# Why does Utah have different concrete mixing trucks than everywhere else? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277 "2013-09-07T20:35:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/21 "2017-08-25T02:53:34Z")
nope. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/22 "2017-08-25T03:23:45Z")
There is also [this type](http://www.holcombemixers.com/images/mix-01.png), which has no rotating barrel. Mixing of dry ingredients and water is done with an auger. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/23 "2017-08-25T04:52:29Z")
> [@Just\_Passing\_Through](#): > > They are concrete trucks, not cement trucks. Cement is a part of concrete. They may actually be delivering concrete, and not cement, but the common name for them around here is the cement truck. It’s like the whole “Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit” thing. It depends on why you are asking. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/24 "2017-08-25T14:42:30Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > They may actually be delivering concrete, and not cement, but the common name for them around here is the cement truck. It’s like the whole “Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit” thing. It depends on why you are asking. Concrete truck, cement mixer, transit mixer; it’s all just communication, right? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/25 "2017-08-25T15:14:26Z")
Missed this thread the first time around. > [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Is there some Mormon mafia that controls the cement industry or something? Actually now that you asked. . . It’s the Fundamentalist Mormons, but yes, there is a Mormon mafia of sorts which does a lot of concrete work. From the Salt Lake Tribune. [How Utah concrete companies, using underpaid workers and teens, send money to a polygamous church](http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=2691902&itype=CMSID)They use the “lost boys,” the leftover males who are not going to be able to get brides and are exploited for labor then shoved out of the system. From [Time](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1664868,00.html). > [@](#): > > For Elaine Tyler, the founder of Hope Organization, which works in St. George to salvage the young lives shattered by the FLDS culture, Shapley is a public glimpse of what she sees as the “dirty little secret” of the booming town of St. George — the use of child labor, dubbed “mission work” by the FLDS, to outbid competing construction companies. Tyler worries that the number of “kids from the creek” is reaching critical mass. The expulsions and runaways continue. “They are living someone else’s madness,” Jensen said. I actually don’t know a lot about Fundamentalist Mormons. I heard about this connection on a now discontinued podcast Mormon Expression, by an ex-mormon. He claimed that the Fundamentalists were not the nicest people in the world and this was the reason he never discussed them on his podcast. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/26 "2017-08-25T17:00:00Z")
> [@svd678](#): > > Saw one in Wisc. recently. They’re not at all rare. Front discharge mixers were invented by a guy in Utah: > **[Utah inventions: Precursor to the modern cement truck](https://www.ksl.com/article/36158873)** > > Royal William Sims and his sons revolutionized the cement truck businesses by creating a truck that did things much more safely and efficiently. In other words, it did things the right way. However I’d say from casual observation Oshkosh Truck from Wisconsin has one of the biggest if not biggest market shares. There are other brands though. Traditional rear discharge mixers still account for around 70% of new sales in North America. > **[North America Concrete Mixers & Pumps Industry Report 2015-2016 &...](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/north-america-concrete-mixers--pumps-industry-report-2015-2016--forecasts-to-2020---research-and-markets-300415780.html)** > > /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Vocational Truck/Body Industry in North America: Concrete Mixers & Pumps" report to... ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Passing\_Through](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Just\_Passing\_Through](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Passing_Through)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/27 "2017-08-26T00:21:31Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#): > > They may actually be delivering concrete, and not cement, but the common name for them around here is the cement truck. It’s like the whole “Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit” thing. It depends on why you are asking. Truth! In daily life, those of us at work drove “see-MENT mixers” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Passing\_Through](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Just\_Passing\_Through](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Passing_Through)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/28 "2017-08-26T00:23:30Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > However I’d say from casual observation Oshkosh Truck from Wisconsin has one of the biggest if not biggest market shares. There are other brands though. We had a couple in the fleet. They were so ugly they were called “OhMyGosh”… ---
**Author:** ![allyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@allyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/allyn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2017, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/29 "2017-08-26T06:47:15Z")
An excuse to post a link to this: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bSOn5gQFDpE/hqdefault.jpg "CEMENT MIXER by the Slim Gaillard Trio on 78 rpm CADET label") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSOn5gQFDpE) ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2017, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/30 "2017-08-27T05:33:54Z")
Funny that this thread got revived, but when I went to South Carolina for the eclipse, I saw a front discharge cement truck for the first time outside of Utah. ---
**Author:** ![MikeyW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@MikeyW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeyW)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/31 "2017-10-23T14:24:59Z")
OK, so this isn’t something “new” or “recent” in Utah, as I noticed this as a kid in the late 70s, early 80s. I was born in Utah, but moved to Idaho and the later moved to AZ. I would only notice the front discharge trucks when I went back to visit family in Utah. Still, I notice inky front discharge trucks in Utah, now that I live there, and just came to AZ for the week, and still only see rear discharge here. Looking around, it turns out that the trucks are a Utah invention, specifically because of all of the shortcomings of of the rear discharge trucks. > **[Utah inventions: Precursor to the modern cement truck](https://www.ksl.com/article/36158873)** > > Royal William Sims and his sons revolutionized the cement truck businesses by creating a truck that did things much more safely and efficiently. In other words, it did things the right way. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/32 "2017-10-24T15:53:25Z")
The first time I saw one of these while driving, it was turning from a side road onto the road I was on, headed the other way. I slowed _way_ down until it was past, because my brain parsed it as “cement mixer driving backwards rapidly on the highway”, and I had no idea what was going on. I saw it in Kentucky, though, so they are other places. ---
**Author:** ![zuer-coli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ba9def/32.png) [@zuer-coli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuer-coli)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/33 "2017-10-26T03:21:16Z")
The type of cement mixer in the picture you provide is the only type I have seen here in Northern Indiana in over 20 years, as has been said front unloading cement mixers are much easier for the driver to maneuver. The driver can see where the cement crew wants the cement to be poured.The driver can also see if there are obstacles that must be avoided, something the cement crew isn’t always in tune with. Cement mixers that unload from the back are inherently more difficult to maneuver as the driver has to rely on the proper signaling, can’t see obstacles etc. Oh, and by the way, it’s usually the cement delivery company that’s on the hook for any damage the driver does. Zuer-coli ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/34 "2017-10-26T14:07:25Z")
Does anyone know where the front chute cement mixers were first invented? That piece of information may help solve this mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/35 "2017-10-26T20:15:39Z")
I grew up in downstate New York in the 70’s, and all I saw were rear discharge. I moved to the Midwest in 1979, and all I’ve seen have been front discharge since. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277/36 "2017-10-26T20:31:25Z")
I see a few types of concrete trucks in Michigan. for small jobs (e.g. you’re putting up a shed and need a slab poured) you call for a [“Mini-Mix”](http://www.minimix.ca/img/concrete-truck.JPG) which is a light- or medium-duty truck with a small-ish rear-discharge drum. for bigger jobs (foundations, parking lots, etc.) most of them are front discharge, rear-engine trucks like [this.](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8OtuHobtq4k/maxresdefault.jpg) For really big jobs like building a long stretch of road, they’ll just use dump trucks which haul in mixed concrete from a “hopper” in a staging area, and you have a continual stream of trucks dumping loads of concrete in front of the leveler/finisher. If the staging area is close by, they’ll use box dump trucks like [this.](http://onlinemanuals.txdot.gov/txdotmanuals/pdm/images/9_discharge_concrete.jpg) I’ve also seen trucks like [this,](http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/ConstructionMgt/OnlineDocs/2009MOP/450%20Rigid%20Pavement/451/451%20REINFORCED%20PORTLAND%20CEMENT%20CONCRETE%20PAVEMENT_files/image003.jpg) which also had a mixer/beater inside the dump barrel. I assume it’s for when the staging area is farther away and they use the beater to agitate the concrete and hold off curing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-utah-have-different-concrete-mixing-trucks-than-everywhere-else/668277.md?page=1)