Hall of Fame I THE PUCKETT FAMILY Contractors looking to boost production in the early 1970s usually had only one place to turn: Puckett Brothers, which is why the Puckett brothers Richard and Bob Puckett Otis (and by extension their nephews Bob, Bill and Paul, all still active in the industry) are welcomed into the Pavement Hall of Fame. Richard and Otis developed the Power Box paver, for years a first step up for contractors paving with a drag box. To operate, a drag box had to be coupled to the dump truck because it had no power of its own. As the truck drove slowly forward, it would dump mix into the box and the box would place a mat, tying up two pieces of equipment. And because the truck and paver had to remain connected, it was difficult to pave small driveways and it was virtually impossible to maneuver the truck to pave tight areas. So to pave those types of areas, material was dumped and spread by hand, which was slow, labor intensive and resulted in uneven mats because the material didn’t pass beneath a screed. That was the reality of small-scale paving in the 1960s, until Otis and Richard decided to take matters into their own shop. “The drag box worked fine on long, straight pulls, but that’s about all,” says Bill Puckett, Puckett Manufacturing. In 1965 Otis and Richard started Puckett Brothers Paving Co., Snellville, GA, and in the winter of 1968-1969 they developed their first self-propelled paver (PB1) for their own use. “They wanted something they could use on parking lots and driveways and pave under obstructions and in tight areas and without tearing up the base,” says Bob Puckett, sales and marketing for Ditch Runner. “They took the drag box design and added power to it so it could move on its own without the truck.” They tinkered with it again in the winter of 1969-70 and the following summer a local contractor asked them to build him one, which they did (PB2). In 1972 they sold the paving
company to employees and started to manufacture the PB3, the thirdgeneration model, and sell Puckett Brothers Power Box Pavers full time. The PB3 was a rubber-tire, 9-12-ft. selfpropelled paver that ran on a 16-hp Briggs & Stratton engine, was driven by hydraulics, and had a 4-ton hopper. “There was nothing on the market like it when it was introduced,” Bill says. “That’s the reason it took off like it did. For about $6,500 contractors could pave driveways all day long without having to spend $50,000 or $60,000 on a paver.” And contractors recognized the advantages almost immediately. First, uncoupling the paver from the truck enabled two pieces of equipment to do different jobs at the same time. Once the truck dumped into the paver it could head to the plant for another load. And while that was happening the paver could be paving. “It resulted in greater production because more material could be moved more quickly,” Bob says. In addition, the Power Box produced a better-quality finished product and because less handwork was required and it was less tiresome.
Richard Puckett (right) and Otis Puckett (second from right) celebrate delivery of the first Power Box 2 model to local contractor J.D. Moore (center). Two employees are at left.
“The Power Box gave contractors the ability to go into parking lots and get into hard-to-work corners where before they had to do the work by hand. When you’re doing hand work and shoveling mix into an area the drag box couldn’t reach, the compaction of material is real inconsistent,” Bob says. “The Power Box virtually eliminated hand work because you could put the paver into a corner and pave 90 degrees.
You could drive it where you wanted, already full of mix, and start paving. When it comes out of the paver screed itself, it’s a lot more uniform in density and thickness and the mix is better finished.” “If you’re doing a lot of driveways every day, the Power Box could cut your time down by as much as 40% of what it takes to do the job by cutting out the handwork,” Bill says. In 1973 Otis and Richard put together a dealer network and by 1974 Puckett Brothers was shipping pavers to almost 20 states. Also in 1974, they began manufacturing the T400 (soon renamed T450), which was essentially the PB3 on a track system. Puckett Brothers hit its peak in 198788 when it had 60 employees and 40 dealers with 60 outlets that sold 400 pavers in the U.S. and outside the country, but that didn’t halt the Puckett family’s involvement in the industry. In 1990 Richard (who bought Otis out in 1975) sold the company to Gehl Co., West Bend, WI. In 1996 Otis started Basic Mfg. Co. and built 6-wheel motor graders. The Basic line is now part of Shannon Chastain. Richard began manufacturing the T655 paver under the Puckett Bros. name in 1997. Bob worked for Otis and Richard in their paving business until he graduated from high school, then left but returned in 1971. He stayed through the Gehl sale, then worked at Gehl until 1993 when he joined Neal Mfg. for three years, was recruited by Mustang Manufacturing and worked there until Gehl acquired Mustang. He spent two years as a subcontractor doing specialty paving projects, rejoined Neal Mfg. in 1999 until Neal was sold to Ingersoll-Rand, and joined Ditch Runner in 2014. In 1993, Bill, who had been with Puckett Brothers following a stint in the Navy in the late 1960s and who had served as vice president of manufacturing until the Gehl purchase, joined brother Paul Puckett to start a parts supply business. They ran Puckett Mfg. Inc., Loganville, GA, for three years before developing their own self-propelled paver. They now manufacture the models 560 and 580 pavers.
38 February 2017 • PAVEMENT • www.ForConstructionPros.com/Pavement
PVM0217_36-39_HallofFame_AJ.indd 38
1/26/17 9:44 AM