Advance-Rumely Tractors (OilPull, 6A, DoAll)
admin | Dec 23, 2009 | Comments 1
Like so many American tractor manufacturers, Advance-Rumely’s roots lay in the 19th century agricultural machinery industry. Unlike some, however, it failed to make the important leap from early heavyweight traction engines to modern, light tractors, and as a result it perished.
Dr. Edward Rumely’s grandfather had set up the business in 1853, producing a variety of threshers, steam engines, and a dozen other machines over the years. Edward himself decided that he would build an internal combustion engine tractor -- one that would replace the great steam traction engines that had become an established part of big farmers for decades.
The massive OilPull was launched in 1910 and bore more of a resemblance to a steam traction engine than any gasoline tractor. With 25 hp at the drawbar, and 45 at the belt, it was a powerful machine for its day, and weighed in at an elephantine 25,000 pounds (11,340 kg).
From the start, it was designed to run on kerosene, a cheaper, heavier, and less refined fuel than gasoline. The problem with kerosene, however, was that it burned at higher temperatures, and in a narrower range, then gas. Rumely’s answer was to equip his massive new OilPull tractor with oil cooling via a huge cooling tower between the front wheels, which would allow high cylinder temperatures without boiling away. It also wouldn’t freeze in cold weather or allow the engine to rust from the inside. Kerosene was also prone to pre-ignition, so a Secor-Higgins carburetor atomized water along with the fuel to control any such tendency.
It wasn’t exactly a little machine, but the OilPull proved to be quite a success. A little bit too big for field work, unless the fields were on a similar scale, it soon proved a hit with the threshermen. The big 30 litre twin cylinder motor would gently chuff away all day long, giving out plenty of smooth, reliable, low revving power. To prove a point, Advance-Rumely hitched three of the big Model Es to a specially made 50 bottom plough up an acre in 4 1/2 minutes, and were able to cover 20,000 acres (800 hectares) in six days.
In fact, the OilPulls were in a class of their own, and continued long after other monster tractors had fallen by the wayside. The whole range was produced, including the relatively small 12/20 Model K. But it is the big ones, especially the biggest Model E, produced from 1910 to 1923, for which the Rumely OilPulls are remembered. Rated as a 30/60, the E model actually produced 50 hp at the drawbar, and 75 at the belt. All of the oil pulls were updated in 1924, with a lighter pressed steel chassis, higher engine speeds, and a three speed transmission.
By the late 1920s, however, it was obvious that the faithful OilPulls were obsolete for the times. The market now was in smaller, lighter tractors, powered by conventional gasoline or kerosene engines. So Rumely bought up the Toro tractor and produced it as the DoAll, building just over 3000 between 1928 and 1931. It was a spiffy little 20 hp machine, powered by a four-cylinder Waukesha engine; however, it was not a success and final stocks were sold off to dealers at little more than half the original list price.
Advance-Rumely’s final attempt to produce a conventional tractor (and as it turned out, its final attempt at anything) was the 6A. It couldn’t have been more different from the OilPulls, and used a modern Waukesha 504 ci. (8 L) six cylinder engine to give 43 hp at the PTO. It even had a six speed transmission, unheard of at a time when most rivals had a mere three speeds. But despite this up-to-the-minute specification, the 6A’s sales failed to live up to its promise. The last straw for Advance-Rumely was when it lost money on export sales to Russia, which was ironic, as some of the first OilPulls had been exported to Canada and South America, bringing in good business for the company. It was swallowed up by Allison-Chalmers in June 1931, which promptly ceased production of the DoAll, 6A and OilPulls.
Another famous name was no more, but Advance-Rumely has left it’s name firmly planted in the history of agricultural engineering. Still today you will see one of the vintage/classic antique OilPulls dispayed at agricultural museums around the world.
More web sites that have information about Advance-Rumely and the DoAll, 6A, and the famous OilPull;
Video of Advance-Rumely OilPull Plowing a Field
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