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The Carpenter Body Company also known as the Ralph H. Carpenter Body Company, Carpenter Body Works, Inc., Carpenter Manufacturing Company, and Carpenter Industries, Inc. was a bus body builder based in Mitchell, Indiana, United States that started building buses in 1923. Years later, Carpenter purchased rights to build Crown Coach Buses, and in the late 1990s, relocated to the former Wayne Corporation plant in Richmond, Indiana. However in 2000, it closed down and ended school bus production. After relocating to the former Wayne plant, Carpenter began to base their own buses on older buses by Wayne Corporation such as Carpenter 2000 where the driver's areas were based on those of a Wayne Lifeguard. Mitchell is a city in Lawrence County, Indiana, United States. ...
1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...
Crown Coach was once a school bus manufacturer (1930s to 1980s) based in Los Angeles, California. ...
For the band, see 1990s (band). ...
Photo courtesy of Wayne Bus Enthusiasts group on Yahoo Advertisement for 1973 Wayne Lifeguard School Bus on Ford chassis. ...
Richmond (IPA: ) is a city in east central Indiana, which borders Ohio. ...
2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
The Carpenter Body Company also known as the Ralph H. Carpenter Body Company, Carpenter Body Works, Inc. ...
Wayne Corporation patch from the Indian Head years. ...
In 2003, a serious problem with roof welds in some of the units produced at Mitchell was discovered following a roof failure during a rollover accident in Florida. Owners of Mitchell-manufactured buses were urged to check for NHTSA safety alerts for more information, since a recall campaign by a defunct manufacturer cannot be made. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, often pronounced nit-suh) is a U.S. Government agency, part of the Department of Transportation, responsible for setting safety standards and verifying compliance by automobile manufacturers. ...
Founded by Ralph H. Carpenter
It was founded in 1919 by Ralph H. Carpenter, a blacksmith by trade who began building hauling wagons for two cement factories located near his southern Indiana hometown of Bloomington. Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ...
As his business grew, he began to expand into building horse-drawn "kid hacks" with wooden benches to transport children to school. As wagons became obsolete, he adapted his bodies for automobiles.
Carpenter's first true school bus was built in 1923. The first stop arms used on these buses were in the shape of a clenched fist with the index finger painted red. A combination of steel and wood replaced all wood construction and in 1935, a change to all-steel construction was made, joining Wayne Works and Blue Bird Body Company and others in this regard. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...
1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar). ...
Photo courtesy of Wayne Bus Enthusiasts group on Yahoo Advertisement for 1973 Wayne Lifeguard School Bus on Ford chassis. ...
The Blue Bird Corporation is a large manufacturer of buses. ...
Frank W. Cyr: father of the yellow school bus Most school buses turned the now familiar yellow in 1939. In April of that year, Frank W. Cyr, a professor at Teachers College in New York who became known as the "Father of the Yellow School Bus," organized a conference that established national school-bus construction standards, including the standard color of yellow for the school bus. 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ...
Frank W. Cyr (July 7, 1900 - August 1, 1995) was an American educator and author, a specialist in rural education who became known as the Father of the Yellow School Bus. ...
Meetings are sometimes held around conference tables. ...
Engineers from Blue Bird Bird Body Co., Chevrolet, International Harvester, Dodge, and Ford Motor Company, as well as paint experts from DuPont and Pittsburgh Paint showed up. Together with the transportation administrators, they met for 7 days and agreed on 44 standards, including the color and some mechanical specs such as body length, ceiling height, and aisle width. Chevrolet (IPA: ʃɛv. ...
Navistar (formerly International Harvester) started in Chicago, United States, which produced agricultural machinery, construction equipment and vehicles. ...
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation and the worlds third largest automaker after Toyota and General Motors, based on worldwide vehicle sales. ...
This article is about the DuPont company. ...
It became known officially as National School Bus Chrome. The color was selected because black lettering on that hue was easiest to see in the semi-darkness of early morning and late afternoon. Black cat, thought by some to cause bad luck (see superstition) Black is the shade of objects that do not reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum. ...
The conference met for seven days and the attendees created a total of 44 standards, including specifications regarding body length, ceiling height and aisle width. Cyr's conference, funded by a $5,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, was also a landmark event inasmuch as it included transportation officials from each of the then 48 states, as well as specialists from school-bus manufacturing and paint companies. The conference approach to school bus safety, as well as the yellow color, has endured into the 21st century. Grants are funds given to tax-exempt nonprofit organizations or local governments by foundations, corporations, governments, small business and individuals. ...
The Rockefeller Foundation (RF) is a prominent philanthropic organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. ...
Growth in school bus use after World War II Following World War II, there was a nationwide movement in the U.S. to consolidate schools into fewer and larger ones. This meant that fewer students were attending school in their immediate neighborhood, particularly as they progressed into high school. This led in turn to a large increase in the demand for school buses. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
A neighbourhood or neighborhood (see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community located within a larger city or suburb. ...
Main article: Secondary education High school is a name used in some parts of the world, and particularly in North America, to describe the last segment of compulsory education. ...
Carpenter was a leading name in church bus and school bus safety efforts for many years. The company became a major school bus body builder in the post-World War II period. Church bus and school bus safety issues have always been closely-related in the United States. ...
1956: Fire destroys plant, workers rebuild On March 12, 1956, at Mitchell, Indiana, a fire broke out in the Carpenter Bus Body Company factory. The plant was virtually destroyed. With the help of factory workers (some worked for no pay until later compensated), the factory was re-built and expanded in just 89 days. March 12 is the 71st day of the year (72nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Throughout the next twenty years the business prospered and grew into a national competitor to other 5 major school bus body builders in the United States in the 1970s: Blue Bird Body Company, Superior Coach Company, Thomas Built Buses, Inc., Ward Body Company, and Wayne Corporation. The Blue Bird Corporation is a large manufacturer of buses. ...
Superior Coach was once a school bus manufacturer, but today it focus on building hearses and is located in Lima, Ohio. ...
Thomas Built Buses, Inc. ...
Ward Body Works was a school bus manufacturer based in Conway, Arkansas. ...
Photo courtesy of Wayne Bus Enthusiasts group on Yahoo Advertisement for 1973 Wayne Lifeguard School Bus on Ford chassis. ...
1980s Bankruptcy and Dr. Beurt SerVaas In the early 1980s, there was a downturn in U.S. public school enrollments as the baby boom generation became older than school-age. U.S. school bus sales declined, a situation compounded by over-capacity in the bus body industry. The company unsuccessfully attempted to diversify into the small transit bus market. Carpenter was forced to enter bankruptcy in the mid-1980s. The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. ...
A baby boom is any period of greatly increased birth rate within temporal and usually geographical bounds. ...
A Volvo articulated bus in contract service for Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, operated by Virginia Overland Transportation, an urban-suburban bus line, in 2003 A transit bus (also known as a commuter bus) in the United States is usually operated by an urban-suburban bus line, a governmental...
Salvation came to Mitchell in the form of an Indianapolis-based industrialist, Dr. Beurt SerVaas, who led a refinancing and revitalization program to attempt to restore the company's role in the national school bus market. The company's unionized workers made major concessions, and production of school buses continued. The Indianapolis skyline Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Business magnate. ...
A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers...
Crown by Carpenter In the early 1990s, Carpenter Industries (formerly Carpenter Body Company) of Mitchell, Indiana purchased the tooling and product rights to build Crown Coaches, long a product of a defunct U.S. bus builder in California. Around 1996, Carpenter leased the former Wayne plant at Richmond, and moved from its aged facilities in Mitchell, Indiana. At the former Wayne plant, the company began producing Crown by Carpenter buses and delivery trucks. Mitchell is a city in Lawrence County, Indiana, United States. ...
Crown Coach was once a school bus manufacturer (1930s to 1980s) based in Los Angeles, California. ...
1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...
The "Crown" design included a new roof design, utilizing one piece roof bows, as well as a redesigned driver's area, and slight changes to the exterior, including different rubrail mounting.
One interesting design that came during the "Crown" model years was the Crown by Carpenter rear engine, which was mounted on a Spartan chassis. This bus had the option of a rear emergency door, instead of an emergency window. To place the door in the rear, the floor was slanted up in the last few rows, in order to gain height over the engine compartment.
Carpenter Classic 2000 In late 1999, Carpenter unveiled a new model series to their line, called the Classic 2000 series. The Classic 2000 series featured an overall body redesign, including an entirely new driver's area (based on the Wayne lifeguard), as well as new rubrail mounts, a flat rear section, and new roof caps. Conventional and FEs received larger rear emergency doors.
 Carpenter Classic 2000 buses The 2000 Carpenter rear engines were built on Spartan chassis, featuring full air ride suspension, and a double height frame, for a ride similar to a motorcoach. These buses did not include an option for a rear emergency door. Image File history File links A 2001 Carpenter Classic model. ...
Image File history File links A 2001 Carpenter Classic model. ...
Even though the Classic 2000 buses were a big step in the right direction, Spartan, the parent company, decided that the improved sales Carpenter had attained over the last few years weren't enough for them, and closed the company in mid-2001, ending a huge history in the bus business.
Carpenter school bus at Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC has a thirty-six passenger school bus built by Carpenter Body Works in 1936 on a chassis by made by Dodge in 1939. The Smithsonian Institution Building or Castle on the National Mall serves as the Institutions headquarters. ...
Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United...
1917 Dodge Brothers Touring car. ...
The bus carried students to the Martinsburg School (grade school) Martinsburg, Indiana from 1940-1946, and was owned and driven by Russell Bishop during that period. It was later used as a traveling grocery store until 1962.
The bus has a streamlined steel body painted double deep or Omaha orange with black trim. It was restored by Carpenter Body Works in the early 1980s under the supervision of Ollie Eager, who was Carpenter's plant manager in 1936 and John Foddrill, who worked in the Carpenter plant in 1936. The bus has replacement seats that do not match the originals exactly. The originals were black upholstery.
2003: Structural product flaws in Mitchell production discovered On March 20, 2003 in Alachua County, Florida, an 83-passenger Carpenter school bus rolled over onto its roof, causing the roof to collapse down to the seat level. Luckly, only the driver was on board at the time, and survived the accident. Later inspection of the crash vehicle revealed numerous broken and defective welds in the roof and pillar structure. March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in leap years). ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Alachua County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. ...
Inspection of Carpenter school buses in various parts of the country revealed cracked and broken welds in the roof structure. The problem is clearly not confined to Florida where it was first found.
The problem is broken or cracked welds in the roof structure that can cause the roof to collapse in the event of a rollover crash. Not all Carpenter buses have the broken or cracked welds. The problem is confined to all types of school buses built at the Carpenter plant in Mitchell, Indiana, prior to its closing in late 1995.
Normally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) would conduct a full-scale investigation and if a defect determination were made, would order the manufacturer to conduct a safety recall. However, since Carpenter is no longer in business, there is no one that NHTSA can hold accountable to develop a remedy for this problem.
However, NHTSA is concerned about this problem, and has issued several advisories regarding certain Carpenter Buses.
NHTSA has indicated that virtually all of the production of Carpenter and Crown branded products from the Mitchell, Indiana plant could potentially have the same flaw. Due to differences in construction techniques, Carpenter and Crown by Carpenter buses built at the Richmond, Indiana were not included in several advisories issued.
The School Bus Information Council offered additional information about Carpenter Buses and the NHSTA advisory.
See also A Go North East bus parked in a lay-by in Tyne and Wear, England. ...
This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...
Photo courtesy of Wayne Bus Enthusiasts group on Yahoo Advertisement for 1973 Wayne Lifeguard School Bus on Ford chassis. ...
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