Patented June 15, 1909, the Fuller & Johnson Farm Pump Engine was designed to be small and extremely powerful. It was intended to take the place of a windmill. The brochure promotes its ease of use, boasting it can be installed and put to use, off the wagon, in 15 minutes.
The sales pitch emphasizes the downsides and unpredictability of windmills, stating they are fast disappearing from farms for good reasons. “Perhaps the most discouraging feature of all is the uncertainty of the wind itself. When the weather is the hottest, and the stock needs the most water, the wind persists in staying in some other part of the country for weeks at a time. You who have had the experience of pumping by the hour under such conditions, the perspiration streaming from every pore, will require no further argument as to the actual NEED of the farmer for the Farm Pump Engine.”
If the threat of hot and sweaty manual labor doesn’t sell you on replacing your windmill with gas power, F&J reminds consumers of the dangers involved with maintaining and operating a windmill. “The list of those who have been killed and injured in windmill accidents is appalling in its length. The money loss is tremendous. We looked up statistics for two years only … In that comparatively short time, literally thousands of farmers have been killed, maimed or crippled for life by accidents which occurred when oiling or fixing the windmill head.” And it continues, “Is it really worthwhile to have such a constant menace as a windmill on your farm, knowing all the time that today, or perhaps tomorrow, you or yours may meet the fate of the hundreds whose cases we have mentioned. Your wife, your little one, or you yourself may be the next one to be killed or crippled for life.”
Wow! Talk about emotional advertising!
— Editor
