The History of the 5th Wheel Coupling

 When Otto Neumann and August Fruehauf invented the semi-trailer in 1914, they created a version of a 5th wheel pin hitch coupling which they used until 1916. Then they adopted an improved version of the fifth Wheel offered by the Martin Rocking Company in Massachusetts offered by inventor Hermann Farr and his partner, Charles Martin.

Martin introduced Farr's invention of the 5th wheel in 1915. inventor Farr applied for the patent of his own fifth wheel on June 4, 1915 (US Patent No. 1169717).  He received that patent January 25, 1916 after going into partnership with Charles H. Martin.  In late 1915 they had formed the Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel Co., together.   The Martin Rocking 5th wheel was round in shape, giving us the nickname, 5th Wheel.  It rocked on hinges making travel on unpaved or rolling roads much easier.  This was a great improvement on other types of primitive hitches.  Fruehauf introduced the Martin Rocking 5th wheel hitch on all of their semi-trailers.  They later became the midwestern distributor.  This improvement led to an increase in semi-trailer sales.

Martin, it turns out was a scoundrel who was frequently implicated in copyright infringement.  When he realized what success his customer, Fruehauf, was having with their semi-trailer he quickly jumped on the band wagon creating a version of a semi-trailer for Martin Rocking.  (For more information on Charles H. Martin and his inventor brother, John Martin please go to this page).

It takes incredible chutzpah to try to steal the cheese from one of your biggest customers yet Martin attempted to go into the semi-trailer business in an ill-fated and short-lived venture. Harvey, Harry and August Fruehauf were tough customers and insisted that Martin respect their patent and desist from trailer manufacture.  Because Martin saw the disadvantages of alienating one of his largest customer he conceded, but the damage had been done.  In a 1918 publication, Martin advertises his fifth wheel to trailer manufacturers.  

Martin managed to maintain his position as a supplier to Fruehauf and other trailer manufacturers.  In 1916, Harvey Fruehauf met with some of his competitors to discuss the creation of a national lobbying organization to benefit trailer manufacturers nationwide.  By 1919, The Trailer Manufacturer’s Association of America was formed with offices in New York. The charter members include 14 truck and trailer companies and Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel Company. “American Garage & Auto Dealer” publication (see pg 32).   Martin Rocking was included no doubt, because Harvey felt pressured by his colleagues as well as trying to preserve Fruehauf's good relations with an important supplier.

Fruehauf still needed Martin Rocking's fifth wheel product so the situation required great diplomacy.  Harvey needed to pressure Martin to cease production of the semi-trailer and at the same time persuade him to continue to supply parts for Fruehauf's trailers. August and Otto detested this kind of dependence preferring the old methods of making parts and equipment from scratch. Once they had their own design perfected they would no longer need Martin.  The Fruehauf engineers led by E.F. Hartwick, worked feverishly to create and patent their own fifth wheel permitting them to abandon the Martin Rocking by late 1919.  

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"Commercial Carrier Journal" 100 Milestones By Avery Vise, Jeff Crissey, Aaron Huff, Jack Roberts, Dean Smallwood, March 10, 2011

“It’s a fair question whether you really can consider the fifth wheel as a milestone separate from the semi-trailer. After all, the purpose of the fifth wheel is to link the tractor and the trailer; indeed, trailers existed before Charles H. Martin introduced the Martin Rocking Fifth Wheel in 1915. At the time, the fifth wheel literally was a wheel that moved with the trailer — unlike today’s technology that secures a kingpin. What makes the fifth wheel so important is the ability it gave fleet owners to attach large trailers to tractors easily and safely and the freedom it gave them to switch out trailers.

“Without a fifth wheel, the modern distribution system would look quite different as drop-and-hook would not be easy. The semi-trailer increased the capacity of trucks, but it was the fifth wheel that brought the flexibility for drivers to keep moving while receivers unloaded the loads they just delivered.”   

"Commercial Carrier Journal" 100 Milestones By Avery Vise, Jeff Crissey, Aaron Huff, Jack Roberts, Dean Smallwood, March 10, 2011

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Fruehauf offers a variety of options to customers

Fruehauf introduced the manual coupler in 1919 

Fruehauf used the Martin Rocking 5th Wheel until early 1919. That same year, Fruehauf invented the manual coupler for the industry and jacks acting as front supports for the semi-trailer were supplanted by wheels, and were raised and lowered manually.  

Patent information: US1351245A – Fifth Wheel – filed 12-24-1919, published 8-31-1920 -
The 5th wheel patent sketch in an 8-31-1920 Patent Office Gazette, page 840, upper left quarter of the page -
The original patent documents in a PDF; great drawings of this 1919/1920 FTC 5th wheel -

The automatic semi-trailer 5th wheel was invented in 1926 by Fruehauf engineers

In 1926, Fruehauf introduced the automatic semi-trailer in which the coupling and the uncoupling of the tractor were accomplished mechanically by the motion of the tractor. A single driver, rather than a crew of men, was able to hitch and unhitch his tractor in minutes saving time and increasing efficiency. This design was instantly recognized by transportation experts as a major contribution to the industry and still today historians remark that it was the most important invention made by Fruehauf.  Bill Johnson, American Truck Historical Society, 2013

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Fruehauf's Automatic semi-trailer coupling revolutionized transportation