PROUD OWNER

By Staff
Published on January 1, 1971
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Edmund A. Schott
Courtesy of Edmund A. Schott, 2203 Montague Road, Rockford, Illinois 61102.

2203 Montague Road Rockford, Illinois 61102

The 16-30 H was my first Oil Pull. I bought it from the Larson
estate at Rio, Wisconsin, in 1967. It is in real good condition and
required only the usual for a tractor which had been outside for
twelve years. W. Larson, whose brother had owned the 16-30, located
the K 12-20 for me. I went up in the morning and bought it from
Gust Nelson, Rio, Wisconsin, and went to the Oscar Rude estate
auction at Sun Prairie in the afternoon and bought the F 15-30 one
cylinder Oil Pull. Oscar Rude, at one time, had five one-cylinder
Oil Pulls. My F 15-30 is in real good condition and is one of two
in Illinois. The K 12-20 runs, but needs reboring and new pistons.
Both the 12-20 and the 16-30 had not been run for 12 years, yet the
Bosch magnetos with platinum points fired a good spark on the first
click.

My other Oil Pull is a Type E 30-60 which is the largest one
ever built. It was built in 1912 and is number 766. There are no
other type E Oil Pulls in Illinois and only four I know of east of
the Mississippi. Collins Construction Co. of Lacota, North Dakota,
bought No. 766 new in 1912 and used it until 1919 when Albert
Skoglund, Argyle, Minnesota, bought it for farming and road
building. It was completely overhauled in the 1930’s, including
reboring, new pistons, and rebabbiting engine and transmission
bearings. Skoglund pulled a 10 bottom engine gang plough with a
three bottom plough behind that. The tractor narrowly missed
getting scrapped during WW II and the plough did get scrapped. This
tractor built roads, ploughed, broke virgin sod and threshed in
Minnesota and North Dakota. If could talk it could tell us all a
few stories, but since it can’t talk, the wear on its huge
master gears tells us that it owes nothing, has done its share to
make the world a better place and deserves to take it a little easy
in show business. The ‘E’ weighed 30,000 lbs. on the truck
but the 1912 catalogue shows 28,000 lbs. It has two 10 inch bore,
12 inch stroke cylinders with exhaust ports at the bottom of the
stroke, a 48 inch 1300 lb. flywheel which turns 375 rpm maximum. It
has low tension igniters and magneto. The overall height is 11.5
ft. and the width is 9 ft. 10 in. The rear wheels are 80 in. dia.
and 36 in. wide. I hope to replace its 8 spoke master gears.

I knew about the ‘E’ two years before I had the money to
buy it so I just kept quiet, hoping it would still be there; it
was!

F 15-30, H 16-30, K 12-20 Oil Pulls and Distributor’s sign
at Kings, Illinois. The 1912 ‘E’ 30-60 Rumely Oil Pull No.
766.

I went up there to look at it in July 1969. With the help of
Elmer Larson, a fine machinist and Don Ames, a concrete contractor,
I had a real wonderful weekend. The drive from Moorhead to Argyle,
Minn., through the Red River Valley was beautiful. After looking
at, and buying, the ‘E’ and visiting with Skoglunds awhile,
I came back to Moorhead, Minn., and went with Elmer to the Rollag
showgrounds of the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers. While the
directors had a meeting I walked and climbed through the engine
sheds and looked at tractors and steam engines to my heart’s
content. With those nice grounds and all those machines, they must
put on a real show! They are a swell bunch of guys too.

The truckers didn’t get the ‘E’ hauled in time for
our show so I showed it at the Rock River Thresheree at Janesville,
Wis., and they hauled it from there home. Theirs is another fine
show.

I have four one lungers and a 1927 Farmall which was the first
tractor I ever drove; all to be rebuilt, plus a shed to build and
Oil Pulls to paint so I have my work laid out.

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