32
www.FarmProgress.com ■ September 2010
Ohio Farmer
Machinery & Technology
STILL WORKS: The Waines brothers
restored this fully operational 1925
Huber model 32-54 threshing machine.
The cylinder is 32 inches wide; the
separator is 54 inches. Note the added
Hart-Carter elevator and scales, along
with the feed house. A typical threshing
crew was 10 to 12 people.
DEPENDABLE WORKHORSE: The Waines brothers of Crestline restored this 1936 Huber model HS 27-42. It was a basket
case when found, but the brothers overhauled the four-cylinder Waukesha engine and replaced all the sheet metal.
A man for the tractor ages
By FRED HENDRICKS
DWARD Huber was a man of great
vision. He could visualize how
steam might displace the power of
horses. His vision was realized through
the development of The New Huber, a
steam-powered engine built in 1878. He
then saw how the farm engine might
be propelled by its own power. As this
vision was taking form through the development of The New Huber traction
engine, his critics exclaimed, “It’s an impractical dream.”
But his dreams became reality in 1898
when he produced his first farm traction
device propelled with a gasoline engine
— and the Tractor Age was launched.
Huber was born in Kelso Township,
Dearborn County, Ind., in 1837. His
father was a cabinetmaker who later
switched to building farm wagons. The
wagons required metal parts, including
stake pockets, axel pedestals and gate
hinges that were fabricated by a blacksmith. At the age of 15, young Huber was
apprenticed to a local blacksmith shop.
After just three weeks, Huber informed
his dad that he could make the needed
metal parts. A blacksmith shop was
soon purchased with Huber given the
opportunity to prove his worth.
Huber patented his first invention in
1863, at the age of 26. The invention, a
revolving hay rake made with wood,
would launch a long and storied history
of Huber’s entrepreneurial spirit, along
with the manufacturing of his visionary
farm equipment. All told, Huber received more than 100 different patents.
E
Revolving rake business
Huber married Elizabeth Hammerle in
1865 and moved to Marion, where the
local woods were filled with timber
needed in the production of the revolving hay rake.
He immediately expanded the
fledging business. The first Huber grain
thresher (separator) was manufactured
in 1876, and the first steam engine was
produced in 1878. Both the thresher and
steam engine realized immediate success. Huber also patented the “return
flue” boiler for these engines.
A Huber-manufactured
road scraper found great
favor at the Centennial
Exposition in Philadelphia
in 1876. The success of
this road scraper would
lead the Huber Co. on the
course to other pursuits.
the farm tractor in the early 1890s. An
essential component of the emerging
tractor was the gasoline engine.
Huber acquired a tractor from the
Van Deuzen Co. of Cincinnati, outfitted
with a gas engine. He began experimenting with his own gaspowered tractor.
Huber
manufactured
30 tractors with a single
cylinder
gasoline/kerosene engine. This became
the first mass-produced
gas-powered tractor for
commercial use. However,
the tractors presented
numerous challenges for
Early Huber tractors
their owners, so Huber
THE HUBER
Numerous
companies MANUFACTURING
went back to the drawing
had started developing CO. LOGO
board.
Huber toy story
Company demise
Following World War II, the Huber Co.
elected to concentrate on road building
along with maintenance equipment. This
led to the abandonment of farm tractors and machinery. Eventually Huber
was acquired by A-T-O Inc. in 1969 and
moved to Charleston, S.C. A-T-O closed
all of Huber’s doors in 1984.
Today there is almost no trace of the
manufacturing facilities in Marion as
they were completely torn down. Only
the cornerstone of the building has
been preserved and is on display at the
Huber Machinery Museum.
Hendricks lives in Bucyrus. He runs a
dairy cattle consulting business and is an
avid farm toy collector.
MUSEUM
M
PIECE:
P
Scale
Models
S
manufactured
m
this
1:16 scale
t
die-cast
Modern
d
Farmer
L as a
F
promotional
item
p
for
f the Huber
Machinery
M
Museum.
M
T
HE variety of toys manufactured
as replicas of original Huber tractors and equipment is directly related
to the popularity of the brand. Huber’s
dealer organization was very limited;
subsequently, the tractors did not enjoy
widespread sales.
There are three known scale models
produced with national sales: the 1:16
scale die-cast Huber model Modern
Farmer L by Scale Models, the 1:16
scale die-cast Huber steamroller by
Hubley, and the commemorative 1:64
scale die-cast Huber HK by SpecCast.
This toy tractor remains available
through the Huber Machinery Museum.
Dan Yoder, of Rock Ridge Castings
of Baltic in Holmes County, produced
several good-quality Huber toys. The
1:16 scale sand-cast Huber model
Roto Rack threshing machine is very
complete with good detail. Yoder also
made a colorful 1:16 scale sand-cast
replica of the Huber model Light Four.
Rock Ridge Castings made a nicely
Skepticism prevailed, with critics
accusing Huber of “chasing rainbows.”
The Huber tractor put on the market
in 1889 was a large, one-cylinder vertical engine with hot tube ignition. This
tractor demonstrated that it would go
— sometimes. The Huber two-cylinder
type with dry cell ignition followed.
This engine development silenced the
critics, as the tractor would go anytime.
The Huber four-cylinder engine with
magneto ignition followed. And now,
the Huber tractor demonstrated that it
would go anytime — all the time!
The dependable use of this tractor
soon quieted the skeptics, and “chasing
rainbows” was no longer associated
with the Huber tractor.
appointed sand-cast version of the Huber
model HK in 1:16 scale. The last recorded toy replica by this company was a
Huber 1:16 scale sand-cast model B.
A sand-cast toy of Huber’s first
steam engine was developed in what is
believed to be 1:16 scale. The builder
of this model is unknown. There are
a
also
three 1:64
c
cast-iron
repl
licas:
a Huber
steamroller,
s
a
Huber
threshing
H
machine
and a
m
Marion
steam
M
shovel. Kenton Toys of Kenton manufactured two of them. Manufacturer of the
third cast-iron replica is unknown.
All of these toys, as well as many
Huber road equipment replicas and
Marion Steam Shovel models, are on
display at the Huber Machinery Museum
at the Marion County Fairgrounds.