ARTIFACTS

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Rumely GasPull 15-30

Rumely GasPull 15-30
Rumely GasPull 15-30

The Rumely GasPull 15-30 in the Museum colllection was donated to the Museum by Ray Pearson of Hamiota in the late 1950s.

The GasPull design was built for a number of companies during its production run so it is quite possible to find identical tractors to this tractor but with a different name.

The design originated with the Crookston Manufacturing Company whose president, Albert O. Espe, also happened to to be an engineer. Espe began designing a gasoline plowing tractor in1907 and Crookston Manufacturing built two prototypes in 1909 which the company demonstrated to potential buyers. The tractor found a few orders but before any production models could be built the Crookston Manufacturing Company was reorganized into the Universal Tractor Company (UTC). As well, the production of the UTC tractor was to be carried out by the Northwest Thresher Company in Stillwater, Minnesota. However the UTC was to remain headquartered at Crookston. By 1910, Northwest was building UTC gas tractors. The UTC tractor was rated at 20-40.

Gas Pull Ad

Northwest, at the time, also built the UTC tractor for other companies which were sold by these companies under their names, These companies were:
The American Able of Toronto, Ontario. The tractor was labeled by American Able as the American Able Universal Tractor,
The Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company of Hopkins, Minnesota. The tractor was labelled by Minneapolis as the Minneapolis Universal Farm Motor,
The Union Iron Works of Minneapolis. The tractor was labeled by Union Iron Works as the Skibo Farm Tractor.

In early 1912, eastern interests purchased both the Northwest Thresher Company and UTC. Both companies continued to operate and in late 1912 both companies were sold to the Rumely Company. Rumely continued on manufacturing the GasPull until 1913. However Rumely ceased to sell the tractor to other companies to market under their names. When Rumely took over the GasPull design, Rumely re-rated the horsepower and the tractor became a 15-30.  Rumely still listed the GasPull for sale as late as 1915.

The GasPull featured a 2-cylinder opposed engine with a 7 1/2 inch bore and an 8 inch stroke. The engine was rated to 600 RPM. The GasPull was cooled by water using a thermo-syphon system with fan cooling of the radiator.

A.O. Espe went on to design other tractors. He produced the original Avery tractor design of 1911 and then a tractor called the C.O.D. in 1915. Espe also designed a tractor for the Hero Manufacturing Company of Winnipeg however this tractor was never built.

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