Shaw Du-All Model N 8 Garden Tractor

What did Elgin watches  and this Du-All tractor have in common? Answer: Stanley Wilbur Shaw.

Shaw was another of those talented tinkerers that seemed to be everywhere in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Legend has it that he built his first steam engine at an early age, but said legend doesn’t elaborate on how successful or practical that engine turned out to be. By the dawn of the Twentieth Century he was operating a watchmaker’s  shop in Galesburg, Kansas where he sold Elgin watches and a couple of other brands. In 1902 he developed a gasoline engine and by 1903 he had established Shaw Manufacturing Company to build them. In 1905 he patented a small gas engine to convert a bicycle into a motorbike. The conversion kit met with a degree of success and he sold 13,000 of them. 

Stanley plowed much of the profit back into his company and expanded the engine line to include air and water cooled stationary and marine engines. In 1908 the Shawmobile entered the  rapidly expanding automobile marketplace. 1923 saw the introduction of a conversion kit to turn the farmer’s Model T Ford into a tractor. Conversion kits were still being offered in an ad placed in Popular Mechanics magazine in February 1932. The ad copy read in part, “Make a tractor from your old car.” and “Anyone can attach Shaw equipment quickly and easily using only a monkey wrench and a screwdriver. You don’t have to be a mechanic.”

Now we get to the meat and gravy part of the story. In 1928 Shaw Manufacturing offered a motorized lawn mower. Sometime around 1932 or 33 a walk behind cultivator and a garden tractor version called “The Happy Gardener Du-All” was introduced. This developed into the walk-behind D series that was available in five horsepower ratings; D2, D3, D4, D5 and 2D5, the number corresponding to the horsepower. Briggs & Stratton provided the motive power for all models which proved to be a good thing for Briggs because Shaw Mfg. was ordering a boxcar load of engines per week. 

1938 saw the introduction of the riding tractor version with the RD model available in 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 horsepower options, designated as RD3 etc. The Du-All tractor line lived up to its name with a full line of accessories being available. Attachments included: sprayers, a 12” moldboard plow, 20” disc plow, 10” X 16” disc harrow, cultivators, 5 ft. cutter bar, 6 ft. cutter bar, 10’ hay rake, bulldozer blade, trailers, potato diggers, hydraulics for attachments like loaders and power saws. There is even a photo in the 1953 catalogue of a Du-All pulling an  8’ International Harvester Combine. 

So where does the Model N 8 fit in this picture? The short answer is,  I don’t have a clue. The only reference to it that I could find was a very brief comment on smokstak.com that the original power source was a Briggs 23 8 hp. Engine. There is no mention of an N model in the 1953 Du-All  catalog provided courtesy of oldirongardentractors which by the way, is a site worth visiting by anyone interested in these tractors. 

According to David Beattie in his Gas Engine Magazine article, Shaw sold the company to Bush Hog in 1962 and Bush Hog discarded a large portion of the information that was then available  about Du-All products. N 8 documents may well have been among the victims of this purge.  If anyone can provide more information, your comments would be welcome.

The N 8 shown here was exhibited at the 2018 Steam Expo in Cumming, Ga. No information was displayed about this tractor. To learn more about the show that will be held on Nov. 8, 2019 visit : www.capa-ga.com . 

Sources:

www.gasenginemagazine.com  Shaw Manufacturing Company History by David Beattie , Aug / Sept. 1997 

https://oldirongardentractors.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/shaw-catalog-no-25-compressed.pdf 

www.smokstak.com 

Books.google.com Popular Mechanics Feb. 1932 P. 141 

1957 Minneapolis-Moline 335

There are automotive aficionados who will say that 1957 was a banner year for car design. I don’t know about that but looking at this Minneapolis - Moline I’d have to say it was a good year for tractor styling. Machen Clark’s 335 looks like it’s eager to pounce on that field that lies ahead.

Minneapolis - Moline developed the powerline series to replace the ageing R, Z and U models. The 335 filled the lower to mid power slot at 33.5 belt horsepower while the 445 provided a power boost to the 40’s range and the Five Star models occupied the top tier at 54 PTO horsepower. These models were in production from 1956 to 1961.

The 335 was built in three variants: Industrial from 1957 to 1960, Universal from 1957 to 1959 and Utility from 1956 to 1961. A total of 334 industrial, 750 universal and 2500 utility tractors were manufactured. Serial numbers were stamped on the right side frame. You can find a list of the begining serial numbers for each year of production in the Steiner Tractor Parts Catalogs. 

The 335 was evaluated at the University of Nebraska in Test No. 624 from June 7 1957 to June 17 of that year where the following information was noted. Observed maximum horsepower on the drawbar 29.84, belt hp 33.5. 

The four cylinder vertical I head gasoline engine was built in-house by Minneapolis-Moline. With a bore of 3 ⅝ “ X 4” it displaced 165 cubic inches turning at 1600 rpm. 

Power was transmitted through a dry disc clutch to a five forward speed transmission. Advertised speeds were: 1st. 2.72 mph, 2nd 4.17 mph, 3rd 6.36 mph, 4th 7.94 mph, and 5th 9.85mph. Reverse claimed 2.19 mph. 

The 335 in these photos was exhibited at the 2018 Power from the Past Show presented by the Foothills Antique Power Association near Greer, SC. For information about the 2019 show on May 18, visit www.fapasc.com 

Resources:

Digitalcommons.unl.edu 

www.minneapolis-moline.com 

www.tractordata.com 

P & N Boxcab Locomotive # 5103

I wonder how many residents of the Carolinas today know that the Piedmont of NC and the Upstate of SC had high speed electric rail service by the second decade of the Twentieth Century? Not many I’ll bet. Some railfans here and there and an old timer or two. The high speed part needs to be qualified as high speed relative to the other option of a horse and buggy on the washboard dirt roads of the day, but clean and quiet electric locomotives hauled passengers and freight across the region. In North Carolina tracks ran North to Terrell, NC and West to Gastonia, from Charlotte. In South Carolina the Piedmont and Northern Railway connected Greenwood and Anderson to Greenville and on to Spartanburg with dozens of towns, villages and whistle stops in between.

James B. Duke was a visionary entrepreneur with an eye on the future. He was also a sharp businessman who kept the other eye focused on the bottom line. During the 1890’s electric trolly lines were popular in many cities and interurban rail lines were being built, but very few of these were in the southern states. Duke was already heavily invested in electric power utilities so expansion into electric railroad ownership was a natural choice. He would be paying a company that he owned to haul coal to his power generating plants that supplied the electricity to run the locomotives. Along the way these rail lines could carry passengers and pick up additional freight revenue at industrial parks he was developing along the right of way. It was a sweetheart deal made in heaven. In 1909 he directed a team of his employees to investigate the construction of an interurban railroad system. 

In January of 1910 The Piedmont Traction Company was chartered to operate in North Carolina and the Greenville, Spartanburg & Anderson Railway Company was chartered in South Carolina. While most interurbans were light rail that primarily carried passengers, Duke’s system was designed from the railbed up as a full service, standard railroad. Power would be supplied from an overhead catenary wire system at 1,500 volts, more than twice the voltage used by most interurban systems.  

Construction began in North Carolina in April of 1911 and in South Carolina two months later. By 1912 24 miles of mainline between Charlotte and Gastonia opened for business, in November of that year tracks from Greenwood to Greenville were hauling passengers and freight. In April of 1914 the section from Greenville to Spartanburg was in operation for a total of eighty-nine miles. The two separate companies were merged in 1914 and operated under the Piedmont and Northern name but there was no connecting track between the two states. 

Duke had always intended to extend his rail line from Spartanburg to Gastonia but events like World War 1 kept getting in the way. In 1924 Duke instructed his staff to finalize plans for the fifty mile connecting link but in October 1925 Duke passed away unexpectedly and the project suffered another setback while his estate was in probate. In March of 1927 P&N’s management was finally able to present their proposal to the Interstate Commerce Commission for review. The P & N wasn’t the only railroad serving the region  and bitter rivalries had developed, especially with the Southern Rail lines whose tracks ran parallel for most of the way from Greenville to Charlotte.    Southern was a much bigger rail road and owned more swamp critters and in the end the Interstate Commerce Commission denied the P&N’s request. The ICC’s decision effectively ended expansion ambitions but the volume of freight in the areas it already served continued to grow. 

Passenger revenue had steadily declined as the automobile’s popularity grew and by 1951 the P&N was ready to discontinue passenger service.  James B. Duke’s foresight continued to pay dividends, literally, and the railroad turned a profit as it always had, even in the depths of the Great Depression. The early fifties also saw a change in motive power. The overhead power supply lines were showing their age and P&N’s management decided that switching to diesel power would be cheaper and more practical than replacing it. By May of 1954 the last of the electric locomotives were retired from mainline service. The transition to diesel carried the the P&N into the 1960’s as a money making railroad but in 1965 the Duke heirs decided that they wanted to sell their holdings which amounted to 40% of the company’s stock. After years of legal wrangling a merger agreement with the Seaboard Coast Line was approved in 1969 and the Piedmont and Northern Railroad ceased to exist. Today, much of the railbed constructed by the P&N is still being used by the CSX railroad, like the section that runs past the old station in Greer, SC., but CSX doesn’t stop here to pick up passengers. 

The 5103 is the only surviving example of the six boxcab electric locomotives that the P&N ordered from the General Electric Co. in 1912.  Numbered from 5100 to 5105 they were delivered to the South Carolina operation during the fall and winter of 1913 to 1914 and used for long distance, heavy freight hauling. These locomotives were powered by four GE 250 horsepower motors that could pull a train of 30 loaded freight cars. Engines # 5101 and 5103 served the P&N well for 44 years and were to be the last two electric engines in operation on the line. After mainline electric power was turned off in South Carolina in 1954 they were transferred to Charlotte, NC. where they worked in a freight yard as switch engines until 1958. In 1962 the Southeastern Railway Museum asked the P&N to donate one of the two engines for display at their Atlanta, Ga. museum. 1963 would mark the 50th anniversary of the road’s completion, so the P&N’s management decided to do it right. The 5103 was hauled to the main repair shop at River Junction in Greenville, SC., where it was completely restored, inside and out before being presented to the museum. It was later purchased and moved to the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer where it is currently displayed.    

Sources: 

Piedmont and Northern, The Great Electric System of the South  by Thomas T. Fetters and Peter W. Swanson Jr. 

www.american-rails.com 

www.nctrans.org      

N.M.P. Co. Hurricane Jr. Lawnmower

The business card he handed me read, Kirk Kahler, “Vintage Garden Tractor & Horse-drawn Farm Equipment Collector”. Fair enough, he does own some interesting collectables, like this Snappin Turtle , the mower that asks the question, “ Why don’t they put hood ornaments on lawn mowers any more?” We took a look at the Turtle back on 2/15/17. This post is about the mower you see in the background behind it, the N.M.P. Co. Hurricane Jr.

Kirk tells me he’s not been able to learn much about this mower. I’m inclined to agree. A search for “hurricane lawn mower” turns up results like, “Dad attacks son with chainsaw, son runs over dad with lawn mower.” I like this kind of post. We’re in uncharted territory here. Let’s get started with what little I have been able to glean. 

The most striking feature is the mow deck with N.M.P. Co. Hurricane Jr. boldly cast across the front. The fact that its aluminum is interesting and makes you wonder why? Not nearly as durable as steel and any savings of weight would be negligible. 

Next take a look at the friction wheel blade drive. No belt to replace but you have to wonder how well it would work when the grass gets tall and thick. In the original photo file size you can make out just to the left of the blade drive wheels, “National Metal Products Co. , K.C. Mo.” . Who were they? What did they do? Did they operate a foundry? I’ve found zero information about this company online.  

Power is supplied by a Clinton model B 700 - 22 four stroke gas engine. Not the ubiquitous Briggs & Stratton, but not completely unknown either. The data plate reads, “ Clinton Machine Company Inc. Clinton Michigan. According to Wikipedia, Clinton moved to Maquoketa, Iowa around 1950 , so it might be fair to  speculate that the engine and mower predate the move, sometime in the mid-to-late 40’s. The serial number of this motor is 97832A. If you had access to a list of Clinton serial numbers you might be able to approximate the date of the mower’s manufacture that way. 

There are at least two other surviving examples of this mower, judging by comments posted on smokstak.com. You can read the brief thread and see a couple of photos of one of them by paying a visit to that website.

Well that’s about all I’ve found on the Hurricane Jr. Maybe there’s someone out there in Muleland who’s sitting on a treasure trove of catalogs, owner’s manuals and other assorted goodies they would be willing to share. If so, I’d love to hear from you. Add a comment below or  send an email and I’ll add an update to this post. On the subject of comments, don’t expect to see them appear immediately. The internet being what it is, I have to screen them first, but anything that’s of value or fit to print will get there eventually. In the meantime enjoy these photos or pay a visit to the Steam Expo. 2019  at Cumming, Ga. Most likely Kirk will be there again with his collection.

Resources:

www.smokstak.com 

https://en.wikipedia.org 

 

A 1913 16 HP Aultman-Taylor Traction Engine

Cornelius Aultman got an early start on his career. At the age of fourteen he went to work with an uncle as an apprentice millwright. For reasons not recorded this arrangement didn’t work out and he was back at the homestead a few months later. Laying around the house, plopped in front of the electronic sewer and sponging off the “rents” wasn’t a career option for a young man back in the early 1800’s, so Cornelius soon found himself in a new job at a shop that made spinning wheels. This venture proved more successful but he didn’t hit his stride until he spent two more years as an apprentice learning the machinist trade.

In 1851 he opened his own shop in Canton, Ohio under the name of the C. Aultman Company. This was a time when machines were revolutionizing agriculture and the western frontier was opening up. In 1862 the Homestead Bill offered 160 acres of land to any farmer who paid $10 down and pledged to farm the land for five years. This created a huge market for tools and equipment produced in shops like Aultman’s.  

Sometime around 1856 Henry H. Taylor entered the picture as a sales agent for C. Aultman Co. Taylor was a wheeler dealer who had already made a fortune in Chicago real estate, banking and insurance. Apparently Henry’s chief function as a partner in the new Aultman and Taylor Manufacturing Co. was to bring bags of cash, along with his numerous business connections, to the table. C. Aultman Co. had been working on a new design for a vibrating threshing machine and by 1867 a new factory to produce it had been constructed in Mansfield, Ohio. 

Threshing machines needed a power source to run them and the best option available was the steam engine. I have not been able to find a definite date of when exactly Aultman began building steam engines, but in Jack Norbeck’s  Encyclopedia of American Steam Traction Engines, examples from 1889 are the oldest shown. 

Engines were built under both the C. Aultman Co. and the Aultman Taylor brand name. Portable engines, steam traction engines and road locomotives were produced.  Horsepower ranged from 8 to 25 hp. Both simple and Compound engines were manufactured. All told, at least 5,870 engines were made before production ended in 1924. In addition to the steam engines they also built sawmills, windstackers, and horsepowers. 

By all accounts Aultman-Taylor made high quality products. Boilers were high pressure, rated for a working pressure of 150 psi and hydrostatic tested at 200 psi. An independent steel frame was used to mount the traction drive gearing and wheels. This isolated the boiler from the jolts and strains that was transmitted from the ground on traction engines that used the boiler itself as a frame. This design undoubtedly saved many a boiler from damage and stress due to everyday use and traveling the roads of the day. 

By the early 1920’s steam engines were rapidly being replaced for most applications by the internal combustion engine and electrification in many rural areas. Sales dwindled and Aultman - Taylor apparently failed to adapt to the new environment. The company faced liquidation by 1923 and it was eventually absorbed by Allis-Chalmers Co. 

You can find a detailed history of Aultman-Taylor Co. that was written by a Dr. Lorin Bixler and printed in the Nov. / Dec. 2000 issue of Farm Collector Magazine at their website. Collectors and history buffs will want to check out advertisements in a digitized version of The American Thresherman and Farm Power  from May 1915  available at Google Books. The 1913 16 horsepower Aultman Taylor traction engine shown in this post was photographed at the 2018 Steam Expo. at Cumming, Ga. presented by the Cumming Antique Power Association. www.capa-ga.com .

Resources:

Encyclopedia of American Steam Traction Engines by Jack Norbeck 

www.farmcollector.com 

https://books.google.com 

1 1/4 HP Type VJ Monitor Engine

What was to become Baker Manufacturing Co. dates back to 1872 when Allen S. Baker and Levi Shaw began to develop a rotary steam engine. In 1873 four local merchants signed onto the venture with Baker and Shaw with each of the partners pledging to contribute $1,000 to the enterprise. The company was named A.S. Baker Co. and a machine shop was opened in Evansville, Wisconsin in July of 1873 where work began on the steam engine. Several examples were built but the engine didn’t live up to expectations and the steam engine project was soon abandoned.

The machine shop remained in business doing repair work and making iron well pumps and wooden windmills which sold well and the company continued to grow. Incorporation as the Baker Manufacturing Company with working capital of $20,000 followed in 1879. By 1882 forty employees were on the payroll, building and shipping seventy windmills per month which were marketed under the Monitor trade name. 1910 saw windmills and pumps marketed worldwide and new products including gasoline engines being built by a workforce of 150 employees.  

Baker continued to expand their gasoline engine line with a range of horsepower to meet just about any demand. Windmills, pumps and water supply products remained the company’s mainstays, but a variety of farm implements like feed grinders and powered saws that could be run by the Monitor gas engines were also marketed.

No one could ever accuse the Baker firm of being afraid of innovation. The line of products they manufactured ranged from the eminently practical to downright bizarre. Windmill towers led to radio beacon towers for early twentieth century aviators. Steel flag poles were marketed. In the years prior to World War 2 they got into the toy business with mechanically animated toys sold as “Live Toys”. Su Panda and Annie Elephant production reached 9,000 copies. A hydrofoil sailboat was developed. Contributions to the war effort ranged from a sight for anti aircraft guns to a combat vehicle that could leap over four foot obstacles and bound 47 feet horizontally. 

The Little Monitor gasoline engines like the 1 ¼ hp example shown here were one of Baker’s best selling products. Used primarily for pumping wells, they came with a pump jack and belt pulley included. They could also be used to power washing machines, corn shellers, butter churns, buzz saws, cement mixers, and about anything that could be powered by a belt drive. 

The 1 ¼ hp Monitor engine was a four cycle with jump spark ignition and a hit and miss governor. It had a dust sealed, closed crankcase with hand-hole access for connecting rod adjustments. Moving parts were splash lubricated from an oil settling chamber. 

The engine shown here was displayed at the WNC Fall Harvest Days Show in 2018. The data plate identifies it as a Monitor type VJ 1 ¼ hp , # 41099 . No further information was supplied. My guess would be that it was built sometime between 1910 and 1930 but without a list of serial numbers, that is just speculation. 

Baker Manufacturing Company is still very much in business today. You can find a detailed history of the company at their website: www.bakermonitor.com/content/about-us/company-history 

Additional Resources:

www.gasenginemagazine.com 

https://www.old-engine.com 

1936 Massey-Harris Challenger

Massey-Harris introduced the Challenger model in 1936 in a bid to break into the lucrative row crop tractor market that had been dominated by International Harvester with the hugely popular Farmall line since 1924. While the Challenger was their first real row crop, it wasn’t the the first tricycle design they had marketed. Way back in 1917 when M-H was a farm implement manufacturer, the first tractor in their product line was the Big Bull Tractor, built by a company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While the Bull couldn’t be called a real row crop, it was a three wheeler. The Bull, however, turned out to be a disaster for Massey-Harris. 

The Challenger had what farmers wanted in a tractor and was well received during its short production run from 1936 through 1937. It was succeeded by the Twin Power Challenger in 1938 to 1939. A total of 14,000 Challenger tractors were built at the Racine Wisconsin factory. Massey -Harris serial numbers for the Challenger began at 130001 in 1936. Serial numbers can be found stamped on the oval plate attached to the left side of the main frame and stamped into the metal above the plate on the frame. The number of the tractor shown here is 130576. 

The Challenger was available in  a distillate version and as a gasoline powered tractor. The distillate model was evaluated at the University of Nebraska in test number 265 from August 10th to the 18th 1936 and recorded a maximum drawbar horsepower of 20.03 and 28.58 hp on the belt. The following year Massey-Harris sent a gasoline model for testing in October of 1937. As you might expect, it recorded increased performance with 29.8 hp on the drawbar and 34.9 hp on the belt in test number 293. 

Massey designed and built their own engine, a four cylinder with a bore of 3 7/8 “ and 5 ¼” stroke that displaced 247 cu. In. and turned at 1200 rpm. Speeds recorded at the test were: 1st 2.4 mph, 2nd 3.3 mph, 3rd 4.1 mph, 4th 8.5mph and 3 mph in reverse. 

The 1936 test tractor was equipped with an American Bosch model U4ED4V1 magneto, a 1 ¼” Kingston carburetor and a Handy No. RD2231 centrifugal governor. The clutch was a hand operated, twin disc single plate dry type. Belt power was supplied by a 12 inch diameter pulley with a 6 ¼” face turning at 831 rpm. 

Steel wheels were standard equipment on the 1936 model, drive wheels measured 52” in diameter with a face of 8” that mounted 28 2 ½” X 5” spade lugs per wheel. Rubber tired wheels were available as an extra cost option. The rubber tired version also measured 52” giving the tractor 25” of crop clearance. The rear tread stance was adjustable from 52 to 80 inches. The Challenger was provided with a rear PTO and a PTO driven powered implement lift was available as an extra cost option. Individual rear wheel brakes were standard and gave the Challenger the ability to turn on a dime.

The beautifully restored Challenger shown here is owned by Fran Manchik and was exhibited at the WNC Fall Harvest Days Antique Engine and Tractor Show hosting the Massey Expo of North America at Asheville, NC.   October 26 to 28th 2017. 

Sources:

University of Nebraska Tractor Test results published in the Cooperative Tractor Catalog, 22nd edition 1937 - 1938  page 166, available at https://books.google.com 

The Big Book of Massey Tractors by Robert N. Pripps ; available at https://books.google.com 

The Encyclopedia of American Farm Tractors by C.H. Wendel