The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1916-12-08
GANG PL0W IS
DRAWN BY FORD
INVENTION OF MONTANA MAN
MAKES OF FLOWING JUST
A JOY RIDE.
Enables Farmer to Hitch Gang Plow
to His Automobile and Do the
Work of Many Plow Horses; 800
Montana Farmers Are Using the
''AutO Pull

That unpretentious servant of the
farmer and the more modest business
man, known as the Ford automobile,
has been the butt or SO many joke
sters since it's first rise to fame, that
the average reader will say, "Here
comes another" when he is informed
that more than 800 farmers of Mon
tana are now blowing, seeding, har-
vesting, hauling grain to market,
hauling coal to the farm and in many
cases even saving wood with Ford
car. This, nevertheless, is the bare
faced truth and the man who made it
all possible is a former resident of
Montana, G. L. Olmstead, who, while
he was living in Great Falls, invent
ed what is known as the "auto pull"
a simple contrivance designed to con-
vert a Ford car into a tractor while
still leaving it Ford car.
This device was invented about a
year and half ago and has been on
the market for a year. 1t is manu-
featured by company incorporated
in Minnesota which has big fac
tory in Minneapolis.
Easily Attached and Detached,
1t consists of two tractor wheels
designed so it can be attached to
Or detached from a Ford car without
mutilating or harming the automo-
bile in any way.
The Auto Pull is based upon a
mechanical principle SO simple that
almost anyone who observes it at
work is tempted to ask, "Why didn't
someone think of that before?'
Through reduction in gear of 12
to one it converts speed into power.
1t can be adjusted to a Ford in Is
minutes and removed in three min
utes. 1t costs only SITS. AS the
price of Ford is less than $500 this
makes the cost of the combined auto
mobile and tractor les than $575 1t
requires only five small bolts to hold
the attachment and the only perman-
ent alteration in the automobile is a
change in the hub bolts which is
furnished with the appliance. The
bolts required are little longer than
the original bolts and are equipped
with a lug. They stick out only about
an inch and are not noticeable when
the Ford is converted back into a
roadster ar touring car.
Always Ready to Go as Auto.
The car is always ready to go as an
auto. Even the fender is retained.
The car wheel has no connection with
the ground, but is suspended and OPP
Grated inside the tractor wheel. Thus
there is no danger of tire puncture
or other damage. The car wheel
makes IL revolutions to one of the
tractor and the pulling power is in
creased and the speed decreased pro-
portionately. When the engine is
travelling 20 miles an hour the trac-
tor speed is two and a half miles an
hour. The power is sufficient to pull
two plows in stubble.
The addition of belt attachment
costing $25 converts the contrivance
into stationary engine with three
to II horse power. By means of this
device Isador Weber of Roberts, Ida
no baled 900 tons Of hay this sum-
mer. 1t may be utilized also for silo
filling, silage cutting, feed grinding
or saving wood.
A farmer who has a ranch near
Great Falls has been using the tractor
within the last few days to haul coal
from Great Falls, 16 miles away
Going to town he would put the Auto
Pull in an ordinary farm wagon
hitched to his car. Then he would
attach the tractor to his Ford and
return at a moderate speed With
more than six tons of coal in the
wagon. There are a considerable
number of farmers who use the
tractor who have not single horse
as the tractor and the auto combined
do all and more than horse can do.
The state agency for the Auto Pull
is held by G. A. Hunt, who has OFFICES
at Great Falls.