Did you know that Orscheln Products was founded on parking brakes?

Did you know that Orscheln Products was founded on parking brakes?  Many people don’t know the story behind Orscheln Products, a sister company to Orscheln Farm and Home, which many people have heard of as it’s a store just down the street from them!  Going back to Orscheln Products – brothers Ed and William Orscheln established a trucking business back in the 1930’s.  Their brother Al’s job was maintenance supervisor for Orscheln Brothers Truck Line, so it was his job to fix any problems on the fleet.  Back then, parking brakes failed quite often, and one day one of their drivers complained, “You’ve got to fix the parking brake on old Six Speed.”  So Al sketched a new parking brake, built it, and installed it on one of the company trucks.  Al Orscheln’s design for the brake is still used in many cars today – it was the first “overcenter” parking brake, which used a pull-up handle that allowed the driver to adjust the brake tension from inside the cab.

Today, Orscheln Products creates not only a line of parking brakes, but high quality, innovative products and solutions in the global market place.