A steam wagon—or steam lorry—was a self-propelled, steam-powered truck designed to carry freight, representing the earliest form of the modern truck. These wagons came in two basic designs—overtype, with the engine above the boiler, and undertype, with the engine below—each favored by different manufacturers.

In 1898, Alexander Winton adapted his horseless carriages into a purpose-built delivery rig, effectively creating the first semi-truck and selling his first units the following year to transport cars to customers hundreds of miles away. This innovation solved the wear-and-tear problem of driving delicate early automobiles on rough roads.

In 1914, blacksmith and carriage maker August Fruehauf designed the first detachable semi-trailer for a lumber tycoon, mounting it to a Ford Model-T and founding the Fruehauf Trailer Company to mass-produce these game-changing units .

Trailering Takes Off

Fruehauf’s system allowed a tractor unit to couple with different trailers in minutes, revolutionizing flexibility in freight operations and spawning an entire industry dedicated to trailer design and manufacture .