MERRY TILLER This is something from Merry Tiller. It's hard to see what's down there in the snow but it's pretty obvious that it's based on a small frame roto-tiller. If anyone has pictures of one of these babies send them along and I'll work them in.

ROTO-HOE Speaking of roto tillers, here's one from ROTO-HOE. It's a multi use machine shown with both the tiller and snowblower mounted. It is unclear if they could be powered concurrently, that's not important since it would be deadly! Roto Hoe was made by Pioneers of America Power Equipment in Ohio.

TORO SNOW HOUND (POWER HANDLE) This 1959 Toro SnoHound comes to us from Justin in New York state. These show up from time to time on Ebay, sometimes with multiple attachments!

LAWNBOY This is a SNOWBOY from LawnBoy Circa late `1950's. As you would expect from LawnBoy it has a 2-cycle engine, the IRON HORSE two cycle engine. The gear box is heated and the exhaust is on to drive chain for lube and heat. It has a heated intake to melt snow and warm the air before entering the carburetor. The carburetor bowl comes off with two "L" bolts to dump water and it can be done with gloves on! The discharge is fully directional. It's only controls are ON - OFF - CHOKE. In later years Gilson built machines for LawnBoy and ultimately LawnBoy bought Gilson.

HOMCO Here is an old Homco unit. It was built by Western Tool and Stamping of Des Moines, Iowa. It's of the funnel and impeller design and a lot of these were sold and many are still in use. These had forward drive. The wheels were built up out of steel including the tread. Since winter engines were not available at the time there was a "breadbox" cover that sheltered the engine. Many of these were also sold under the Sears Craftsman brand. Western Tool and Stamping was eventually bought by AMF which can be found elsewhere on this page. Later model units were produced by Noma.

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KEE-LINE I really can't say much about this machine. I came across this picture shortly before preparing this feature and the machine looks unique. Perhaps a regional upstart brand, they were from Bradley Illinois. If anyone knows more about it, let me know. The decal seems to say Kee-Line, The Build of Quality. Notice that the single stage auger runs all of the snow to one end for discharge.

LAZY BOY This is a Lazy Boy, manufactured in Kansas City, Missouri. It's a single stage machine with huge skids!

REO This is a REO. I hear from owners of these machines from time to time. This was from the same REO company known for their trucks. They were a big player in the post World War 2 small engine market, becoming the worlds largest producer of power mowers. The company originated in Lansing, Michigan. The last of the REO machines were sold around 1965, several years after Wheel Horse had bought the line. This machine is probably from the early 1960s.

ATLAS This Atlas machine is from the early/mid 1970s. It's a 5 HP single stage with forward drive. Many were sold under the TRU-TEST brand by True Value hardware stores. We used to sell them along side the Gilsons though I must admit we used them more as a comparison tool. MTD offers whatever support remains for these machines. There was also a 3 HP version that was a push model.

SIMPLICITY PADDLE STYLE Like the BobCat shown below this machine has a paddle style impeller. I keep hearing great things about these. It looks like the concept forces the design of a longer machine. The longer machine probably meant less maneuverability and higher cost. Then again maybe the market just wasn't ready for it yet? I recall these being advertised around 1970.

PENNCREST This Penncrest 5 HP, 24 inch machine is another one that looks unique. The industry shook out a long time ago so this was a good sized machine in its day. That's a big belt cover in front of the engine, the drive train may be interesting. Many machines used chains to drive the auger back then, coming in through the back wall of the bucket was unique. Penncrest was a private brand name used by J.C. Penny the machine appears to be a Lambert seen from the opposite side elsewhere on this page. Lambert is still around concentrating on their core product of lawn sweepers, I do not know what continuing support exists for their snowblowers.

SIMPLICITY SINGLE STAGE This Simplicity Single stage is said to come from 1951. I have pictures of the engine ID plate and it seems to check out. What is special about this machine is that the first snowblower I ever ran, around 1970 was a latter version of this model, perhaps from the mid 1960s. By then the engine had the familiar engine shroud and the big S on the chute.

ESKA This is a little Eska, probably a play on Eskimo. They cranked out a bunch of these. Take note of those massive skids. They carried the brand name of "Sno Flyr". The Kohler engine is a rarity. The chute rotate was a J shaped rod that was just pulled and pushed to drive the chute around. It was simple if nothing else. They were last known to be from Dubuque, Iowa, the company was a division of Talley Industries. Inc. Owners Manual Note: I have acquired a significant library of ESKA manuals. I plan to eventually digitize them and offer them here on the site. in the meantime if you want a manual contact me with your model number and I will scan it to order. There will be a $10. document processing in fee.

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SNOWBIRD GEORGE TOOL DIVISION & YARDMAN

No vintage gallery would be complete without a Snowbird. They were originally built by the "George Garden Tool Division" of Community Industries in Sullivan, Il. This was a factory that had 3 divisions- (Garden tractors, Candy and clothing) George Garden Tractors started in 1946 and coined the phrase "Let George Do It". They had sluggish sales at first but then developed walk-behinds that had many optional tools. Exceptional growth followed and shortly they outgrew the building, they employed 200 people and by 1958 had introduced the Snow-bird (snowblower), Earth-bird (tiller) and Lawn-bird (riding mower) They were in business until Jan. 1967 when Yard-Man of Jackson, Michigan purchased the George Garden Tools Division from Community Ind. Yard-Man was eventually sold to Montgomery Wards in 1971 and then in 1975 to MTD Products who can provide any remaining product support. Source note: Much of the above paragraph was found on an Ebay listing. Further reseach suggests the originator is Gary of the Snowbird group on Yahoo, see Below. These were some of the first "full size" machines and they are still found for sale frequently. The most interesting feature is the chute. The entire impeller does a barrel roll as the chute swings from one side to the other. This defies words but if you ever see one, turn the chute crank! Snowbird Links: The Yahoo Group: Snow Bird Snowblowers Snow-Bird Snowblower Webpage.

AMF 3 STAGE This AMF (American Machine and Foundry ) 6 horsepower 26-inch machine is a prime example of what was sold as a 3-stage machine mainly in the 1970s. The shaft of skewed disks churned high banks down for the main auger to digest. Other variations seen on Craftsman machines had simple bars in place of the disks. Remaining OEM support from these machines is from Murray. Here is a link to another AMF model and the story behind it.

LAMBERT Best known for their lawn sweepers Lambert built snowblowers in the 1970s and here is an example. If you look closely you can just detect a third stage device in the top of the bucket as shown on the AMF machine above. Lambert is still around but I don't know how much support remains for these machines. This machine is a 7 HP unit with a 28 inch cut.

VIKING Here is a Viking model 150. It's a 2 stage machine with the auger driven by chain from the traction axel. This was a very common design in the 1960s. Viking machines were built by Berbro Mfg. Co. of Bristol, RI. The engine is a 3 horsepower Briggs and Stratton. Note that since this was before the introduction of the "snowblower engine" a box was provided to protect the engine. To rotate the chute you go up to the chute release a latch that is part of the chute handle and redirect the discharge. Another model built by Berbro was the Mustang.

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LOMBARD Here is a Lombard. When these guys built a 3-stage machine they didn't mess around, 2 complete screw style augers. This thing is built like a warship. Look at the iron extending along the bottom to support the collector housing, it's a whole undercarriage! That chute looks curious as well, it reminds me of the Snowbird barrel roll setup.

MOTOMOWER This MOTO MOWER Snow Shark is circa 1964 and built by Dura Co. of Ontario Canada. It's another version of a dual auger machine. This one has a paddle wheel style impeller turning in the same orientation as the augers as opposed to the more fan. Some of these were built for the "Case" (tractor) brand. In latter years the brand was associated with Roper of Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada (circa 1982). MOTO MOWER also made smaller single stage machines over the years.

HAHN ECLIPSE Here is a Hahn Eclipse machine. They were pushing hard in New England in the early 1970s. They used the model name "Snow Giant" on some models and are known to have run at least from 1963 through 1973. They came from Evansville, Indiana. When they closed up shop Gravely got the assets but I've heard that parts support is virtually exhausted.

Pete's BobcaT Here is a typical "instruction sheet.

BOB-CAT This is a 1981 Bob-Cat built by Wisconsin Marine, Lake Mills, WI that belongs to David in Massachusetts. He had just completed refinishing it, he even salvaged the decals and it's seeing service again. This machine features a rare paddle type impeller that works much like a "water wheel". This concept was also used by Simplicity with rubber paddles, I recall one of the selling points being that it would be more tolerant of stones. The machine has an 8 HP engine and a 24 inch cut and has been known to clear the telephone lines with it's discharge. This is not the same company that manufacturers the skid steer loaders. I also own one and it is the only non-Gilson machine in my collection. Mine is a Model 1824 from 1963 (Serial # 7148) It is ready for testing in December 2004. It can be seen below. As I said above I continually hear from owners raving about what this machine can do. At some point Wisconsin Marine sold the line to the Crary subsidiary of Echo. Under Crary the brand name became Bear-Cat and a number of machines were sold before production was suspended. As late as January 2008 the mothballed line surfaced as the Bear-Paw in a Canadian advertisement. The design & tooling were for sale along with all of the materials including engines and transmissions to build 50 new machines! You can learn a lot about it by viewing U.S. patent #2770894. Click here to learn about viewing patents. Part Leads I have a report that all of the parts are now with J.R. Products in Ontario, Canada along with parts to build about 60 new machines! Now if we can just figure out who J.R. is.... shades of Dallas! This would seem to be the circa 2008 Canadian seller. Still another lead says that "Sheel's Hardware in Fargo ND sold so many BobcaTs and the successor, Bear-Cat that they ended up with all the remaining parts when Bear-Cat went under. Most recently Steven Waite of Steve's Small Engine Repair Service, Poughkeepsie, N.Y has surfaced as a BobcaT enthusiast and seller of BobcaT parts. He is another resource to contact through his BobcaT Blog. If anyone has luck with these leads please get back to me with details so I can share the information with the BobcaT community. Part Notes: Blower Belt: The blower belt is not a common 3L (3/8 wide) V-belt. A 3L belt does not have the correct profile and is likely to roll over and get tossed from the pulleys. The correct profile is a 3V Narrow Section Wrapped V-Belt, commonly 53 inches long and sometimes run in pairs. The traction belts are (generally) common 4L, 1/2 inch wide belts. If you have your actual BobcaT model number you may find specific information here or contact Steven Waite mentioned above.

Rolba / Snowblast I first learned of this machine when I received a phone call from a gentleman who introduced himself as owning the "worlds largest walk behind snowblower" After a long talk he agreed to send some snapshots and to tell the story. Here is that story as written by Rob of Littleton, MA (USA). It's a 1958 Rolba System Model R-40, sold under the American Snowblast tag. There were a couple of different sizes, which one I got I'm not sure. It's got a 4 speed gearbox with wooden handles and clutches. There are 200 pounds of weights to put over the cutting edge. It's 8 feet to the crest of the chute and 14 feet when up all the way. It clears a path 48 inches wide and it's 5 feet to the top of the drift cutters. There is a steering wheel to turn the chute. In High and Low Cast it will throw up to 100 feet depending on the snow. The engine is a 35 horsepower Volkswagen industrial power unit. The light still works! The machine weighs about 2000 pounds and shadows my 8 horsepower Ariens. One other certain detail is that it was built before OSHA! Rob invites calls from interested parties at 978-742-4966.

Gilson not Gibson

As long as I've been involved with the Gilson Power equipment brand people have miss named it Gibson regularly. The common assumption was that it was all rooted in the Gibson line of home appliances. However I recently discovered that there is a closer root to be found in Gibson tractors as can be seen here.

I would also like to noted that the Gilson name has a long history in industry ranging from early internal combustion engines, to slide rules. A search on Ebay for "Gilson" will lead to many such items. Today the internet domain name gilson.com belongs to Gilson a scientific laboratory tool company