The Ohio Gas and Gasoline Engine

During the first half of the 20th Century small manufacturing companies proliferated. Almost every town had at least one. For Sandusky, Ohio, it was the Ohio Motor Co. These firms came and went, with some leaving hardly a trace that can be found today. This post is about one of them.

The only source of information that I’ve been able to find is an article that Gas Engine Magazine published back in 1982 titled “The Ohio Gas Engine”. It was written by Keith and Jeanne Monnier who culled what was available from existing public records.   

Sometime around 1896 a  mechanic named Albert Schwer and his son began working on a gas engine that would lead to the founding of the Ohio Motor Company a year later. The firm was incorporated in May of 1897 with officers listed as: Henry Strong, President, R. E. Schuck, Vice President, G.F. Anderson, Secretary, James Flynn, Treasurer and Albert Schwer as Manager. 

Their first products were marine engines, but it wasn’t long before they were building stationary  engines that ranged in size from four horsepower to fifty.  Judging by photographs of engines that I found online, I would guess that this one is one of the four horsepower models. 

Sometime in the World War 1 period the Ohio Motor Co. ran into serious financial difficulties and the production of the Ohio Gas Engine came to an end.

This engine was exhibited at the WNC Fall Harvest Days Antique Engine and Tractor Show 2019. For information about this show visit: www.applecountry.org .

Sources:

www.gasenginemagazine.com/gas-engines/the-ohio-gas-engine 

Early 50's Farm King

After spending hours searching the web with three different search engines I still don’t know with any certainty who made this tractor, let alone any details about it. Oh well, not knowing what I’m talking about has never stopped me before and I’m not about to start now.

The show exhibit card that was laying on the seat read, “Early 50’s Farm King”. Was that the model name or the name of the manufacturer? Since that was what the owner called it, that was where I decided to start looking. There is a company using the Farm King name, but they manufacture agricultural machinery. I found no indication that they had ever built a farm or garden tractor. MTD sold a garden tractor branded as Farm King but I couldn’t find any mention of one of theirs that dated back to the fifties. 

Only one corporate name , Crosley, can be found on this tractor and it is prominently displayed on two locations. Cast into the cylinder block, and again on the multi-instrument display. This might lead you to conclude that this tractor was a Crosley product, on the other hand, tractors of this type have always used outsourced components. 

Powel Crosley Jr. was an American businessman and industrialist in the early years of the 20th Century who was invested in a number of ventures. He owned the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation, and the Crosley Radio Corporation, which during the 1920’s was the largest manufacturer of radios in the world. Even today you occasionally see reproductions that carry the Crosley name. His companies also manufactured home appliances. 

It seems that his real passion however, was small cars, very small cars. From 1939 to 1952 Crosley Motors Inc. located in Cincinnati, Ohio churned out a steady stream of subcompact vehicles that delight car buffs and show goers to this day. Crosley automobiles came in a variety of flavors, but I only found one effort to enter the tractor business. 

The Farm O Road was intended to be a multipurpose vehicle that is hardly what most people think of as being a tractor. It looks more like something that wants to be a Jeep when it grows up. The idea was that a near destitute farmer could plow with it all week and then drive it to town for a weekend of debauchery. “It goes to town,'' as a contemporary ad proclaims. I don’t know if it was a success or not but it appears to be the only venture Crosley made into tractor production. 

The third possibility is that it was produced by the Jaques Power Saw Co. of Denison, Texas. This is the hypothesis that I favor because of the strong family resemblance it shares with the Jaques Mighty Mite and the Ottawa Mule Team tractor. You can judge this for yourself by taking a look at the Iron Mule post from July 1, 2017 and Sept. 15, 2017.   

Beyond that, there’s not a lot to support that position. A Bing search produced results that ranged from things like Maine sex offender registry to “Jacques Ze Whipper - Home / Facebook”, ( probably don’t want to go there. ). I did manage to find a couple of references to a Jaques Farm King on chat room sites frequented by collectors. They were discussion threads started by owners who were looking for more information about their tractor but not a lot was produced. So that’s where it stands with this inquiry at this point. Maybe someone out there in readerland can supply some documented information.

This tractor belongs to Bradley and Candy Richey and was exhibited at the 2019 Foothills Antique Power Association of NC. Show at the Hickory American Legion Fairgrounds. 

Sources:

www.gardentractortalk.com 

www.mytractorforum.com 

www.gasenginemagazine.com 

www.yesterdaystractors.com 

www.barnfinds.com 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/crosley  

Update May 6, 2023

Lucas Hunter e mailed some photos of his uncle's Farm King and an interesting period advertisement from The National Farm Equipment Co. 

Thanks Lucas. 

P.S.  Here is a full size PDF of the Ad.