The Rumely Company is this year’s feature machinery company at the annual Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede held at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum. The Rumely Products Collectors, a North American organization dedicated to the preserving the heritage of the Rumely Company, is holding their annual show at the reunion as well.
Rumely was a builder of farm machinery, perhaps best known for the Rumely Oil-Pull line of tractors. Over the course of the Rumely Company’s life, it accumulated other farm machinery companies including the Advance Thresher and Gaar-Scot companies. After these acquisitions, the company became known as the Advance-Rumely Company. A later acquisition was the Aultman-Taylor Company.
The Rumely company originally got its start when Meinrad Rumely left Germany and joined his brother in LaPorte , Indiana to operate a foundry. The foundry was successful and shortly it was producing one ton of castings a day. By 1859, the brothers were making corn shellers and horse powered threshing machines. The brother s went on to produce stationary steam engines, progressed to portable steam engines and then traction steam engines. While the Case 110 horse steam engine is better known today, Rumely produced a model of steam engine that rivaled the Case 110 for size and were commonly used in sod breaking operations. Along with steam engines and threshing machines, Rumely produced a variety of other farm machinery including clover hullers, plows, cutting boxes, corn shellers, corn shredders, silo fillers, water wagons, cream separators and motor trucks. By 1925, the company was building pull type combines. Rumely also entered the oil business, supplying high quality motor oils and lubricants as the company realized many complaints of defective company products were the result of poor quality oil and lubricants causing premature wear or damage. Rumely had a reputation for building quality machinery.
While Rumely was not in the first wave of gas tractor manufacturers, by 1909 it had entered the market with its Oil-Pull line of tractors which were immediately popular as they proved to be simple, rugged , reliable tractors. This line of tractors could burn kerosene or distillate fuels. Kerosene was common as a tractor fuel in the years before World War One. At that time, rapidly increasing numbers of automobiles were driving up the price of gas in comparison to kerosene. As well, kerosene is heavier than gas and so contains more energy per gallon. The combination of the two factors, made kerosene very attractive as a fuel for farmers.
As refining technology became more advanced, less kerosene and distillate were produced per barrel of crude oil while more gasoline was produced. As well, gasoline quality improved and so contained more energy than previously. Kerosene and distillate prices rose as supplies dried up and lost their appeal as tractor fuels. At that time, diesel engine technology had been perfected and was beginning to appear in farm tractors.
The Rumey Oil-Pull engine design used a higher compression engine than what had previously been found in tractors which aided in burning kerosene and distillate. However in burning these fuels in a spark ignition engine, preignition was an issue as it could damage an engine. Water injection was the answer. The Oil-Pull line used the Seccor-Higgins carburetor which efficiently mixed water with the fuel under all loads. Other designs required manual adjustments but the Seccor-Higgins automatically adjusted itself. The Seccor-Higgins could be set to handle other fuels than kerosene. The Oil-Pull was cooled by oil, not water, as oil allowed an higher engine operating temperature making burning kerosene or distillate more efficient plus oil did not freeze. The oil in Oil-Pull comes from this oil cooling system.
Rumely built a number of models of the Oil-Pull starting with the “B” and progressing on to the “E”, “F”, “G”, “H” and “K”. The “E” was the largest of this series of Oil-Pulls rated at 30 horsepower at the drawbar and 60 horsepower on the belt. The Model E 30-60 was a popular tractor for breaking sod on the prairies. The riveted channel iron frame of this series was replaced by a pressed steel frame in the next series of Oil-Pulls which were known as light weight Oil-Pulls. This series had a number of models ranging from the Model L 15-25 to the Model S 30-60.
By 1930, Rumely had produced the Rumely 6A which had an inline 6 cylinder engine and front mounted radiator using water as cooling fluid. The engine and transmission served as the frame and so this tractor has a modern appearance. Unfortunately the great depression resulted in the Advance–Rumely Company encountering financial difficulties. As the company had a very good dealer network, Allis-Chalmers purchased the company. While Allis had a line of farm machinery, it did not have a strong dealer network so purchasing Rumely made sense. Allis kept the Rumely 6A tractor and the combines only changing the name and model designations. All other Rumely machinery was discontinued.
The Manitoba Agricultural Museum has a number of Rumely machines in the collection including a variety of Oil-Pull tractors, a Rumely Gas Pull tractor plus threshing machines and an engine plow. So come on out to the 2010 Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede to catch Rumely Expo. As well as the museum’s collection of Rumely’s, many collectors are bringing pieces from their collections to the Expo. The Rumble on the Prairie is getting louder as the Rumely crew is working hard on bringing off the plowing attempt! The thunder of multiple Rumely Model Es plowing may yet be heard this reunion!
