In the
1930s, brothers Ed and William Orscheln established a trucking business. As maintenance supervisor for Orscheln Brothers
Truck Line, it was brother Als job to fix any problems on the fleet. Parking brakes failed quite often and one day in 1938, driver Gus
Williams came in complaining, "Youve got to fix the parking brake on old Six
Speed." Al sketched out a different design( the first "over center" parking
brake), built one in the shop, installed it on a truck going to St. Louis, and Orscheln
manufacturing was born.