dumper

thumb|A Thwaites dumper in action thumb|A Neuson dumper thumb|A German-made Picco 1 dumper with one rear wheel in the midline. See :de:Picco 1 (in German) A dumper or dumper truck is a vehicle designed for carrying bulk material, often on building sites. A dumper has a body which tilts or opens at the back for unloading and is usually an open 4-wheeled vehicle with the load skip in front of the driver. The skip can tip to dump the load; this is where the name "dumper" comes from. They are normally diesel powered. A towing eye is fitted for secondary use as a site tractor. Dumpers with rubber tracks are used in special circumstances and provide a more even distribution of weight compared to tires. Continuous tracks allow the operator to carry heavier payload on slick, snowy, or muddy surfaces, and are popular in some countries. Rubber track dumpers offer even weight distribution for transporting heavy payloads over challenging terrains like mud or snow, popular in certain regions.

==Background== One of the earliest British dumpers was the Muir-Hill, which was based on the Fordson tractor with 2 cubic yard bucket, driving on the front axle and steered by the back wheels. Devised in 1927, and on sale by 1931, it gained a lot of versatility when in 1933 Dunlop introduced 'tractor-style' pneumatic low pressure tyres. This allowed it to travel on tarmac roads or off-road, which was of particular advantage on construction sites. Originally advertised as the "dumping tractor", it soon became known as the Muir-Hill dumper.