Montgomery Ward was one of the largest catalog retailers in the early 1900s. Their massive annual catalog was mailed to millions of households in the United States. The catalog was filled with items of all kinds: clothing, all manner of household goods, medicine, musical instruments, farm implements and tools, and most anything else you might need. Montgomery Ward was generally not the manufacturer of the goods but had huge warehouses that they shipped from, as well as shipping some items direct from the factories. For manufacturers, having your product included in the Montgomery Ward catalog generally meant a big boost to your sales.
Through the years, Montgomery Ward offered gasoline engines from a variety of suppliers, usually with their own descriptive brand name. Engines offered included the Bullseye and Invincible (manufactured by Jacobson of PA), Invincible & Big Giant (made by Holliday of Chicago), Neward (from Kansas City, Missouri), Little Giant vertical engines (by Cavanaugh & Darley of Chicago), and Bronson and Always Ready engines (by Burtt Mfg. Co. from Kalamazoo, Michigan). In 1915-1916, catalogs show a pair of 1hp engines, air-cooled and hopper-cooled, advertised as the “Dairy Maid.” These said the Dairy Maid engines would ship from their large stock in Chicago.
The origin of the Dairy Maid engines has long been a mystery. The air-cooled version has very unique flywheels, with fins cast in to aid in cooling the engine. The hopper-cooled version does not have the fins on the flywheels, but does have a similar dish shape. With the clue of the fins cast in the flywheels, we begin our search to solve the secret to the maker of the Dairy Maid.
Silberzahn
Fins cast into the flywheels is a very distinctive feature. The first engine advertisement found with this feature was from Silberzahn Gas Engine Works of Menominee, Michigan, appearing at the beginning of 1908. John Silberzahn was a machinist and the leader of the company.
The Silberzahn family had a long and interesting history in agricultural machinery manufacturing in Wisconsin. John’s father, Charles, was a co-founder of Kohler & Silberzahn Co. in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1873. Charles sold his share of the company in 1878 and moved to West Bend, Wisconsin. Note that the Sheboygan firm would grow into the hugely successful Kohler Co., which continues in business today. In West Bend, Charles became a partner in another agricultural machinery manufacturer. He was the inventor of a new silage & fodder cutter, which generated good sales for the company. In 1890, Charles and his sons bought out the other partners in the business and it became known as Silberzahn Mfg. Co.
John Silberzahn was born in 1862 in Tennessee. In 1880, he was living in his father’s household in West Bend and working as a printer. During the 1890s, he worked as a machinist in Milwaukee, Wsconsin. By the 1900s, he was back in West Bend working for his family as a machinist, along with his brother Louis.
Charles Silberzahn retired in 1902 and sold his interests in the company. Silberzahn Mfg. Co. was listed as a gas engine manufacturer in industry directories in 1904, and the successor company, Berres-Gehl Mfg. Co., also offered gas engines in 1905 and 1906. Berres-Gehl suffered a setback in 1906 when its factory was consumed by a fire. The company rebuilt, and continues in business to the present, as Gehl Co.
By 1906, the Silberzahn brothers had split from Gehl and formed their own company in West Bend: Silberzahn Bros. The first advertisement to show a picture of their engine came from this entity. During the summer of 1906, it was announced that the company, now known as Silberzahn Gas Engine Co., would relocate to Marinette, Wisconsin. Ads from the Silberzahn Gas Engine Works on 1388 Main St. in Marinette would appear in the fall of 190
John Silberzahn filed a patent application in January 1907 for a unique gearless engine that used a small auxiliary cylinder to control operation of the exhaust valve. This patent would be granted in July 1907. Soon after, John Silberzahn would lose control of the company, with assets passing to Marinette Iron Mfg. Co. Marinette Iron would continue to manufacture the Silberzahn engine and also reference making gearless engines. John Silberzahn is listed as an ironworker at Marinette Iron in the 1907 city directory. Silberzahn engines were built by Marinette Iron until at least 1908.
Late in 1907, John Silberzahn moved across the river into Menominee, Michigan. He set up on Catherine Street in a small blacksmith shop operated as Louis Frantz & Son. He secured patterns for a new engine design, and this is where the first finned flywheel engines would come about in early 1908. Ads clearly showing the unique finned flywheels appeared in Gas Power in January of 1908.
Once again, and not surprisingly, John Silberzahn struggled with the company. In April, it was announced that John Silberzahn had made an agreement with Diets & Co. of Marinette to manufacture his new engine. A few ads appeared in the months of May and June from Diets & Co. offering the New Silberzahn engine. Samuel Diets was the owner of Diets & Co. He also was heavily involved with A.W. Stevens Co., a manufacturer of steam engines, threshers and other equipment. This company would reorganize as Stevens Mfg. Co. in early 1909, with Samuel Diets as president, and focus on potato harvesting equipment. John Silberzahn had left Marinette, and Menominee later in 1908, with the assets for the new engine passing to Diets. With the inventor gone and Diets busy with his other businesses, the new engine languished, and production ended. 1908 would mark the end of Silberzahn engine manufacture, both old and new designs.
Toledo
We pick up the trail of John Silberzahn again in 1910 in Toledo, Ohio, where he is living in a boarding house and working as a machinist. Ads for an engine with finned flywheels appear in Gas Review beginning in June 1911. The company offering this engine is the Toledo Gas Engine Works of Toledo. The engine has several similarities and differences to the Diets engine. The Toledo has an enclosed crankcase, and the base now straddles a large sheet metal gas tank. Horsepower for the air-cooled engine is listed as 1-3/4, and they also listed a 2-1/2hp hopper-cooled engine. John D. Silberzahn is listed as the proprietor of the company in the 1911 and 1912 Toledo city directories, and his brother Louis is listed as bookkeeper. 728-732 Clark St.is the address for the company, and also for the home of John and Louis.
Toledo Gas Engine Works advertised regularly in the fall of 1911 and up through June of 1912. A unique combination engine and air compressor was announced for the market in November 1911 in Gas Power magazine. The outfit was also demonstrated at the Michigan State Fair that fall in Detroit. Most ads for the company were focused on the details of the air-cooled engine. No image of the hopper-cooled engine has yet surfaced.
A patent application from John Silberzahn of Toledo, Ohio, was filed in late September 1912. The invention application claimed aspects of the finned flywheel design as new and useful. Included in the description was the use of a few thicker fins to use as a counterbalance for the rotating parts of the engine.
In October of 1912, a new company was announced — Silberzahn Gas Engine Co. of Toledo — which was formed to succeed the Toledo Gas Engine Works. The intent of the new firm was to increase the manufacturing output of the engines. Incorporators of the company included John and Louis Silberzahn, along with two lawyers (Fred Kruse and Mark Winchester) from a law firm in Toledo. Ads for the new Silberzahn firm appeared in January 1913, and show an air-cooled engine with finned flywheels but with a shorter base and gas tank relocated under the head end of the engine. The engine no longer features an enclosed crankcase. The ads offered air-cooled 1-1/2hp and 2hp engines. Then the ads stopped.
There is no mention of Toledo Gas Engine or Silberzahn Gas Engine companies in the 1913 or 1914 city directories. John Silberzahn is still listed as residing in Toledo (back in the boarding house) and working as a machinist. The business address on Clark St. has transitioned to a new company, Smithchester Chandelier Mfg. Co., a maker of gas and electric lighting fixtures.
Falls Machine
Meanwhile, in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, an announcement appeared in the February 5, 1913 newspaper speaking of plans to bring a small 1hp gasoline engine to market, along with manufacturing a new engine for motorcycles. The company was Falls Machine Co., which was presently engaged in building multi-cylinder automotive engines.
Falls Machine Co. was established in 1903 as a maker of woodworking equipment. Falls Machine was located on Bridge Street (now Monroe) adjacent to the Sheboygan River, in the buildings formerly occupied by Sanford Phoenix Iron Works. In 1907, they built a new factory at the western edge of the city limits. The company reorganized in 1910, and it was at this time they began manufacturing automotive engines. In April of 1913, the company announced an expansion of their factory to be used to assemble motors and gas engines.
In August of 1913, Falls Machine Co. had a display with its new air-cooled gas engine at the National Gas Engine Show in Kansas City. The company’s participation in the show was captured in photos in trade journals, Gas Power and The Gas Engine. Of note, the engine shown clearly has finned flywheels like those used on the Silberzahn and Toledo. Falls was there inside the booth of Affiliated Manufacturers of Milwaukee. Falls Machine Co. followed up its appearance at the show with ads in Gas Review and Farm Implement News in September 1913. Three sizes of engines were offered, air-cooled in 1-1/2hp, and hopper cooled in 1-3/4hp and 2-1/2hp sizes. The company claimed capacity of 1,000 engines per month. Affiliated Manufacturers was listed as distributors.
Affiliated Manufacturers was a new concern, officially filing articles of incorporation in September of 1913. They were agents for several makers of engines, including Keller engines by Bloomer Machine Works, Diamond Iron Works, and others. Ads from Affiliated showing the water-cooled engine from Falls appeared in Gas Power from March-May 1914.
A newspaper article in the Sheboygan Press on March 20, 1914, highlighted that Falls Machine was having its busy season and was working overtime to get out the work. The company had a contract to build a great number of automobile engines. They also had a contract to make 25,000 motorcycle piston rods for a Milwaukee concern (possibly Harley-Davidson). By fall of 1914, Falls Machine was also advertising single-cylinder stationary engines. The ads pictured the hopper-cooled engine, identical to the picture used in the earlier Affiliated ads.
After December 1914, no further ads from Falls or Affiliated would appear for the stationary engines of Falls. Falls Machine was primarily focused on automotive engines and provided motors for a number of automotive companies, including Grant, Dort and Elgin, as well as being an occasional supplier to several other companies. In September of 1915, it was reported that Falls Machine was making radical changes in its plant, adding more space for assembly and converting the foundry into a machine shop. Castings were planned to be outsourced from several locations in Wisconsin and Michigan.
In July 1916, a group of Chicago bankers bought interest in Falls Machine Co. and reorganized the firm as Falls Motor Corp. At the time of this change, the company employed over 400 men and were turning out over 15,000 motors a year. The woodworking equipment line and factory would be sold to Jenkins Machinery Co. of Sheboygan. Falls Motor Corp. would continue on until 1924.
Toledo, again
Engines with finned flywheels again appeared in ads late in 1915. The ads appeared in Gas Review from December 1915 through May 1916, offering air-cooled engines of 1-1/2hp or 2hp for prices as low as $28.50. The company name was now Reliable Motor Works from Toledo, Ohio. Then the ads stopped. The company would not be included in the 1915 or 1916 Toledo city directories, and the address was listed as vacant. John Silberzahn was also nowhere to be found in 1915 and 1916.
Oddly, this was the second appearance of Reliable Motor Works in Toledo, Ohio. In 1912, the company had ads in Gas Review from July-October showing a 1-1/2hp air-cooled engine. The engine was an earlier version from Silberzahn, before finned flywheels, that had been made in Marinette, Wisconsin, during 1906-1908. Reliable was just a blip in this first appearance, too. It was then absent for three years before popping up again in 1915.
The patent that John Silberzahn had applied for in 1912 was finally granted as US1177824 on April 4, 1916. Coincidently, the final ad for an engine with finned flywheels was in May 1916. This patent was originally filed in September of 1912, which was over four years after it was first advertised in 1908. The grace period for filing at the time was two years, so this patent was, in reality, invalid and unenforceable. Even this point was moot, as the finned flywheel was not being used by others, so there was no one to bring infringement on.
The 1917 Toledo city directory once again includes John Silberzahn and the Toledo Gas Engine Works with the same address as that of the Reliable Motor Works. John Silberzahn is listed as the proprietor of the company. City directories up through 1923 would continue to list Toledo Gas Engine Works and John Silberzahn, but the address moved in 1918 and again in 1919. The company placed ads in the late teens showing an air-cooled air compressor, noting the flywheel had fins to help with cooling. No ads have been found for engines in this second incarnation of Toledo Gas Engine Works, and it is not known if they were still produced.
Beginning in 1924, John Silberzahn was listed as a soap manufacturer for a few years and then as a restaurateur for 1929-1931. On May 28, 1932, faced with eviction for failure to pay rent, John Silberzahn committed suicide.
Secret of the Dairy Maid – Solved
So, who was the maker of the Dairy Maid that Montgomery Ward offered in its 1915-1916 catalogs? Most likely the maker was Falls Machine Co. of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. The deal was perhaps brokered by their distributor, Affiliated Manufacturers of Milwaukee. The Dairy Maid engines are exact matches for those from the Affiliated and Falls advertisements.
It appears that Montgomery Ward was planning to use the Falls engine in 1914, too, as the small illustrations show both air- and hopper-cooled engines in the listing announcing the Dairy Maid engine. But the engine in 1914 was by Neward with hopper cooling only. The ad makes a point that water cooling is better, but there is an air-cooled banner standing alone in the ad. It certainly looks like there was intent to use the matched pair of Dairy Maid engines. With these subtle clues, it is possible the Falls-built Dairy Maid also got some sales through Montgomery Ward even in 1914.
The end for the Dairy Maid was due to a number of factors. Affiliated Manufacturers’ last ad was in 1915, and it apparently went out of business during the year. Falls Machine changed its factory during 1915, eliminating its foundry. The company was also very focused on automobile engines, which led to its reorganization in 1916 as Falls Motor Corp. This may have been a contributing factor that led Montgomery Ward to search for a long-term solution to its source for gas engines. The 1916-1917 Montgomery Ward catalogs show a new engine offering called the Racine Sattley. These were made by Field Brundage Co. of Jackson, Michigan. Montgomery Ward would purchase Field Brundage and its factory, and thereafter Montgomery Ward controlled manufacture and supply.
Alas, the Dairy Maid by Montgomery Ward had a short sales run, at longest from late 1914 to mid-1916, maybe 1-1/2 years total. Falls production of the engines began in mid-1913, so this would make the full time of production for this style of engines about three years.
Still unknown is exactly how John Silberzahn was involved with Falls Machine Co. or Affiliated Manufacturers. The timeline of Falls production of the engine starts when production stops at the Silberzahn Co. of Toledo, and ends when the finned flywheel engines by Reliable of Toledo appear. The finned flywheels of the Falls engines are nearly the same as earlier Silberzahn and Toledo engines, and other elements are also the same between the various versions of engines. Silberzahn’s whereabouts are undetermined for 1915 and 1916, and he eluded inclusion in any city directory. But his influence is evident in the finned flywheels of the Dairy Maid. Perhaps someday a definitive connection will be found.
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.
