A History of LTI and Ephrata’s Ladder Trucks, Part 1

Grove

Grove Manufacturing of Shady Grove, PA, began fabricating farm wagons in 1947. John L. Grove, one of its founders, invented a crane to move heavy materials around their shop. His invention transformed the wagon builder into a crane manufacturer called Grove Industries. In the early 1960s, it began fabricating aerial devices for various fire apparatus manufacturers (photo 1).

Around the time Grove developed its ladder tower in the early 1970s, Mahlon Zimmerman purchased Grove’s aerial ladder division. He called it Ladder Towers Incorporated (LTI) and moved it to Leola, PA. Production started in 1974. Randy Hummer, one of Zimmerman’s earliest employees, authored the LTI History, which is referenced herein. A statement from it: “LTI began as an aerial supplier to industry OEMs.”

LTI aerial devices were installed on OEMs’ proprietary chassis (photo 2-4) and on commercially available custom fire chassis including Spartan, Hendrickson, and Pemfab. Mastro started working on LTI’s production floor in 1977. He moved into the engineering department and was later promoted to sales coordinator, then northeast regional sales manager, and finally national sales manager.

Postscripts about John L. Grove are paraphrased from several American Cranes & Transport’s Web sites: “He started another company called Condor industries, which was renamed JLG Industries after his initials. It produced aerial work platforms and scissor lifts. Today JLG is a part of the Oshkosh Corporation. Manitowoc Cranes later purchased Grove Industries.” Manitowoc is one of the largest crane manufacturers in the world.

Conestoga Custom Products, Inc.

Zimmerman was an apparatus industry visionary. In 1978, he founded Conestoga Custom Products, Inc. on Creek Hill Road in Leola, PA, a few miles from the LTI facility. Conestoga morphed into building complete apparatus such as pumpers and tankers and supposedly had a small dealer network. It was still building apparatus under the Conestoga name in the early to mid-1980s. It soon relocated to Ephrata eight miles away.

Mastro: “In 1980, my Leola LTI office was moved to Ephrata’s Conestoga factory at 68 Cocalico Creek Road. In 1984, when the new LTI factory was built next door at 64 Cocalico Creek Road, my office moved across the parking lot.”

Conestoga was amalgamated into LTI, doing the bodywork for complete ladder trucks sold through the LTI dealer network and for those private labeled for other OEMs—one being the short-lived Bulldog 1 series ladder trucks for Mack. Mastro said complete ladder trucks were also badged for FMC.

LTI continued building aerial devices for other OEMs to use on their own apparatus. Hummer’s LTI History lists more than a dozen. LTI’s three avenues to distribute product were its own dealer network, private labeling complete ladder trucks, and providing the aerial devices to other OEMs. A complimentary saying by some in the industry at the time was that LTI had “three licks at the ice cream cone.” And, it was adding a fourth.

Saulsbury

Tom Shand was sales manager for the former Saulsbury Fire & Rescue, an apparatus manufacturer located in central New York. He has three decades of experience in engineering and sales positions for several apparatus manufacturers. He’s currently a partner at Emergency Vehicle Response (EVR), conducting fire protection surveys and apparatus engineering work. He works with the United States Navy and Marine Corps preparing bid specifications, bid reviews, and final inspections on all their apparatus purchases.

Shand said Saulsbury became an LTI dealer selling its first LTI ladder truck in 1985. Saulsbury and LTI had an arrangement where dealers who sold both lines could sell a New York-built Saulsbury apparatus equipped with an LTI aerial device built in Ephrata (photo 5 shows one of the last built). In addition to Saulsbury, LTI had similar arrangements with other OEMs including Alexis, Young, and Van Pelt.

Simon

Several sources say the United Kingdom (UK)-based Simon Group purchased LTI from Zimmerman around 1985-1986. Others say it was purchased by Simon-Snorkel—a British entity that built elevating platforms in the UK—not to be confused with the domestic snorkel product. (Note: Simon-Snorkel wasn’t trademarked in the UK until 2011.) Hummer’s LTI History said Simon-Engineering, also a British firm, actually made the purchase in 1986. Whoever purchased LTI renamed it Simon-LTI, and it continued building aerial devices and ladder trucks on Cocalico Creek Road. The Simon-LTI product was commonly called an LTI by customers and dealers alike.

Duplex, a heavy truck chassis manufacturer since the early 1900s, has a complex history. Originally from Detroit, it was purchased by Warner & Swasey and later by the Nolan Company. It was located in Ohio about the time LTI was purchased. One of the aforementioned entities with “Simon” in their name purchased Duplex and renamed it Simon-Duplex, Inc.

The Simon-Duplex chassis became the foundation for the new LTI Olympian cab (photo 6), which was designed and built on Cocalico Creek Road. The chassis were built in Ohio and shipped 300 miles to Ephrata, where the cab was mounted and the apparatus completed (photo 7).

Tony Mastro: “The Olympian chassis was originally badged as an LTI. It was created for a number of reasons including brand recognition; demand for LTI products; and lower overall travel height, which was a constant challenge with all other available commercial and custom fire chassis for rear-mounted aerial applications.” Overall height is still a challenge today. The Olympian was only available through Simon-LTI dealers.

Mastro: “After the Olympian was introduced, LTI continued using commercially available custom fire chassis from Spartan, Duplex, and Hendrickson.”

The late Bill Shoemaker started a western New York fire equipment business in the mid-1970s that became both a Saulsbury and LTI dealer. His son, Billy, who took over the business, said: “We brought a local fire department truck committee that was purchasing a tower to Ephrata in the early 1980s. They saw the first Olympian cab, a two-door model. My father and I worked with that committee and LTI’s engineers and workers on the floor to assist in the design of the first Olympian four-door cab. The department purchased it.”

Mahlon Zimmerman was no longer employed at LTI after selling it to Simon. However, in 1993, his son Kevin founded Aerial Innovations, Inc. (AI) in Lebanon, PA, about 20 miles from Ephrata. AI manufactured aerial devices for various apparatus manufacturers, exactly what Mahlon did when he started LTI two decades earlier.

LTI and AI were not the only manufacturers that sold aerial devices to other apparatus manufacturers. One is shown in photo 8. Tom Shand: “This rig was built new and originally configured as a Mack demonstrator. During this time, Mack was using both American LaFrance aerials on a limited basis and Maxim aerials more predominantly. Just prior to this point, most of the Mack aerial devices, regardless of configuration or the type of device, had the body work done by Hamerly.

After Hamerly went out of business, Mack scrambled for a while. Several bodies were built by Baker Equipment Engineering in Richmond, which was building their tower ladders. The rig in photo 8 was a complete one-of-a-kind with an American LaFrance aerial ladder and body work done by Young.” Hamerly closed in 1980. Mack had stopped taking orders for complete fire apparatus in 1983 and Young closed in 1991. American LaFrance closed multiple times.

Part 2 will cover American LaFrance entering Ephrata’s aerial ladder domain and the Quality-Luverne-Crimson-Smeal-Spartan amalgamation.

BILL ADAMS is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board, a former fire apparatus salesman, and a past chief of the East Rochester (NY) Fire Department. He has 50 years of experience in the volunteer fire service.