Field Brundage Co. of Jackson, Michigan, was a successful builder of gasoline engines that were sold throughout the world for about 20 years. The story of how this company came into existence is a tale of trial and error, multiple failures, and re-starts.
To finally be successful required finding the right product, being able to market and sell this product, build a consistent, quality product, and having the money to finance operations and build the business. Lacking any of these ingredients would cause struggle and eventually failure.
Beginnings of Field Brundage
In May 1899, two men moved north from Lansing, Michigan, to St. Louis, Michigan, purchasing an existing machine shop known as Rose Machine Works. Here they planned to begin manufacture of gasoline engines, which would be sold using their names, Olds & Hough.
Wallace S. Olds was an older brother to Ransom E. Olds, who was destined for success in the automotive industry with Oldsmobile and REO. Wallace had joined with his father in 1880 to found P.F. Olds & Son as a machine shop and manufacturer of steam engines. By 1885, he had sold his shares in the company to his brother Ransom, but he continued in the company as a machinist.
P.F. Olds & Son brought gasoline engines to the market in the mid-1890s, which were quite successful. Ransom’s focus turned to the fledgling automotive industry. Wallace took charge of the gasoline engine business, but labor problems struck the company in 1898. Wallace aligned himself with the workers, leading to Ransom removing him from the company. Now Wallace would need to find his way on the outside of the family business.
David M. Hough had also been with the Olds Gasoline Engine Works, working as a patternmaker for several years. Olds and Hough filed a patent application together in December of 1899 for a carburetor, which was granted as U.S. 655,172 in July 1900.
By January 1900, Olds and Hough were looking for better facilities, and they announced they would relocate the company to Albion, Michigan. A new factory was built northeast of the downtown area, along the south side of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. The company was quite small, with only a few employees, limiting the number of engines built. Alma, Michigan, boasted a few of these engines installed in businesses: a market bought an Olds & Hough engine to cut meats and a furnace company bought an 8hp engine to run its equipment.
Miller engine on display at the Coolspring, PA, show in 2015."/>Alamo Manufacturing Co., a new firm in Hillsdale, Michigan, bought out Olds & Hough in August of 1901. A new plant was being built in Hillsdale, and all the equipment would be moved there later in the fall. Wallace Olds went to Alamo as superintendent of the works. Alamo would grow into a large engine manufacturer and make thousands of engines. Wallace Olds’ tenure in Hillsdale was a short one, as he soon was back in Lansing and involved in the startup of another engine company — Air Cooled Motor Co.
Hough remained in Albion, and it wasn’t long until he had found other interested parties to join him in the gasoline engine business. In January 1902, the Hough Gasoline Engine Co. was announced, with Hough, W.D. Brundage and E.C. Lester as the founders of the firm. William Brundage would prove a key addition, as he brought years of experience in the manufacture of farm equipment, as a superintendent at the Gale Manufacturing Co.
The right product would also arrive during 1902. Carey Miller, who was a gas engine manufacturer from Ada, Ohio, joined the company. Miller filed a patent application in January 1903, and it was granted in September as US 739,199. The patent was assigned to his copartners, Lester and Brundage.
The company name had also changed to reflect this partnership of Miller, Lester, and Brundage. In March of 1903, the company name changed again to Albion Engine & Motor Co. Brundage continued as an officer in this new company and was joined by others who came from Gale Manufacturing Co. The engines were marketed as “The Miller.”
Meanwhile in Jackson
Jackson, with a population five times larger than that of Albion, was just 30 miles to the east. Making a first appearance in the 1900 Jackson City Directory under the “Gasoline Engine” listing was C.A. Trask. Charles Trask was a machinist with many years of experience, who had operated his own machine shop at 136-138 W Pearl Street since 1890. In the mid-1890s, he began building and selling bicycles. This was a short-lived venture as he announced he was discontinuing the sale of bicycles in mid-1899 to focus on the machine shop business. His interest then turned to boat building and the manufacture of engines for marine purposes. A launch he built in 1900 had success in races on a local lake.
In December 1902, it was announced that Trask would partner with Rayner Field to build gas and gasoline engines. The new company, called Trask-Field Gas Engine Co., would leverage Trask’s patterns and experience from five years of engine development work. In early 1903, the company moved equipment into the former building of Jackson Automobile Co. on South Park Avenue. The company built engines for stationary and marine uses, naming the engine as the “Jaxon.”
Just a year later, in December 1903, Trask posted a notice that he had severed his connection to Trask Field Co. In January 1904, news came of the reorganization of the Trask Field Co. L.H. Field and Rayner Field purchased the Albion Engine & Motor Co. and bought out the interests of all involved, except for William Brundage, who stayed as general manager and vice president.
The Albion firm was combined with Trask-Field become Jackson Engine & Motor Co. L.H. Field became president, and Rayner Field became secretary and treasurer. The Albion company was in need of larger quarters, so it moved to Jackson at the Park Avenue factory site. The engines continued to be called “The Miller.”
A 15hp engine provided power for the entire factory. The operating equipment consisted of seven lathes, five emery wheels, two planers, a shaper, saw, and wood lathe. The engine also powered a generator that provided 125 lights in the factory. Total cost of operation was 95 cents a day. In the first four months of operating the company in Jackson, 62 engines were built. In 1904, employment in the factory totaled 28.
Field Brundage Co. begins
March 1905 brought yet another name change to the company, this time to the Field Brundage Co. Capital stock was doubled to $60,000. The company was now building engines from 3hp to 50hp. Going forward the engines would be called “The Field,” and the use of the Miller name was discontinued. Work began on a new factory, a fireproof concrete structure of 60-by-300 feet, to be located adjacent to the Lake Shore railroad at 104-116 Belden Avenue.
The Field name was well known in Jackson, Michigan. Leonard H. Field came to Jackson in 1869, where he purchased an existing dry goods store. The business was built up over the years into a large mercantile store (department store), known as the L.H. Field Co. The company moved into a huge building at the corner of Jackson and Michigan Avenue, where it was a powerhouse in the retail trade for the surrounding area. (Note: The Field store was in business until 1987, with the building being demolished in 1991.)
Leonard’s children grew up working in the family business. Rayner, born in 1872, had risen in the company to vice president by 1902. In 1903, Rayner made the move into the gas engine business, but hedged by keeping his position at L.H. Field Co. Bringing his father into the engine company in 1904 brought needed capital to the business and allowed it to grow.
Carey Miller made the move to Jackson when Albion Engine & Motor Co. was relocated to the city. In Jackson, he made a connection with Byron Carter, one of the partners involved in the Jackson Automobile Co. Carter resigned his position as manufacturing superintendent in 1905 and formed another company — Motorcar Co. This new company moved to Detroit, and then on to Pontiac, where it would be called Cartercar Co. Miller joined with Carter and became a key man in the company.
With Carter’s unexpected death in 1908, and the impending acquisition of Cartercar by Billy Durant, Miller jumped and landed in Grinnell, Iowa, at Spaulding Manufacturing Co. There he became the car expert to help launch the new Spaulding auto. Spaulding was done as a manufacturer of cars by 1916, and Miller was on the move again.
In 1905, when the Field Brundage Co. formed, Charles H. Rittenhouse was named sales manager. Rittenhouse had been one of the founders and promoters of the Alamo engine company in Hillsdale. An early win for sales came in 1906 when the company secured a big multi-year contract with the Fairbanks Co. of New York for all the engines to be sold in Fairbanks’ eastern & southern territory. Fairbanks claimed to be the largest dealer in gas engines in the world at that time. Field expected to double their output and busily worked to build an addition onto the factory. The company estimated its output at 8,000 hp in 1907.
Employment at the Field factory grew in these early years, reaching 50 employees in 1905 and peaking at 68 in 1907. A nationwide recession and financial crisis began in May 1907 that would run through June 1908, causing downturns in many businesses. Field likely felt the effects of this, too, as their employment fell to 39 in 1908. For 1909-1911, employment would hold steady in the mid-50s.
Field made a quality product. The engines were commercial grade and heavy for their rated horsepower. They were of headless design, with a long sideshaft that ran along the cylinder to operate the ignitor, valves, fuel pump, and governor. The governor was of the hit-and-miss-type, which holds the exhaust valve open to coast once it reaches its set speed. Field engines also had a mechanism that stopped the cams for the intake valve and ignitor from moving when it reached its set speed. Then, as the engine speed dropped, the governor would re-engage the cam precisely in time to allow the engine to fire again. Known to collectors today as camstoppers, they are remarkable engines.
Field became a regular advertiser in trade magazines early, but especially so starting in 1908. Monthly ads in both Gas Power and Gas Review extolled the virtues of the Field engine and claimed superiority to any engine on the market. The ads cited sales to the U.S. Government to operate wireless equipment stations in Alaska and that more than 50 engines were installed in the public schools of Washington D.C., to operate their heating systems.
First advertised late in 1909, Field introduced new hopper-cooled engines. Prior to this, all engines were of the closed-jacket type, which required a separate water-cooling tank. The hopper-cooled engines of Field were quite distinctive, with the top of the hopper beveled off. FC
Time stands still for no one, and, as the new decade began, Field would face increasing competition. Lower-cost engines would enter the market and make it more difficult for Field to compete with its heavy, top-grade and high-cost product.
Read Part II of the Field Brundage Co. story in June/July 2025 issue of Farm Collector to see how Field responded to the changing market.
Barry Tuller is a collector of gas engines and related belt-driven equipment, literature & advertising. He enjoys learning about engines, and researching the history of the people and companies that made them. He can be reached at btengines@gmail.com
