1911 Brush Model E Runabout

1911 Brush Model E

1911 Brush Model E Front view

 The 1911 Brush Model E featured in the Schwanke Museum was added to the museum’s collection in May of 2000 it was one of many purchases from the Carl Johnk family after the passing of Mr. Johnk in 1988.  

side view

Alanson P. Brush (February 10, 1878 in Michigan – March 6, 1952 in Michigan) would form the Brush Runabout Company in 1906 in Detroit, Michigan. Alanson P. Brush would become a much respected technical innovator in the automobile industry even though he did not have any formal technical training. He works with Henry Leland on designing and building the original one cylinder Cadillac engine in 1902. He decided to move on and start his own company where he could build a low cost one cylinder car under his own name. At the time there was a car craze that was sweeping the nation and in the early 1900’s and there was an eagerness for the type of car Brush would design and build.

Like many other manufactures that were trying to meet the demand from the public Brush would design and build a runabout. After several attempts and designs he would come out in 1909 with his Brush Model B which would feature a one cylinder engine with 7 hp and a 74” wheel base. He desired to build a car that was light so he used a wooden chassis. For the cars undercarriage it would use wooden rails and iron cross members for stability. The Brush would use a friction drive transmission with a suspension that used under slung coil springs that used tension. That way Brush wouldn’t need to use compression on both sides of each axle. With so many other makes and models of small runabouts on the market many having one to four cylinder engines, none could compare to the Brush, mainly due to the unique and unusual design and detail that showed off the inventiveness of it maker.  The Brush was powered by a large single-cylinder water cooled engine. At night the Brush’s had two gas-powered headlights that provided light, along with a gas-powered light in the rear. The frame, axles, and wheels were made of oak, hickory or maple, many times left plain or painted that way it would match the trim. A squeeze bulb horn with a long metal tube was located next to the driver and this was located next to the engine cover. A small storage area was provided in the rear, with a drawer accessible under the rear of the seat.

In 1910 Brush would make some small changes to his design, this would make the runabout more affordable and would make the car one of the more successful cars during that period. Brush made the car so that the average person could afford the car, the 1910-1911 models range in cost from $350 to $850 dollars. Part of the reason the cars were affordable was because the car used mainly Michigan hardwoods in its construction, the axles and wheels were fabricated from hickory, with the frame and flooring made from oak, the seat structure were made from poplar for its flexibility.  Brush manufactured several models of their Runabout, starting with the model A, B, BC, C, D, E, F, and the Liberty. The Model D sat on an 80-inch wheelbase and powered by a single-cylinder engine offering 10 horsepower. The car weighed 950 pounds and cost $485. This model could and would be use as part of their truck line many were used as mail trucks and delivery trucks, the company boasted in their advertisement that the truck could handle loads up to 500 lb.  The Model D had the distention of being their only enclosed model.

a look at the interior

The one thing that gave the Brush an advantage over its competitors was that its engine ran counter-clockwise instead of the usual clockwise. Now I don’t have to you reminded in those days they still had not invention the electric start and Brush came up with an idea which was intended to make the car safer for a right-handed person to crank-start by hand. Before his idea all car engines ran clockwise. There were many injuries that were sustained, mostly dislocated thumbs and broken forearms. The hand crank would kick back on starting, especially if the car was not properly adjusted before starting, or if the person cranking did not follow correct safety procedures this would include fully retarding the manual spark advance. The person was require to keep the thumb alongside the fingers instead of around the crank, and pulling the crank upward in a half turn, never in a full circle or pushing down. This design proved to be one of the most significant changes in all of the designs on the market at that time. Today you would be hard press to find any engine that ran clock wise because all engines run counter-clock wise rotation.

 In 1913, Alanson P. Brush along with Frank and Benjamin Briscoe would use Maxwell-Briscoe, Brush, Stoddard-Dayton and others to form the United States Motor Company. Unfortunately the United States Motor Company would fail and by 1914. This was due to the fact the competition from Ford made it difficult keep up with the numbers Ford was producing and still being able to their cars affordable. It has been reported that the total production of the Brush Runabout from 1907 to 1913 at 13,250 units. While researching the Brush runabout a few web sites are reporting that there may be as many as 200 Brush runabout in existents today.

Alanson P. Brush would leave his beloved car in the hands of the United States Motor Company and would pursue other ventures, many of his credits, working for the early Cadillac company on the engine and transmission, also working on Buick and Pontiac’s. He was considered one the great innovator of the early 20^th century.    

1925 Ford Model T (White Eagle Oil and Refining Company)

1925 Ford Model T (White Eagle Oil and Refining Company)

There are times when you can drive by the Schwanke Museum (which is located next to Menards on south 71 in Willmar) there sits a 1925 Model T Ford Truck with a three stage fuel dispensing tank on the back which reads White Eagle Oil and Refining Company. This was a recent purchase by Virgil Schwanke to add to his collection (March or April). The truck came out of North Dakota originally. There were some repairs need to be done to the truck. It had a few dings here and there and the engine need to be gone through so that it could run. So Mike Schwanke our resident mechanic and body man went to work and restored the truck to running order so it could be displayed.

1925 Ford Model T

Front view of the 1925 Model T Truck 

View from the back showing the filler connectors

Brown Certified Tank made by the Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company, St. Paul, Mn.

Interior view of the 1925 Model T Truck

A view of the strap to open the window

The Ford Truck is a basic model with straps to raise and lower the windows. Three speed transmission, four cylinder engine, electric start (after market which was added later), tilt front windshield, and on the back a three stage fuel dispensing tank, which would carry gasoline, kerosene, and fuel oil.

The tank is made by the Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company out Of St. Paul Minnesota. When researching the tank on the back of the truck I found that the Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company has become the Mammoth Inc., producer of air conditioning and refrigeration units. They purchase Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company in 1935, and then change its name. I wrote to the company to get more history about the Brown Sheet Iron and Steel Company and have yet to receive a reply from them. I have written to Mammoth Inc. several times now hoping to at least get some kind of reply, my thought are either they are too busy to answer a few questions from a small museum about their history or (and I hate to say this, but I will) they just don’t care, like so many large businesses today. I love history and I think it is important, mostly because it shows where we start and how far we have come (Sorry don’t mean to rant) and much of our history has been lost and that is part of the reason I write this blog, because I am at least saving part of history for others to read about.

I originally started this article back in May when we opened for the season; I wanted to start my blog off with the truck because of what was found inside the truck. There was compartment that held a gas receipt book from 1925, which started in May of that year and I want to follow the price of gas in 1925 compared to what it is today. The first receipt from the book showed that on May 15^th of 1925 the price of gasoline was a whopping 13cents a gallon compared the May 15^th price of gasoline here in Willmar of $3.79 a gallon. Now that I am finally going to add this article to the blog in august of 1925 gas price had risen to a whopping 15cents a gallon where as in the second week of august of 2011 we have prices of $3.69 a gallon.

Other things that are noteworthy about the 1925 Ford Model T are even thought head lights are standard and the basic model, this Model T comes with three kerosene lamps two in the front and one on the back. I am not sure what the purposes of these three lights are for, so if anyone know please let me know. (Thank you)    

So without going into a long and wordy article on the Ford truck. I decided to just write a quick article 1925 Ford Truck that features the White Eagle Oil and Refining Company.

So here is a short history of the Ford truck.

Henry Ford turned out his first truck in 1900 it was the third vehicle he had built. He would use the Model A framework and would feature a wood spoke rims and wood body leaving only the engine compartment using metal. Later in 1918 he would improve on his fist design where Ford would introduce the Model T One-Ton truck chassis, its first chassis specifically built for trucks.  

The first factory-assembled pickup that came off the assembly line would feature a modified rear body that could be ordered with a cargo box, adjustable tailgate, four stake pockets and heavy-duty rear springs it could also be order with or without these options. It debuted in 1925 and sold for US$281and it is estimated that 34,000 were built that first year. Henry Ford billed it as the "Ford Model T Runabout with Pickup Body." 

Ford felt he could improve his truck line so in 1928 he would reintroduce the Model A which would replaced the Model T. Ford introduce the first closed-cab pickup and it would sported innovations like a safety glass windshield, roll-up side windows and three-speed transmission. It was powered by a four-cylinder L-head engine capable of 40 horsepower (30 kW).

Then again in1932 Ford would introduce the 65 horsepower (48 kW) Ford flathead V8 engine it was offered as an option in the truck in the Model A truck. By 1936, Ford had produced over 3 million trucks and led the industry in building trucks.



I did find some information about the White Eagle Oil and Refining Company but what I did find was brief and if anyone has additional information I would love to see it.

A brief history of White Eagle Oil and Refining Company.

White Eagle Oil and Refining Company this company was named for a Chief of the Ponca Indian partly in respect for the tribe from which the land was purchased, the name change for the company came about as a result of the breakup of Standard Oil in 1911. White Eagle Oil was widely sold throughout the Midwestern states, In addition to 1800 service stations located in fourteen central states which gave it slightly more than one half of one percent of US sales. Here are just a few states White Eagle Oil Company had stations in, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Iowa and parts of Colorado and Kansas during the 1910′s and 1920′s.

The White Eagle Oil Company had crude production and refining in Kansas and Wyoming, five refineries were operating in these states, and this included some small operations at Greybull and Cowley. By 1923, Casper alone would boast five refineries and they consisted of the tiny Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Company facility on South Center Street which was built in 1895, The Belgo-American refinery which would later be known as the Midwest Refinery it was built east of Highland Cemetery in 1903. The giant Standard Oil refinery was just southwest of Casper and that opened in March 1914 with the growing use of oil related product it would again expanded in 1922 which would make it the largest gasoline-producing refinery in the world at the time in history. The Texaco refinery was just three miles east of Casper and it would open in 1923 and that just leaves the small White Eagle refinery which opened the same year.

Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony) would acquire the White Eagle Oil & Refining Co which would bring them into the Midwest market for the first time and with the purchase of the company in1930 they also purchased thousands of gas stations that were 11 states. Socony would now need even more crude oil to supply these additional market outlets that came along with their acquisition, and like most of the other big international oil concerns, Socony would have to look to the Middle East.

One of the things that remind people of that day and age is that on every gasoline pump belonging to White Eagle Petroleum was a beautiful, molded glass white eagle and many of these if not all of the eagle have become highly collectible. Even though the White Eagle Company was absorbed into the Socony and pretty much lost to history. The name lived on through a non related company. Today there is a company by the name of White Eagle Oil and refining company but it is base out of Canada. But much of the original history of the white eagle oil and refining history is lost. White Eagle oil was just one of the many companies that would become the oil giant it is today and the company is Exxon – Mobil list below is a list of the many companies it absorb to become the giant it is today.

Exxon - Mobil Oil Company (today)
Today’s Exxon - Mobil Oil Company is made up of several oil companies that were bought or absorbed over the years, like Vacuum Oil was part of Standard Oil it was incorporated in 1866, later Socony would purchase all the assets from Standard Oil in1931 and would rename the company Socony-Vacuum corp., Socony was formed in1882 and later became its own entity in 1911 with the breakup of Standard Oil, General Petroleum of California (1926), Magnolia (1918), Lubrite (1929) a refining and marketing company based in St. Louis, Wadhams, White Star (1930) and  White Eagle (1930), Gilmore, Socony-Vacuum Corp. changes its name to Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc (1934). In (1955), Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc, would change its name to Socony Mobil Oil Company and then again in (1966) to Mobil Oil Corporation. Mobil Oil Co. becomes the North American Division; Mobil International becomes the International Division, with coordinating responsibility for Mobil Petroleum Co. Inc and in (1998) Exxon and Mobil Oil Company would merge.

I plan on writing more on Exxon - Mobile Oil later in an upcoming blog. So stay tuned.

1917 Moline Universal Model D

I would like to apologize ahead of time for the photos of the Universal Model D Moline we have in the museum it is in a spot where it is hard to take photographs.

Moline Plow Company

In the far back of the first building here at Schwanke Museum, hidden behind another tractor sit a Red 1917  Universal D-Moline that was built in Columbus, Ohio, most people miss it as they walk by.
I know this sound a little cliche but in the beginning the Moline Plow Company started out as a group of men, Candee, Swan and Company. They began in 1865 and consisted of farmers, bankers, and business men who were interested in producing farm implements. A few of the items they produced or manufactured were fanning mills and hay racks. When this group, first started they were located in a wooden building which would later be torn down and they would build a plant which would later become the Moline Plow Company. As the business grew more partners came aboard like Andrew Friberg a former Deere and Company employee, while there he would learn how to manufacture a two wheel plows. In 1866, George Stephen would join, he would add enough capital to make him a equal partner, Stephens would be in charge of woodworking and later become the one of the President of the Moline Plow Company in 1882 mean while, Friberg would run the blacksmith shop and iron works, with R.K. Swan working in sales and tending to other business functions, and Henry Candee would do the accounting for the co-op. With sales increasing and production up the group would incorporate in 1870, to become The Moline Plow Company.

Sulky Plow manufactured by the Moline Plow Company 1884 to 1929 (not feature in the museum)

With capital on hand and the business doing very well the Moline Plow Company would buy out the struggling Flying Dutchman Company in1884. The Moline Plow Company would go on to revolutionize the plow business worldwide with the all ready recognized sulky plow. The sulky plow was of the two wheel variety and the Moline Plow company would improve on that design. Now for most of you out there who don’t know what a sulky plow is. It is a plow, or set of plows, having a seat for the driver. With sale soaring and the popularity of the sulky plow that was being manufactured Moline Plow Company was becoming rapidly popular with the farming community.  Again in 1886 Moline Plow Company would buy out the Moline Champion who produced corn planters the company would once again revolutionize manufacturing with their new design of their version and it would almost match or equal that of the Flying Dutchman sulky plow. Even though the company had never built a corn planter before they would soon become a leader in this field. Even though they started out manufacturing fanning mills and hay racks along with the sulky plow the company would take on other farming tools such as, cultivators, harrows, disc harrows, pulverizers, potato diggers, stalk cutters, cotton planters, cane tools, sugar beet tools, and in fact, practically everything used in the way of agricultural implements excepting grain drills and harvesting machinery.
 

From 1895 to 1910, The Company had become very successful and would double their business every five years with gross profit estimated at 15 million by June of 1913. Power farming was beginning to take off and the company could no longer ignore what was happening around them, so in 1915, the Moline Plow Company would buy the Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ohio.

Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company


The Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ohio, started out in 1914 featuring the Universal Motor Cultivator. Later that year the company would incorporate, the Universal Motor Cultivator was designed with the drive wheel in front with the engine over the drive wheels it would feature a two cylinder opposed horizontal engine rated at 10 horse power at the draw bar and 12 at the belt and operated at 800 to 1,200 rpm. Forward speed ½ mph to 3 mph. Before the Universal Cultivator sold the company to the Moline Plow company they had Moline design a plow that could be use with the cultivator. The company would only last two year from 1914 to 1915.

The new Moline Universal would feature numerous advanced technologies with its final model. The Moline Universal was so versatile even today people consider it to be the first practical row crop tractor this tractor was a decade ahead of both Farmall and the Fordson. The Universal would become the best-selling tractor of its time; there were many imitations made and it would become the patriarch of the long line of farm equipment which would later become the Minneapolis-Moline.


The Universal would be built upon two ideas. The first idea was obvious; farmers were ready for an agile lightweight row crop machine. Many of the tractors of that time were large, bulky, and unwieldy and never really able to do daily farm work.


The second idea was many of the early-1900s farmers were not ready to let their horse out to pasture and were refusing to retire their horses. Many farmers were reluctance and did not want to change and many farmers still love to work their horses because it gave them a sense of control and that my friends is the biggest reason. 


When Universal Tractors released their Universal Motor Cultivator, the cultivator tractor sold for $385 and featuring a two-cylinder, 10 hp engine, the tractor would soothe a lot of the discomfort felt by many farmers. This tractor was lightweight a lot more maneuverable than earlier tractors and now the farmer could sit right above the actual ploughshares, thus making it easier to operate the implement with levers at hand. In fact, with the engine and drive wheels in front of the farmer and with the steering column, throttle, and brake controls it kind of looked a little like taut reins.

The Universal Company did not build their tractor for very long (1914-1915). The Moline Plow Company had built and experimented with a self propelled design motorized plow starting in 1913. The Moline Plow Company had been working with International Harvester on a design that would work. The Moline Plow company had five sample models built, all of them proved to be less than successful. The Moline Plow Company started looking around for other ideas. That is when the company focused its attention on the Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company so in November of 1915 the Moline Plow Company would buy the company for $150,000.

Now the Moline Plow Company had been building a plow that went with the Universal Motor Cultivator. The Moline Universal tractors continued to be built in the Columbus factory until 1918. Moline would open its own factory in July of 1916 in Moline, Ill.

The 1916 Universal Model D Tractor would still feature the two-cylinder opposed engine which was produced by the Reliable Engine Co. of Portsmouth, Ohio. Several minor design changes were made according to the 1918 instruction book which listed two-cylinder models B and C. The changes would involved the front drive wheels on the tractor, they grew in size and weight, and now the left front wheel could be raised which would allow the tractor to ride level when the right front wheel rolled through a furrow.

People who are fans of the Minneapolis-Moline line are likely to recognize the Universals featured color scheme. The engine and chassis were red and the wheels were yellow. These colors will forever be linked to the Minneapolis-Moline line as long as it existed.

Moline was essentially known for its plows and this would make it easier for the company to offer their implements at a reasonable price when purchasing a tractor. Moline would also offer a power lift option with its factory plow.

Safety also played a big part in selling the Universal. With the drive wheels placed at the front of the Universal made it less likely to roll over a lot less and it was a lot safer than most tractors on the market at that time. Even thought the tractor was ahead of its time it still had a few problems. The first problem was when putting the tractor in its reverse gear the tractor like to buck most likely because of the heavy front end and the light rear end. One of the other problems with the early Universals was tipping. The Universal engine was offset to the left so when taking a right hand turn this would cause the tractor to tip. Moline tried to fix that problem the cheapest and easiest way possible and it worked. They would put concrete in the right wheel and this would hold the tractor down so it would not tip. Most tractor of that time had their drawbacks and the Universal was one of them even still the Universal would become a very popular tractor in its time and it would really take off in 1917 when they release the Universal Model D.

1917 Universal Model D Moline 4 cylinder engine

The Universal Model D would make good on its promise of the earlier models and would prove itself technologically, it was at least 20 years ahead of its competitors. The tractor would feature an electric starter, electric governor and even electric lights, they also improved the engine by putting in a four-cylinder. This would provide 9 draw bar and 18 belt horsepower and had a top governed speed of 1,800 rpm. The Universal farm tractor would be the first tractor with a variable speed governor.

The company would also release a complete line of new implements to go with the tractor. The implements would include grain binders, rakes, mowers, disc harrows and manure spreaders. Salesmen would use these advancements as selling point and it did, the Moline Universal Model D had production numbers of 20,000 tractors by 1918.

The Steering Column of the 1917 D Moline

A look from behind down the back of the D Moline

The Front of the D Moline 

Like most great inventions the Moline Universal would became one of the most copied designs in the history of agricultural engineering. Many blatant copies of the Universal were produced. Most prominent among these were: The Indiana Silo & Tractor Company of Anderson, Ind., The Hokes Tractor Company of South Bend, Ind., made a very similar, if short-lived, model. One of the more popular collectors tractor, the 'Planet, Junior, made by S.L. Allen & Co. of Philadelphia, also seems to have been inspired by the Universal. 



John Deere engineer Walter Silver made an attempt at motor cultivators using a Universal-style chassis in the year’s just prior to1920, but the most successful of all the imitation of the Universal was the Allis-Chalmers 6-12 it was made well and had a low-priced that made it affordable to farmer of the day. Imitation alone would not be able to kill off the Universal Model D; it was because there were just too many things that the other imitators could not get right. One example was the belt pulley on the Universal Model D was at the far front of the tractor. Engineers also added a 90-degree drive and this would allow the user to back the tractor up to tighten the belt.


The thing that was more detrimental to the Moline Universal than the imitation would be its assembly line. The Moline Plow Company devised a mass production line system of sorts. The Model D tractors were built in one place and when parts were needed they would have men using wheelbarrows bring the other parts when they were needed. It did make it easier than making them one or two at a time even still it really was not an assembly line. The truth is because of the lack of mass production it was more likely the assembly line that Henry Ford use to build their Fordson tractor was the real death for the Moline Model D Universal. The Fordson tractor was not any better than the Universal it really wasn’t anywhere near as advanced, it was because Ford could make his tractor cheaper and put it in the price range so that more farmers could afford, it wasn’t till the Ferguson plow system that the Fordson would finally matched the versatility of the of the Model D Universal.

Even though the Moline Plow Company had some success, they were like many other companies they began to struggle. John N. Willys the car magnate would take over management after purchasing controlling stock in 1918, even with his success, the company would still struggle mostly because of agricultural depression and World War I. So near to bankruptcy the company would stop producing the Model D Universal Tractor and many of the implements that went along with the tractor in 1923. When in 1929 the company would merge with the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Co.

The Universal would go the way many ideas would, it was a great idea but it was ahead of its time. The thought of an all purpose tractor would eventually make a comeback in 1924 when Farmall would create their own all purpose tractor the Farmall Regular which proved an all purpose tractor could work.

1936 Silver King

1936 Silver King

When I research many of the cars and truck on the Internet and in publications that I can find sometimes there is not a lot of information about the cars, trucks or tractors. Hence the information maybe small and sometime there is a ton of information some interesting and some a long read. The silver king was one of those that there is a ton of information because of the avid collectors that are out there. So here is what I found.

The Silver King

If you were to look for the small town of Plymouth Ohio on a map it would appear no more than a small dot. But this little town would play a big part in American agriculture history. During the late 1800’s the community of Plymouth would attract the attention of a brickyard worker and a few business friend to their little town with a promise to help them bring jobs to the area by backing them in their ventures. So in 1882 J.D. Fate and his friend Gunsaullus (unable to find his first name) would start the Fate and Gunsaullus Company and they would build clay extruding machinery that would be used for making bricks. Fate would later go on to buy out his partner Gunsaullus and form his own company the J.D. Fate Company in 1892 and would continue to make clay machinery.

Advertising flyer for the Plymouth Locomotive

With the automobile industry beginning to boom, Fate decided to expand so in 1909 Fate would organized the Plymouth truck company. He would go on to build 200 trucks and made an attempt to build one car, but gave up after a fail business trip when the car develop an engine problem and they end up returning hope on the train. It wasn’t long before the truck company failed in 1915. It was not because of the trucks not selling, more due to the fact that Fate had been approached by one of his customer. Fate was asked if he could build a machine that they could use around the rail yard that could replace the mule teams being used at the time. So Fate went to work and developed a yard locomotive which proved to be a successful venture thus laying down the foundation of Plymouth Locomotives which would become his primary product his company would produce.    

Production was good and the company was growing J.D. Fate decided the company would succeed better if they could add more products and when he was approached by Root-Heath in 1919 the J.D. Fate company would become Fate-Root-Heath Company. 

Plymouth Tractor

Advertisement for Corn Sheller

Root-Heath Company was originally founded by Clayton F. and George A. Root in Medina, Ohio, they would manufacture and sold items like, shoe repair kits, horse harness, corn shelter, grist mills, cobbler tools and lawn mower sharpening machines. As the business grew they began to run out of room at their Medina Facility. The Root brothers had been buying casting from the foundry in Plymouth and decided to move their operation to Plymouth when they found a two story building next to the foundry. When the village heard the Root brothers were interested in a building in the village they offered the brother a few inducements to move their operation to their fair city. After deciding to take the village’s offer George A. opted not to make the move he would sell his share of the company to his nephew in-law Charles E. Heath who was married to the daughter of Clayton Root. They made the move in 1895 and change the name of the company in 1904 from the Root Brothers Company to Root-Heath Manufacturing Company and in 1919 joined forces with J.D. Fate to become Fate-Root-Heath. Business was good and the company was moving forward and prospering until the 1929 when the economy crashed.

Advertisement for Plymouth Locomotive

Sales and order slowed in the early 1930’s for the Locomotive, so in order to keep the production going Fate-Root-Heath needed to come up with a product that people could afford and buy in quantity and since the village of Plymouth was located in the middle of the Ohio’s prime farmland a farm tractor was the oblivious choice to add to their production. The company had the engineers and the production capabilities to build a tractor. So when Charles Heath, the General Manager presented the idea of building a farm tractor it would help get the company through the depression. So the Fate-Root-Heath Company set out to build a farm tractor. The first design the engineers came out with was a huge, heavy tractor which was powered by their Climax engine which was big and slow. Part of the reason it was so big and slow was that the engineers were use to building locomotives that were used in train yards. What they needed to build was a tractor that farmer were looking for a smaller, lighter with more maneuverability and inexpensive.

1936 Silver King Left Side View

1936 Silver King Right Side View

 So after their first attempt Charles Heath though some new blood would be needed to build their new tractor and with so many engineers coming from various parts of the country seeking employment and with each one of them bring new ideas with them on how a farm tractors should be designed. They would hire several new engineers and work would begin on a new design for their new tractor. As a result a new innovative tractor the "Plymouth" was born. The companies’ engineers had defined their niche in the farm tractor market. They had designed a machine that was built for a 60 acre or less farm. It also had a definite place as an auxiliary tractor on a farm that was much larger.

1936 Silver King Hercules Engine 

 The new tractor was light and it used a small high speed motor, with a four speed transmission and was powered by a Hercules IXA engine. It uses a one plow standard tread tractor and could plow 5 acres in a ten hour day. The four speed transmission would allow a top speed 25 mph which was unheard of in that day. The Fate-Root-Heath engineers also used a silver paint that would adhere well metal and would give great protection against rust, and they would use this paint on their other products too. All of the Plymouth tractors would be painted silver and were given blue wheels for contrast. The tractor weighed around 2100 lb. and could be ordered with two different tread widths, 38 and 44 inches.

After the new Plymouth was introduced Charles Heath was approached by a young farmer, Luke Biggs who had built a farm tractor using a car engine and the rear axle from a Ford truck. Biggs tractor featured a single front wheel. After Biggs show Mr. Heath a photo of his tractor he was hired on the spot and within weeks he was made superintendent of the tractor division. The Plymouth would be called revolutionary because it was the first tractor designed and built using rubber tires as it foundation. Steel wheels came standard on the tractor but when salesmen would deliver the farmers new Plymouth they would bring along a set of rubber tire then demonstrate the different between steel wheel and rubber. The demonstrations worked well because the salesman would always come back with the steel wheel and the rubber tires could only be purchased at an extra cost (according to Mr. Biggs in an interview) he may have been right because there was a large line up of steel wheel against the fence.

The Fate-Root-Heath Company started a tradition that would confound, confuse and mystify dealer, collectors and anyone else who shared interest in tractors. The first Plymouth would be given one of four model numbers, the R-38, the R-44, the S-38, and the S-44 and these models were solely determined by the tread width and type of wheel used. It was really a simple method the R-38 model was a tractor on rubber tires with 38 inch tread, an S-44 came on steel with a 44 inch tread so on and so forth. When the model line expanded, so would the quantity of model numbers until, at one time, there were be no less than ten model numbers to describe the two basic tractors that were sold. In the 1940's the model number would change every year even though the tractor did not change.

In 1934 the Chrysler Corporation decided they would fight over the use of the Plymouth tractor. Now they had been using the Plymouth name since 1928 as the trade name for their automobile even though they had no complaint about the Plymouth name being used on locomotives, they did have a problem seeing it on these little tractors that were buzzing down the road at 25 mph. This was too much for the Chrysler Corporation so they sent in their lawyer.   If not for the single car built in 1910 by the failed Plymouth truck company which help save the day Fate-Root-Heath would have lost. In the end Chrysler’s lawyers lost and went back home to Detroit dejected after being force to buy the Plymouth name from Fate-Root-Heath. It has been reported that Fate-Root-Heath sold the name for one dollar. Now that they could no longer use the Plymouth name the company would have to come up with a new name and since the tractor was silver in color and the guys who built the tractor thought it was the king, Charles Heath decided to name it the “Silver King” starting with the tractor serial number 315 it would forever be known as the Silver King.

1936 Silver King Front View

Business was booming and four to five tractors were going out the door by 1936. Biggs would lean heavily on his design from his homemade tractor they would be called model R-66 which came with rubber tires and the S-66 which would come with the steel wheels. This tractor would use a swinging drawbar that was attached to the frame eighteen inches ahead of the rear axles center line, this would allow the drawbar to pull the front wheel into a turn thus eliminating the need for turning brakes. It was designed as a row crop cultivator tractor, the three wheeled model featured a unique steering arrangement of levers and chains that formed a bulky appendage located out in front of the tractors radiator. This steering gear was ugly but it was effective, and would not cost as much to manufacture. They would use a cast iron frame on the first 1000 or so three wheeled tractor; later ones would use a steel plate frame along the sides of the engine.

Fate-Root-Heath would build their low but stable designed four wheel Silver King as part of a package it could be ordered with lights and a horn this tractor would become popular for many wide variety of uses. The W.P. A. (The Work Progress Administration) began paving highways and they would begin to spend more and more on keeping the ditch next to the highway mowed and the Silver Kings was the perfect tractor for a highway mower. This little tractor had plenty of power to do the job and with rubber tires and great high road speed; this little tractor could get to and from the work area quickly. With the optional bull and pinion gear sets this tractors could travel at or up to 45 mph. They became so popular in Hollywood that many of the movie companies would use them to tow movie sets around. Warner Brothers was just one of the many movie companies to use this tractor. The California vegetable growers loved them because this tractor could tow a wagon slow enough so that a picker to keep up with it and that was just using first gear. Then after the wagons were loaded the tractor could travel on the roads to collection points using the high speed gears thus wasting precious harvest time. Many manufacturing firms like to use the Silver King industrial tractor and one big company that did use the Silver King was the Willys Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.

By the late 1930’s the Plymouth engineers began working on developing live hydraulics, a three point hitch, and a completely hydraulic transmission and in the mean time this little innovative tractor began to attracting attention from all over. It had been said "The Silver King is the best tractor buy on the market.” and that said by Henry Ford himself who reportedly owned several Silver Kings. The plant in Plymouth would entertain many interested people, Harry Ferguson was just one of the many the engineers had the pleasure of meeting, it was also said that a John Deere sales manager was overheard saying that  the Silver Kings was, "The best made poorest sold tractor of its time."

Fate-Root-Heath’s factory fine tuned their assembly lines so it could turn out a tractor every thirty minutes by doing this it would keep Fate-Root-Heath out of bankruptcy. By 1937, the Silver King had its best production year yet, with over 1000 tractors being built. Unfortunately the company would not build that many tractors again in one year. Part of the reason was that the engines and many of the other items needed to build the Silver King were purchased from outside the factory. The stuff needed was bought ahead of time in large batches so that there would be enough to build 50 to 100 tractors at a time. Many times when parts were reordered many of the new item would be different from the one previously that had been ordered. Which would accounts for the many variety of wheels, air filters, and paint colors that are found on many of the tractors.

1938 brought changes to the appearance of the tractor since the name change from the Plymouth to the Silver King. They change the radiator grill to a rounded grill on the three wheeled tractor giving it a more streamlined look and they would make the same design change to the four wheeled tractor in 1939.

The year 1938 brought the first change in the appearance of the Silver King since the name Plymouth was removed in 1934. The three wheeled tractor was fitted with a new, rounded, radiator grill. In 1939 the four wheel tractor also received the new grill. Many manufacturers were streamlining their tractors at this time, and the new grill may have been an attempt to streamline the Silver King. Few would agree that it was much of an improvement on the looks of the three wheeled tractor, which still had the bulky steering mechanism out front. But the first major mechanical change would come in 1940 when they switch to the Continental built engine on the three wheeled tractor (serial #4320). The Hercules IXB-3 engine was put on the four wheeled Silver King for a short time (#4341 to #5319) before it to was refitted the Continental engine. The Continental engine was the engine that Fate-Root-Heath had designed and had the Continental Company build it for them.

By the time the U.S. entered World War II the War Department was making demands from Fate-Root-Heath to build more Plymouth yard locomotives and war materials the tractor production began to slow. Mostly due to the need for iron and steel products that could be use in building war material.

Even though America was at war a new line of Silver Kings were introduce and it would feature the new and improved  Continental F-162 engine with a newly designed sheet metal which was added to the tractor which really did make it look streamlined. They simplified the steering on the three wheeled model by replacing the chain and sprocket with a simple idler arm. Fate-Root-Heath continued with the three wheeled model as well as the four wheeled model with a limited number of special tractors built that include combinations of old and new parts.

After WW II many companies were racing to meet the demand for farm tractors. Fate-Root-Heath continued their production of the Silver King, they also saw the demand for their Plymouth yard locomotive and there was not as much competition and building the locomotive was their primary business. Part of the reason Fate-Root-Heath had entered the tractor market in the 1930’s was to keep the doors open through the depression now management was taking a second look at the tractor division and with demand for the Plymouth yard locomotive the tractor division was no longer needed. Several tractor companies approached Fate-Root-Heath asking for much needed help to meet the huge demand for tractors. Cockshutt was one of those companies and after buying several tractors from Fate-Root-Heath to assess they were impressed. They approached Fate-Root-Heath with a request to build some chassis and final drives for their tractor. Fate-Root-Heath showed no interest so Cockshutt request went unanswered. Harry Lowther would buy a few chassis and final drives for his companies Co-op B2 Jr. But those to would become short lived and fall to the wayside.

 Production would still continue and the engineers worked constantly at improving the Silver King, even though support from management was faltering. New models would see new hydraulics along with several other improvements. Even thought the Silver King had saved Fate-Root-Heath, management no longer support the tractor division so in 1954 Fate-Root-Heath would close the tractor division down. Mountain State Fabricating Company in Clarksburg, West Virginia, approached Charles Heath about purchasing the rights to build the Silver King, and in February of 1954 Mountain State Fabricating Company would begin production of the Silver King with parts and tooling that they had received.

I have not found a lot of information about Mountain State Fabricating Company other than they one of the many companies that came into being as a result of World War II and that they were doing work for the government and now they were struggling to keep their doors open. Unfortunately, they struggled even with Silver King; they would only produce 75 tractors before closing their doors. Being unable to produce the tractor they would send the remaining parts back to Fate-Root-Heath, where many of the parts were sent to the junk yard. It was then that Fate-Root-Heath would end their tractor business once and for all.

With Fate-Root-Heath out of the tractor business, the Silver King would become just another tractor lost to history. The Silver King that Mountain State produce had serial numbers that started at 50,000 and these 75 tractors would become highly collectable. Approximately 8700 Silver King and Plymouth tractor were produce by the Fate-Root-Heath Company and are highly prized by their owners. It was even said May West owned a fleet of Silver King that were used to work her vineyards.

Even today the Silver King tractors are fondly remembered by farmers who used them on their farms, also by the men who worked so hard to build them and also by the people of Plymouth, Ohio which this little tractor help sustain their economy through the depths of the Great Depression. Many of the records that existed where lost or destroyed and most of the information that I have found has been gathered from the Internet from interviews of past employees, Silver King owners, and articles written about the Silver King.

Tractor Dave's visit

Lee Mys     Dave Rottier    Dave Wolfsen aka Tractor Dave

Tractor Dave standing next to his 1951, 1953 and 1999 International Truck

Today I had the privilege to meet an amazing man he goes by the name of Tractor Dave. As I was sitting working on my next blog post ( yes, I know it is a day late) three gentlemen walked through the Museum doors. It was then that Tractor Dave introduced himself and his two friends at the time I did not remember their name at the time. Tractor Dave told me about his mission, he is driving across the United State. He started his journey on June 1, 2011 on a 1937 Co-op tractor. His plan is to visit all 48 states while stopping to talk to Americans about ending hunger and to help give relief to disaster survivors. Tomorrow, Tractor Dave will be speaking at the Prinsburg First Christian Church about two topic and about his adventure he is having while he travels across the U.S. Dave is raising funds for

CRWRC-Disaster Response Services, CRWRC Food Security Programs, and Foods Resource Bank.

CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Committee) and the FRB (Foods Resource Bank)

If you are interested in hearing about his adventures you are invited to stop out and hear him speak here is the address it is the Prinsburg First Christian Church 106 6th Street Prinsburg, MN United States (320) 978-4581

Prinsburg, Minnesota, is in Kandiyohi county and it is 66 miles SW of St. Cloud, Minnesota (center to center) and 94 miles W of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The city has a population of 458.

He gave me some flyer to put in the Museum if anyone is interested stop in and pick one up or check out his web site www.TractorRideAcrossUS.org while there fill out a donation form and give. As Tractor Dave and his two friends went through the museum I stepped outside for some fresh air and noticed a gray international semi truck. I took a few pictures and when Tractor Dave and his two friend exited the museum. I asked about the truck he had arrived in and he told me. It is a 1953 Extended Cab International Semi (ok, I know what you are thinking they didn’t make extended cab semi’s in 1953, and you would be right.)Dave use the body from 1951 truck (I know he told me what it was but for some reason I didn’t write it down) and the chassis from a 1999 low profile 4700 ambulance and feature a DT466E International with a 5 speed Allison air ride. He uses this truck to pull a 36 foot fifth wheel travel trailer.

Here are a few places Dave has been so far and a few dates left on this leg of his journey, July 5^th Winamac, IN, July 6^th Tipton, IN, July 6^th Westfield, IN, July 7^th Wingate, IN, July 8^th Pennfield, IL, July 8^th Urbana, IL, July 9^th Decatur, IL, July 10^th Mount Olive, IL, July 11^th Travel day, July 12^th Keytesville, MO, July 13^th Quincy, IL, July 14^th Chillicothe, MO, July 15^th Chillicothe, MO, July 16^th Travel day, July 17^th Fairfax, MO, July 18^th Friend, NE, July 19^th Malcolm, NE, July 20^th Wayne, NE, July 21^st Canistota, SD, July 22^nd Volga, SD, July 23^rd Sioux Falls, SD, July 24^th St Peter, MN, July 25^th Mountain Lake, MN, July 26^th Fairfax, MN, July 27^th Travel day, July 28^th Spicer, MN, July 29^th ,30^th ,31^st & August 1^st Prinsburg, MN, August 2^nd Edgerton, MN, August 3^rd Sioux Falls, SD, August 4^th Sioux Center, IA, August 5^th Cherokee, IA, August 6^th Lohrville, IA, August 7^th Fort Dodge, IA, August 8^th Travel day, August 9^th Urbandale, IA, August 10^th Pella, IA, August 11^th Waterloo, IA, August 12^th Hazel Green, WI, August 13^th & 14^th Oosburg, WI, August 15^th Fremont, MI.

Thanks again for stopping in Tractor Dave and good fortune on your journey.

May God protect and bless you.