Read 49 of
Robert's 181 articles
on steam power!
Unless noted otherwise, the following articles
were originally published in
Engineers and
Engines Magazine and are posted here with
permission from the editor. |
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“Obed Hussey and His Ohio Test of the First
Successful Reaper”
By Robert T. Rhode and Leland Hite, 15 MB, PDF
Robert T. Rhode and Leland Hite’s article breaks new
ground on an event that was of tremendous importance to the world: the
testing of the first successful reaping machine, which revolutionized
agriculture globally in the nineteenth century and started farming down
the path toward industrialization. That test, with its far-reaching
consequences, took place near Mt. Healthy, Ohio, in 1835. Even though
books and articles from the 1800s and early 1900s noted the achievement,
it has been largely overlooked in recent times, and it has never been
fully researched and described. The authors made it their mission to
investigate the matter thoroughly. Over the past year, they discovered
many surprising facts that had been forgotten or that had never been
brought to light. Their article introduces their findings to an
international audience.
See the Lane water conveyance system model in
Interactive-3D by downloading
the file
Water Conveyance System 3D-PDF.pdf and view in Adobe Reader.
See timelines listing the achievements of
Clark Lane and
Obed Hussey.
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“The First Cable Suspension Bridge Built in Ohio”
By Robert T. Rhode and Leland Hite, 1.6 MB, PDF
On the 12th of December (2014), Leland Hite and Robert T.
Rhode, acting on behalf of the Mt. Healthy Historical Society, recovered
the last remaining component of the first cable suspension bridge built
in Ohio. The 167-year-old iron tripod was one of four that had supported
the cables of the 42′ bridge crossing the West Branch of Mill Creek near
Mt. Healthy. Built in 1847, the footbridge on the Lane family farm was
the brainchild of William Lane, brother of Clark Lane, the noted
industrialist whose company of Owens, Lane & Dyer manufactured steam
engines and sawmills in Hamilton, Ohio. The ingenious bridge was one of
the first suspension bridges in the United States. |
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“Surprises in Hamilton, Ohio”
By Mark Ohlde, Neal Simpson, and Robert T.
Rhode, 9.7 MB, PDF
Mark Ohlde, Neal Simpson, and Robert T. Rhode’s
research into Hamilton’s manufacturing of steam engines for threshing,
sawmilling, and hauling has led to an article packed with discoveries,
not the least of which is the existence of a traction engine firm long
forgotten: the Empire Machine Company. As the title of the article
promises, plenty of additional surprises await readers. The authors
bring to life the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in
Hamilton, and they offer an array of photographs that take readers back
in time. One of several connections between this article and “Obed
Hussey and His Ohio Test of the First Successful Reaper” is Clark Lane’s
involvement in the reaper test and his numerous contributions to the
industrial vitality of Hamilton. |
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“Captain William Edward Cole and His Pole Road Locomotives of
the American South”
By Mike McKnight and Robert T. Rhode, 3.9 MB, PDF
Brenda Stant, editor of Engineers & Engines Magazine,
writes, “Dr. Robert T. Rhode and Mike McKnight have outdone themselves
with their history of pole locomotives in the South. They have spent
years researching this subject and we are so glad they decided to let
Engineers & Engines print their final product. This is the most
comprehensive history on the subject and one that will be used as a
reference for generations to come.” The larger, more famous geared
logging locomotives should not overshadow the value of pole road
locomotives in steam logging. Pole road locomotives were a vital link
between animal or human power with their limitations and the tireless
power of the largest steam logging engines. The pole road locomotives
enabled logging operations to expand far beyond the dreams of only a few
decades before. |
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“Early American Circus Engines”
By Robert T. Rhode,
17.1 MB, PDF
A dozen years before Ringling Brothers began
negotiating with the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company to build a
road locomotive, the major American circuses already featured steam
engines. Fitchburg Steam Engine Company was the source of several
engines that powered the first circus light shows in America. Half a
dozen companies promoted arc light systems that bedazzled and enchanted
the public. The first electrical light displays were so expensive as to
be novelties that could draw a crowd. In 1880, the Brush Electric Light
Company published a catalog that listed four circuses as customers. This
article rescues the almost-forgotten stories and illustrations of steam
engines and brilliant lights beneath the big top! |
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“A
Threshing Sketch by William Allen Rogers”
By Robert T. Rhode, 650 KB, PDF
This widely recognized illustration by the well-known artist William
Allen Rogers has a fascinating history, which this article fully
explores.
Click
here
to enlarge the art. 21 MB, JPEG
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“Engines Depicted in
Marvels of the New West (1887)”
By Robert T. Rhode, 1 MB, PDF
With the expert assistance of Brenda Stant,
editor-in-chief of Engineers and Engines Magazine, Robert T.
Rhode puts his detective skills to work in identifying steam engines and
other machines in two illustrations published in Marvels of the New
West in 1887. Who knew that various cuts from the same time period
were based on F. Jay Haynes’ photographs of Oliver Dalrymple’s bonanza
farms? Further, who knew that Frick & Co. advertised a “plowing engine”
and produced gang plows? |
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“George W. Cutter: America’s Poet
Warrior”
By R. Timothy Herrmann, B. Michael McCormick, and
Robert T. Rhode, 2 MB, PDF
R. Timothy Herrmann, B. Michael
McCormick, and Robert T. Rhode’s article traces the fascinating
biography of George W. Cutter, whose poem entitled “The Song of Steam,”
probably the earliest widely disseminated American poem on the topic of
the steam engine, became better known than its author. The diligent
search into Cutter’s life reveals an impetuous personality often at the
center of national events. This Covington, Kentucky, poet offers
sophisticated insights into the steam engines that powered the
Industrial Revolution.
This article was originally published in Volume 18 of
The Journal of Kentucky Studies and is posted here with
permission from the editor, Dr. Gary Walton. |
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“An Engine and an Epidemic”
By Robert T. Rhode,
3 MB, PDFBe prepared for
ghoulish details! Robert T. Rhode’s story is sure to astonish readers.
The decade of the 1870s was dependent on horses, and, when the animals
became ill, cities such as Cincinnati, Ohio, experienced a grisly
disaster. This article guides readers through a world vastly different
from that of today.
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“The
Influence of the Wright Family on Steamrollers”
By Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode, 8.8 MB, PDF
Researchers Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode relate
the saga of Englishmen Thomas Wright and his sons, Edward T. and
Frederick W., all of whom had considerable influence on various aspects
of steamrollers in both Britain and America. |
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“Wright
‘Rosetta Stone’ Is Found!”
By Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode, 3 MB, PDF
In a follow-up to their article that appeared in the
January 2007 issue of Old Glory and that was reprinted in the June–July
2008 issue of Engineers and Engines Magazine, authors Raymond L.
Drake and Robert T. Rhode reveal more details relating to the design of
American-built steamrollers and the influence of British-born Edward T.
Wright on such machines. |
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“Facts and Questions About
Harrisburg Steamrollers”
By Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode, 8.3 MB, PDF
This article focuses on the Harrisburg Car Company and
related firms. The manufacturer primarily built railroad cars, but a
large portion of its business was devoted to the production of portable
engines, traction engines, and steam-powered rollers. Martin E. Hershey
designed one of the earliest American steamrollers for Harrisburg.
Although the authors have discovered many facts about steamroller
production in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, several tantalizing questions
remain unanswered. |
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“The
Kelly Empire: The History of One of the True Giants of the Compaction
Industry: [Part 1]”
By Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode, 9.3 MB, PDF
In
mid-nineteenth-century America, many a young man sought to make his
fortune in the development of America’s mineral and oil resources. Like
such men of his generation, Oliver Smith Kelly left behind his
carpenter’s job in Springfield, Ohio, and traveled to California, where
he participated in that state’s famous gold rush. He devoted most of
1852 through 1856 mining “placers,” or gravel deposits containing
particles of ore. Kelly was successful in his quest for gold, and, when
Kelly returned to Springfield, he was wealthy. He had sufficient capital
to establish a series of industries. The Kelly name came to be
associated with threshers, steam engines, road rollers, pianos, trucks,
and tires. This article is the first of three devoted to the fascinating
story of Kelly’s success.
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“The Kelly Empire: The History of One of the True Giants of the
Compaction
Industry: Part 2: The Kelly–Springfield Era”
By Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode, 7.1 MB, PDF
The 1891 Engineering News foretold the arrival of
a new steamroller produced by the O. S. Kelly Company of Springfield,
Ohio. The ensuing decade witnessed vast growth in the Kelly enterprises,
which had their roots in the manufacturing of agricultural steam engines
and related implements. At the beginning of the twentieth century,
changes took place in what had become the diverse empire created by
Oliver S. Kelly. As there were many different and unrelated businesses
owned by the Kelly family, it only made sense to split them off from the
parent company as separate entities. At the time of O. S. Kelly’s death
in 1904, this process was virtually completed.
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“The Kelly Empire: The History of One of the True
Giants of the Compaction Industry: Part 3: A Gallery of Kelly
Illustrations”
By Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode, 10.5 MB, PDF
In their two previous articles on the O. S. Kelly and
Kelly–Springfield firms, Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode included a
considerable amount of text detailing the empire that Oliver S. Kelly
built in Springfield, Ohio. After many years collecting images, the
authors present in their third installment a gallery of illustrations
depicting various facets of the Kelly businesses. |
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“The Happy
Farmer of Harrison Machine Works and His Evil Twin”
By Robert T. Rhode,
1.4 MB, PDFThe cover of Leslie’s Weekly for August 5th, 1909, carried a
political cartoon by E. N. Blue and this caption: “The only man who is
undisturbed by panics. The happy farmer whose bank account is yearly
swelled by the sale of big crops at good prices.” Blue’s drawing
satirized a well-known trademark of the threshing industry, and it was
created during a time of national gloom. |
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“The Buffalo Pitts
Dynasty: A Majestic History from
Threshers
through Traction Engines to
Steamrollers”
By Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode, 11.8
MB, PDFIf longevity in the thresher
manufacturing business is a mark of a company’s distinction, Buffalo
Pitts is one of the most illustrious firms in farm traction and road
compaction history. The story of Buffalo Pitts begins with the birth of
twins John
Avery and Hiram Abial Pitts in Clinton, Maine, on December 8th, 1799. John
and Hiram Pitts manufactured one of the earliest successful threshing
machines and established agricultural works that grew into diversified
industries of lasting importance. Readers interested in Buffalo Pitts
are encouraged to visit Brian Szafranski’s excellent site,
https://www.buffalopitts.com/. |
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“The Compaction Industry Colossus,
Buffalo–Springfield: From the Twilight of Steam to the Twenty-First
Century”
By Raymond L. Drake and Robert T. Rhode, 6.3 MB, PDF
The biggest name in the annals of steamroller history is
indisputably Buffalo–Springfield. Part of the firm’s colossal success
arose from serendipity: a fortunate concurrence of events. In 1913, the
federal government announced the ambitious project of constructing more
than fifty thousand miles of highways, and, in early November of 1916,
the Kelly–Springfield Road Roller Company of Springfield, Ohio, and the
Buffalo Steam Roller Company of Buffalo, New York, merged. The union of
such thriving firms at a time when the building of roads had become a
national priority spawned the titanic Buffalo–Springfield Company. |
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“The Agricultural Steam
Engine Manufacturers
of Dayton, Ohio”
By Robert T. Rhode,
7.7 MB, PDFWhen people
think of Dayton, Ohio, they remember the extraordinary Orville and
Wilbur Wright and 1903, the year of the first sustained and controlled
heavier-than-air flight in the airplane that the brothers designed and built. People
seldom recall Dayton’s contributions to America’s agricultural legacy,
even though the city
boasted no fewer than three manufacturers of portable steam engines for
farming purposes. While the Wright brothers deserve a prominent chapter
in the history
books, names such as Brownell, Marshall, Graves, Woodsum, and Tenney
also merit consideration.
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“The Kingery
Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati, Ohio”
By Robert T. Rhode, 7.4 MB, PDF
Since the late 1800s, peanut roasters and popcorn
machines have been familiar sights at fairs, on city street comers, in
candy shops, in general stores, and in motion picture theaters. The C.
Cretors Company of Chicago, Illinois, was a well-known builder of such
equipment, but the Kingery Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati, Ohio,
began earlier and gained prominence through supplying the trade with a
broad line of products. The small steam engines that powered many of the
popcorn machines caught the public’s attention. Kingery catalogs
asserted that the motion of the little steamers fascinated patrons and
helped guarantee sales of popcorn and peanuts. |
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“Update on
Woodsum Portable Engine”
By Robert T. Rhode,
1.1 MB, PDFIn the
February–March 2010 issue of Engineers and Engines Magazine,
Robert T. Rhode said that a Woodsum portable steam engine was depicted
in The Iron-Men Album Magazine in 1966 and 1969. Rhode recently
found that another photograph of the same engine appeared on the first
page of the Album for May–June 1999. A typographical error in the
caption caused the engine to be identified as a “Woodgum,” and, for that
reason, Rhode had overlooked the picture. |
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“The Woodsum Traction Engine and
Victor Clover Huller”
By Mike McKnight and Robert T. Rhode, 1.7 MB, PDF
Mike McKnight and Robert T. Rhode’s article expands what
has been known about the Woodsum Machine Company of Dayton, Ohio, and
the Victor Clover Huller, originally of Hagerstown, Maryland, and later
of Newark and Columbus, Ohio. Brian Szafranski, who has posted the
website on the history of the Buffalo Pitts firm (buffalopitts.com), has
suggested a clarification and an update for the information presented in
the article. First, it is difficult to prove that John A. Pitts was ever
in Illinois. Page 223 in the 1954 book A History of Maine Agriculture
1604–1860 says, “Pitts Brothers ... dissolved partnership and went
West to larger fields. Hiram located in Chicago, where he and his son
after him made the Chicago Pitts machine; while John went first to
Rochester and afterward to Buffalo, where he made the Buffalo Pitts
thresher.” For several years before Hiram established a factory in
Chicago, he made threshers in Alton, Illinois (near St. Louis). Pages 64
and 65 of the book The Manufacturing Interests of the City of Buffalo
(1866) contribute these details: “The late Mr. John A. Pitts came here
in the year 1851; he had already established several small works: the
first one in his native State, in the town of Winthrop, Maine; in Albany
and Rochester N. Y. and in Springfield, Ohio ... .” The update is that
John Beman Pitts died of cholera at age 33 in Dayton, Ohio, on the 22nd
of October in 1866; his illness and death prompted the sale of the
thresher works to Stephen F. Woodsum and Lucius A. Tenney. Thanks to
Brian for these important details! |
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“John C. Hoadley’s Engine
Trials at the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition in 1881”
By Bruce E. Babcock and Robert T. Rhode, 1.1 MB, PDF
A careful reading of John Chipman Hoadley’s report of the
engine trials that he conducted at the Ninth Cincinnati Industrial
Exposition of 1881 discloses a remarkable number of unfortunate
incidents and inappropriate conditions that plagued the event. In the
Ohio Mechanics’ Institute report, Hoadley refers to “all of the
adventures and misadventures of each of the engines,” but it appears
that there were many more misadventures than he acknowledged. The
magnitude of the list detracts from the credibility of the trials and of
the individuals who were involved in conducting them. Many of these
conditions and incidents are serious enough to invalidate important
elements of the trials, and collectively they discredit the results of
the trials in their entirety. Hoadley tellingly remarks, “Too much was
attempted.” |
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“Part II: John C.
Hoadley’s Engine Trials at the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition in
1881”
By Bruce E. Babcock and Robert T. Rhode, 7.1 MB, PDF
John Chipman Hoadley provided a detailed description of
the Prony brake that appears to have been assembled specifically for use
at the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition trials. (See the illustration of
Hoadley’s Prony brake that is based on his description.) Hoadley said,
“The whole apparatus being new, neither the concavity in the brake-beam
nor the maple blocks in the binding strap fitted perfectly to the
pulley, and the surface of the pulley was somewhat rough, so that a
little wearing away of both the wood and the iron was constantly going
on ....” As well-lubricated wooden blocks on a Prony brake do not wear
perceptibly, Hoadley’s description indicates that the Prony brake in the
1881 engine trials had insufficient lubrication, unless the surface of
the pulley was extremely rough. Reliance on such a rough pulley does not
reflect well on those who allowed its use. This article by Bruce E.
Babcock and Robert T. Rhode closely examines the various tests that
Hoadley supervised. Hoadley may have found himself obligated to
supervise trials that he privately considered so flawed as to be
ridiculous. |
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“A Note on Engines with
Bevel-Gear Drives”
By Robert T. Rhode,
1.1 MB, PDFIn the
August–September 2010 issue of Engineers and Engines Magazine,
Thomas G. Downing asked which companies used the bevel-gear drives that
the Cooper firm in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, licensed to other builders of farm
steam engines. In this article, Robert T. Rhode begins to answer
Downing’s question. |
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“A Further Note on
Engines with Bevel-Gear Drives”
By Robert T. Rhode,
1.2 MB, PDFIn the
August–September 2010 issue of Engineers and Engines Magazine,
when Thomas G. Downing asked which companies used the bevel-gear drives
that the Cooper firm in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, licensed to other builders of
farm steam engines, Downing quoted a source as stating that five firms
held licenses. He said that Russell & Company and Aultman & Taylor were
two of the five. In the October–November 2010 issue, Robert T. Rhode
added to Downing’s list the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, the
Nichols & Shepard Company, and the Birdsall Engine Company. Rhode wrote
that the “Birdsall mechanism is distinctly different from that of
Cooper, Case, Nichols & Shepard, and Russell,” and Rhode questioned
whether Birdsall paid a licensing fee to Cooper. In this article, Rhode
examines ambiguities surrounding licensing arrangements. |
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“H.
& F. Blandy of Zanesville and Newark, Ohio”
By Robert T. Rhode and John F. Spalding, 5.5 MB, PDF
H. & F. Blandy
is counted among the significant builders of engines in the early period
of steam power in the United States. From locomotives to portable
engines, Blandy produced a variety of machines during the firm’s
colorful existence. In competition with other manufacturers, such as
Griffith & Wedge of Zanesville, Blandy traced a course that wove in and
out of courts of law. This article assembles the disparate pieces of the
Blandy story in a coherent narrative.
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“Update on Newark Machine
Works”
By Robert T. Rhode,
1.6 MB, PDFIn the article
entitled “H. & F. Blandy of Zanesville and Newark, Ohio,” which John
Spalding and Robert T. Rhode authored and which was published in the
February–March 2011 issue of Engineers and Engines Magazine,
the authors included a detail from a photograph that Thomas Norrell
collected. In a caption on page 9, they said that the image might show a
prototype of the Newark self-propelling engine of 1858. It does not.
John H. White, Jr., well-known author of numerous books and articles on
locomotives and other forms of transportation, historian for many years
at the Smithsonian Institution, and now a faculty member at Miami
University, recently gave Rhode a sharper copy of the Norrell
photograph. Rhode can see that the agricultural engine in the image is a
portable engine after all. With the exception that the flywheel is on
the right, the engine is identical to the 1857 model in the cut from the
Ohio State Board of Agriculture report—a cut that also appears on page 9
in the February–March issue of Engineers and Engines Magazine.
The rear wheels are in the same position on both engines. The angle of
the machine in the Newark photo gives the optical illusion that the
wheels are farther back than those in the cut. Evidently, the rear
wheels were spaced at a wide distance from the sides of the firebox.
There is no chain and there are no gears for traction. |
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“Mimicry Among Farm Steam
Engine Builders”
By Robert T. Rhode,
10.2 MB, PDF
In nature, one species often resembles another.
Biologists call this mimicry. Among farm steam engines, the product of
one firm often resembled the product of another firm. Robert T. Rhode
calls this mimicry, too. Did the similarity result from theft of a good
idea, or was there a mutually beneficial relationship between two or
more companies? From the vantage point of the twenty-first century, it
is usually difficult to tell. This article is about wishing for answers
to mysteries surrounding engine mimicry. |
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“More Mimicry Among Farm
Steam Engine Builders”
By Robert T. Rhode,
7.4 MB, PDF
Engineers and Engines Magazine for February and March of 2012 carried Robert T. Rhode’s first
article about mimicry among farm steam engine builders. Rhode mentioned
wishing for answers to questions about why an engine by one manufacturer
looks so much like an engine by another manufacturer. His second article
on the topic of mimicry prolongs the wish for answers. Since publication
of his articles on mimicry, Rhode has solved a few of the mysteries and
has published his findings in additional reports reproduced here.
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“Traveling Back to the
Indiana State Fairs of 1884 and 1885”
By Robert T. Rhode,
8.3 MB, PDF
The magnificent scenes and brilliant colors of a
poster announcing the 1885 Indiana State Fair entice readers back to the
nineteenth century. The Indiana State Archives has graciously permitted
readers to view scans of the original poster. Noteworthy in the
enlargement of the lower right corner are three steam engines. A book
with the improbably long title of the Thirty-Fourth Annual Report of
the Indiana State Board of Agriculture, Volume XXVI, 1884, Including the
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, 1885, and Meetings of the Cattle
Breeders, Swine Breeders, Wool Growers, Cane Growers, and Bee Keepers,
1885, to the Governor identifies the builders of engines that were
displayed at the State Fair in that year. The artist that designed the
1885 poster most likely consulted photographs taken in 1884. |
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“What Really
Happened in Wichita in 1907”
By Bruce E. Babcock and Robert T. Rhode, 14.1 MB, PDF
The year was 1907. It was the afternoon of April 4th, the
third (and final) day of the gathering of threshermen billed as “The
Wichita Convention.” Steam traction engines were on display at the
Haymarket, an open area on South Water Street not far from the Arkansas
River. Earlier, Wilson R. Balderson had run a 16 HP Baker engine belted
to a five-foot fan that the A. D. Baker Company had built. Balderson had
spun the fan 693 RPM. He and John W Albeck challenged representatives of
other manufacturers to try to spin the fan faster with their engines.
The events that ensued have been debated ever since. Bruce E. Babcock
and Robert T. Rhode employ the skills of detectives to get at the true
story of Wichita. |
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“Why Watertown, Wheeler &
Melick, and Butterworth Engines Look Alike”
By Robert T. Rhode,
11.9 MB, PDF
Several readers expressed appreciation for Robert T.
Rhode’s articles on mimicry among farm steam engine manufacturers, which
appeared in Engineers and Engines Magazine in 2012. In his
stories about duplication, Rhode indicated that the Watertown portable
and the Wheeler & Melick portable were exactly alike. In this article,
Rhode explains the similarity and introduces yet another builder of farm
steam engines: Butterworth. |
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“Butterworth of Trenton, New Jersey: The Rest of
the Story”
By Robert T. Rhode,
2.4 MB, PDF
In Engineers and Engines Magazine for August and
September of 2013, Robert T. Rhode explained the similarity among the
Watertown, Wheeler & Melick, and Butterworth portable engines; in this
sequel, Rhode and Mike McKnight further disclose a significant
connection between Butterworth of Trenton, New Jersey, and Tanner &
Delaney of Richmond, Virginia. |
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“The Battle Creek Grudge
Match”
By Robert T. Rhode,
11 MB, PDF
This story begins quietly with small, friendly shops
in the 1840s in Battle Creek, Michigan, and ends with a grudge match
pitting two factories against a gigantic manufacturing firm. In this
article, Robert T. Rhode exposes many connections among agricultural
steam engine companies of Battle Creek and Port Huron.
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“Gaar Family Celebrates
Fifty-Year Anniversary: Solving the Mystery of a Photograph”
By Robert T. Rhode and Mike McKnight, 3.2 MB, PDF
A rare photograph has come to light. Seen here for the
first time is an image that depicts Abram Gaar and Agnes Adams Gaar and
that probably depicts John Milton Gaar, William G. Scott, other members
of the Gaar family, and company representatives posing in front of a
portable steam engine and a threshing machine manufactured by Gaar,
Scott & Company in Richmond, Indiana. The occasion is most likely the
fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the business that eventually
became the Gaar–Scott enterprise. Perhaps the house stood on the farm of
Abraham Gaar (1769–1861), Abram’s grandfather. How can so much be
deduced from a photo purchased from an antique dealer with no
accompanying history? Read on. |
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“Gaar Began Portable Engine Production in 1857”
By Robert T. Rhode and Mike McKnight, 2 MB, PDF
A respected source of agricultural history says Abram
Gaar began building portable steam engines in 1852. In 1907, Lewis G.
Rule gave 1857 as the year. He cited detailed circumstances that lend
his story credibility. In this intriguing article packed with several
significant illustrations, Robert T. Rhode and Mike McKnight explain why
they trust Rule’s date. |
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“The Checkered Career of
J. O. Spencer”
By Robert T. Rhode,
4.6 MB, PDF
In this article, Robert T. Rhode presents the story of
J. O. Spencer, an overlooked builder of farm steam engines and related
implements, and traces the difficult path Spencer followed. |
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“The Buffalo Birdsall”
By Brad Vosburg and Robert T. Rhode, 18.9 MB, PDF
Brad Vosburg reports that, one evening while looking
through the Farm Implement News of January 1889, he came upon an
ad that referred to a Buffalo Birdsall. The engine in the drawing
slightly resembled an Auburn Birdsall but did not look like anything
Vosburg had ever seen before. With the exception of the front axle and
auto steering, it appeared to be an entirely different machine. In this
article, Brad Vosburg and Robert T. Rhode solve the mystery of the
Buffalo Birdsall.
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“Old Abe for Children”
By Robert T. Rhode,
3.2 MB, PDFOf all the
trademarks adopted by companies that manufactured farm steam engines,
none was better known than Old Abe, the eagle of the J. I. Case
Threshing Machine Company, which produced the largest number of
agricultural steam engines in history. In 1861, Chief Sky captured the
eagle in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, and traded it to farmer Daniel
McCann for a bushel of corn; McCann then sold the eagle to the 8th
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Company C for $2.50. Named Old Abe (after
President Abraham Lincoln), the eagle took part in many battles of the
Civil War. After the conflict, the bird resided in the Wisconsin State
Capitol Building. A small fire in the basement choked the bird with
smoke in February of 1881, and the eagle died in March. A taxidermist
stuffed the eagle. In February of 1904, the Capitol burned and the
stuffed eagle was destroyed. Numerous articles and books have been
written about Old Abe the eagle. Robert T. Rhode has discovered a
long-overlooked source: a children’s book with a spectacular full-color
cover depicting Old Abe. |
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“William Medcalf’s Iconic Painting of a Case Steam Engine”
By Robert T. Rhode,
5.1 MB, PDF
In 1955, the J. I. Case Company of Racine, Wisconsin,
first advertised prints of a colorful threshing scene that has since
become iconic. William Edward Medcalf (1920–2005) created the original
painting. Medcalf is known for Christmas scenes and nostalgic
illustrations resembling those of Norman Rockwell (whose work Medcalf
idolized), as well as vibrant sketches often depicting sports such as
baseball and football. But Medcalf is best known for his paintings of
pin-up girls! His pin-ups command tens of thousands of dollars at
auction. This article sketches Medcalf’s career and presents information
about his popular painting of a Case steam engine, threshing machine,
and crew. |
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“William Medcalf's
Iconic Painting of a Case Steam Engine, Episode 2”
By Dale Noel and Robert T. Rhode, 650 KB, PDF
This article by Dale Noel and Robert T. Rhode is a
follow-up to Rhode’s story in the April–May 2015 issue of Engineers
and Engines Magazine. Minnesota artist William Edward Medcalf
(1920–2005; often called “Bill Medcalf”) produced at least one
additional work of art similar to the iconic painting he created for the
J. I. Case Company while working for Brown & Bigelow, the promotional
products firm. Dale Noel bought the painting a dozen years ago from a
person who received it from his grandparents. Dale’s work of art is oil
on board and signed by the artist. The work is reminiscent of the
threshing scene commissioned by Case but with obvious differences. A
painting by Les Kouba is similar to Dale’s; like Medcalf, Kouba was
associated with Brown & Bigelow. It is fascinating to trace the
resemblances among all three paintings.
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“Lane & Bodley’s Sawmill of 1860”
By Robert T. Rhode, 1.0 MB, PDF
Mary Hammill, originally from the Greater Cincinnati
area, was looking for a home for a cut (or engraving) of a Lane & Bodley
sawmill and discovered company information archived on the
Cincinnati Triple Steam website.
Subsequently, Mary and her husband, James “Jim” Hammill, found me
because of my association with Leland Hite, with whom I have written
articles and with whom I have worked on various historical projects. Lee
is the author of the Cincinnati Triple Steam website (https://cincinnatitriplesteam.org/),
which features the Cincinnati Water Works’ River Station, home to four
of the world’s largest triple-expansion, water-pumping steam engines. As
tour guide, Lee is the voice of River Station. From their home in
Hopkins, Minnesota, the Hammills mailed me the cut, which appeared on
page 346 of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper for October 20,
1860. As Sandra Seidman has published the definitive history of the Lane
& Bodley firm and made it readily available to readers through Lee’s
website, I forgo the temptation to tell about the company. (Click
here to scroll to Sandra’s article.) I
focus on what the cut and the accompanying story on page 345 have to
offer. The artist was the renowned Albert Berghaus, a significant
illustrator from the 1860s through the 1890s. Having learned the
engraving trade in his home country of England, Frank Leslie built a
publishing empire that would outlive him in New York. |
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“Did Lane & Bodley
Build Traction Engines?”
By Robert T. Rhode, 2.1 MB, PDFFor some forty years, people have assumed that the
Lane & Bodley Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, built agricultural traction
engines, with “traction” implying that the engines were capable of
pulling themselves under their own power. In this article that was
researched over many years, Robert T. Rhode questions the long-standing
assumption and traces its origin. Could it be that Lane & Bodley built
only portable engines, with “portable” suggesting that horses pulled the
engines from place to place?
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“The Panic of 1873 and Farm Steam Power”
By Robert T. Rhode,
1 MB, PDF
Of particular interest to readers of Engineers and
Engines Magazine is the financial downturn of 1873, known as the Panic
of 1873. It initiated the Long Depression, which caused the decade of
the 1870s to be called the Black Seventies. The panic occurred
simultaneously with a rapid upswing in production of steam engines for
purposes of farming. Could the Panic of 1873 have somehow instigated
development of such engines and related implements? This article
attempts to answer that question by combing nineteenth-century sources
while examining the findings of twentieth-century authorities. |
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“Why So Many California Engines Look So Much
Alike”
By Robert T. Rhode, 6.3 MB, PDF
Several center-crank agricultural steam engines in
California in the late 1800s closely resemble one another. This article
explains the similarity, which has its roots in the time when the
Transcontinental Railroad was planned and completed. While offering an
explanation, this article also details the fascinating stories of
manufacturing and marketing steam engines for California’s farms.
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“The Sumner Steam Engines of Everett, Washington”
By Robert T. Rhode, 265 KB, PDF
Brothers Frederick W. Sumner and Thomas B. Sumner were
born in Waupun, Wisconsin, and they attended school in Waupun and in
Hutchinson, Minnesota, where their family moved in 1867. Hutchinson was
a village of log cabins. Thomas apprenticed as a machinist; Frederick,
as a molder. Both learned their craft in an iron foundry. The brothers
rented a shop in Hutchinson, producing plows, harrows, portable engines,
and sleighs. In 1892, Frederick and Thomas took the advice of legendary
railroad executive James J. Hill and moved their business and their
employees to Everett, Washington. Everett was barely a city back then.
Soon, Thomas and Frederick had built a molding room, machine shop, and
casting factory. After struggling through the Panic of 1893, the
brothers found business so booming that they added buildings. During the
1897 Gold Rush, the firm sold steel mining equipment. The Sumner Iron
Works rapidly became one of the largest of its kind on the Pacific
Coast. The Sumner Iron Works built saw mills, shingle mills, and donkey
engines, as well as machinery to make boxes. The donkeys bore the trade
name Miller’s Giant. They had horizontal return-flue boilers from the
Oil City Boiler Works of Oil City, Pennsylvania, which, incidentally,
was the same company that built the boilers for Erie City Iron Works
engines. The yarders had vertical boilers and one or two drums.
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“The
American Patent System and Farm Steam Engines”
By Robert T. Rhode, 4.2 MB, PDF
This article explores four answers to the question of why American farm
steam engine manufacturers held relatively few patents: (1) the
essential parts of such machines were already in the public domain, (2)
builders sought patents only for inventions or significant improvements
that distinguished their products from those of their competitors, (3)
some builders might have decided not to seek patents so as to keep the
precise functions of their inventions out of the public domain, and (4)
some few builders might have felt dissuaded to seek patents because of
pressures against perceived monopolistic practices. |
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“Avery Never Brought an Injunction Against A. W. Stevens
for Patent Infringement”
By Robert T. Rhode, 1.7 MB, PDF
After exhaustive research, an anecdote that appeared in the Iron-Men
Album for July and August of 1956 is proved false. Involving an
extraordinary turn of events in the early 1900s, the anecdote has been
repeated frequently, but now we know that the alleged events never
happened.
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