Box 225, Huntsville, Utah 84317
Was the first Power Horse built about 1934? Even Mr. Bonham
can’t say exactly when it was first assembled. Shown above is
an ‘after’ picture of the prototype. See next page for the
‘before,’ and a picture of Mr. Bonham.
I own the Power Horse, but Mr. Clark Nelson, of Nelson
Inter-Mountain Crane Service, is solely responsible for doing the
restoration.
The ski trails seen in the background of the picture will be the
site of part of 2002 Winter Olympics.
Ed.’s note: Below and on the next page
we have reprinted the text from Mr. Bonham’s patent application
for the Power Horse.
Patented April 16,1940 2,197,248 United States Patent
Office
2,197,248 Tractor
Albert W. Bonham, Jr., and Alvin B. Bonham, Clinton, Utah,
assignors to Bonham Manufacturing Company, Montello, Nevada, a
corporation of Nevada.
Application June 26, 1937, Serial No. 150,470 26 Claims (CL
180-17)
This invention relates to a tractor, and more particularly a
general utility tractor, that is to say, one which may be used for
substantially all purposes for which horses, mules or other draft
animals have heretofore been used. For example, the machine may be
used with equal facility for plowing, harrowing, cultivating,
scraping and many other purposes on farms, and for widely
diversified haulage of modern contractors’ machinery, and the
building of roads and in other engineering and industrial
works.
The principal objects of the invention are:
First. To provide a tractor which may be completely controlled
from a point remote from the tractor, by means of a pair of lines
or reins in the hands of a driver although control of the machine
may also be accomplished by an operator riding on the machine and
handling the control device directly.
Second. To provide a machine which is positive and reliable in
its action, but whose control mechanism is extremely sensitive and
responsive.
Third. To be capable of making turns practically within its own
length so as to economize space in turning at the ends of the
furrows in plowing, or at the ends of the rows in cultivating farm
crops, as well as in innumerable maneuvers in connection with
industrial operations.
Fourth. To be capable of going straight ahead at a uniform
speed, turning to either the right or the left, standing still for
short periods or for periods of indefinite length, and backing
either straight or to the right or left.
Fifth. To provide a tractor capable of being hitched to ordinary
horse-drawn implements with only minor changes in implement hitch,
such, for example, as replacing the ordinary long tongue with a
short tongue.
Sixth. To be so compact and maneuverable as to facilitate
operation in close quarters where ordinarily movement is difficult
or even impossible.
Seventh. To be relatively simple in construction and operation,
durable in use, and reasonable in cost.
Eighth. To be so conveniently handled by means of the reins or
lines that the implement to which the tractor is attached can be
manipulated even more effectively than if draft animals were used
instead of the tractor, only one person being required for the
entire performance.
Ninth. To provide clutch means, preferably in twin units,
through which the power flow from a suitable source is routed
direct from a forward driving member or a reverse driving member to
a driven member, which is to say that at no time does the energy
from the forward driving member have to flow through any element of
the reverse driving member, or vice versa.
Patent drawing of A. W. Bonham, Jr. et al filed June 23,
1937
Tenth. To secure the maximum strength, compactness, and
maneuverability through the novel disposition of four traction
wheels, two wheels, preferably in tandem, being disposed on each
side of a body frame, all the wheels being rotatably journaled on
rigid axles, and having their tire circumferences spaced apart from
each other only so far as is necessary to provide adequate working
clearance between the two.
