lake Wales, FL 33859 ©2007 Petersen Industries, Inc. We reserve the right to change product design or specifications at any time without prior notice. There may be more specifications than those appearing on this site. Please consult your Petersen dealer for complete specifications

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