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Hello Everyone,
Well Summer is over and its time to rototill the garden residue in, split the fire wood, and sit back and watch some football. In some of the pre-1964 Frazer parts flyers I have, they show items not shown in later flyers. One being a special Magneto-Wheel Bolt wrench. 
Besides chains wheel weights were offered. 
There was also High-High gear for faster transporting around the field. 
One of the envelopes that contain these flyers even had a Frazer Rototiller as part of the postage metered stamp. 
There was also Direct Drive replacement hubs for the B-1-7A and B-1-7RA offered in the earliest parts catalog I have. 
This is the only place I've seen these hubs. The Inner Hub locks on to the transmission with a stud and the outer hub rotates with the axle. The Inner Hub has several seals to reduce leakage from the wheel seal areas. The Wheel Clutch Hubs are also made this way but the wheel flange disengages from the outer hub when the handlebar levers are squeezed. |  |
I've collected a lot of information on Rototiller Inc. and Graham-Paige/Frazer history but I still have some major holes in the story to fill. One question I'm looking for is how did C.W. Kelsey of Rototiller Inc. and Joe Frazer of Graham-Paige Motors came together to make the deal so G-P acquired the manufacturing rights to the Rototiller Inc. B-series Rototillers. Kelsey was an auto dealer and manufacturer in the twenties before starting Rototiller Inc. so that's a common link. The Graham Brothers were born and raised on the family farm in Indiana, which is still in business today. Graham-Paige Motors had also been in the agriculture tractor business before WWII selling the Graham-Bradley Model 503 tractor through the Sears, Roebuck and Co. stores. Agriculture is being another common link between the two firms. Despite statements in some tractor books and articles written in some magazines the B-series engines were not Swiss SIMAR made. Rototiller Inc. made their own engines Based on the same Lčon Dufour design of the 2-cycle engine. The next question would be then how did Joe Frazer of G-P and Larry Bell of Bell Aircraft come together? Bell Aircraft did not make gasoline-powered engines of any kind. G-P provided the design; Bell made the parts and assembled the engines and transmission, which is confirmed in "LARRY, a biography of Lawrence D. Bell". Now Rototiller, Inc., G-P, and Bell were Defense contractors during WWII a minor common link. Why York Pennsylvania? Harley-Davidson wasn't there yet. In 1949 Frazer Farm Equipment Co. started selling out to Mast-Foos Corp. of Auburn Indiana. The Auburn Indiana connection, when G-P stop automobile production at the beginning of WWII it sold its Graham parts business to Dallas Winslow who located it in Auburn. Winslow also sold Hupp automobile parts. The present Frazer Farm Equipment Corp. also sells Graham and Hupp automobile parts. ******** And A Reminder******** I visited the York County Heritage Trust Industrial & Agricultural Museum in York Pennsylvania, there I offered to find a Frazer Rototiller "Made in York" and donate it to the museum. If you have a "York Made" Rototiller that is complete, need not run but not a basket case and are interested in getting rid of it, please contact me. Also if you have extra copies of Frazer literature with the York name on it please contact them or me. 250 E. Market Street York, PA. 17403 717-848-1587 The Industrial & Agricultural Museum is located at: York, Pa. |