Russell Rooter No. 5

tspisak - You're correct on all points. The Russell Grader Mfg Co was formed in 1903 by Richard Russell and C.K. Stockland, who had both been previously involved in road maintenance equipment.

Their first product was a successful, horse-drawn, elevating-type grader, and they went from strength to strength, producing a large line of well-respected road maintenance products, from graders, to wagons, scarifiers, cutting edges, road drags, wheel scrapers, drag scrapers, buck scrapers, road plows, corrugated metal culverts, steel beam bridges, gravel bins, conveyors (belt and bucket), screens (revolving and shaker), loading hoppers, self-loading buckets, crushers, and even a 45HP dragline (essentially an engine and winches mounted on a 4-wheel HD trailer, which was used to drag a cable bucket). Cat purchased Russell in Dec. 1928.

The Russell Road Plows and Rooters came in 10 models by 1923. There were 8 models of Road Plow and 2 models of Rooter.
The Rooter was essentially a HD ripper/scarifier, with a ripper/scarifier-style point .. as compared to the Road Plows, which were fitted with plowshares. The Rooters had a semi-steel frame for the #1, and a cast-steel frame for the "big daddy" #2. The larger Road Plows and Rooters had a steel frame, the lighter duty models had a wood frame.

The horse drawn plow or rooter/ripper is as old as dirt itself, and has been manufactured by many hundreds of manufacturers, in every country on Earth.
These Russell versions of rooters and rippers would likely have appeared in the period 1905-1910, as roads were being upgraded and installed for the rapidly increasing number of automobiles being produced.
The larger ones were designed to be pulled by horses, or tractors .. if tractors were available.
Tractors were relatively low in numbers prior to WW1, and it would have been a sight for a crowd of onlookers to gather, to watch a tractor pulling a road plow or rooter in the pre-WW1 era.

The #5 Road Plow is listed as weighing 200lbs, and was designed to be pulled by 4 or 6 horses. No tractor size is listed .. but as it's an all-steel plow, it likely could have been pulled by a small tractor.

What amazes me, is the brave men they must have rounded up, to hold onto the handles of a #2 Rooter, as it was being pulled through rock, shale or hard pavement, by a tractor.
All these plows are/were notorious, for picking up and throwing operators, if a rock or stump was hit, and if they held onto the handles too tightly, with stiff arms, at the same time .. 😞

It was common for operators to place down pressure on the handles to improve "bite" and alter the angle of attack. The operator would often have a stiff arm hold, to add his weight to the handles for control. If a stump or rock was hit at any speed, when in this position, the operator would get propelled over the handles .. 😞

The art of controlling them is a long-dead, "black art", I'm sure .. just like crankhandles on bigger gasoline engines, they need to be treated with great care and the correct approach .. 😊
Notice how the #2 Rooter has an adjustable "foot" on the front, to no doubt, control sudden movement, as well as depth control.

Here is an article on the Russell Grader Mfg Co .. http://www.constructionequipment.com/article/CA6397336.html?industryid=23403

.. and here is the 1923 Russell catalog page, showing the range of Road Plows and Rooters .. http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/2827/russellroadplowsax1.jpg

tspisak - You're correct on all points. The Russell Grader Mfg Co was formed in 1903 by Richard Russell and C.K. Stockland, who had both been previously involved in road maintenance equipment.

Their first product was a successful, horse-drawn, elevating-type grader, and they went from strength to strength, producing a large line of well-respected road maintenance products, from graders, to wagons, scarifiers, cutting edges, road drags, wheel scrapers, drag scrapers, buck scrapers, road plows, corrugated metal culverts, steel beam bridges, gravel bins, conveyors (belt and bucket), screens (revolving and shaker), loading hoppers, self-loading buckets, crushers, and even a 45HP dragline (essentially an engine and winches mounted on a 4-wheel HD trailer, which was used to drag a cable bucket). Cat purchased Russell in Dec. 1928.

The Russell Road Plows and Rooters came in 10 models by 1923. There were 8 models of Road Plow and 2 models of Rooter.
The Rooter was essentially a HD ripper/scarifier, with a ripper/scarifier-style point .. as compared to the Road Plows, which were fitted with plowshares. The Rooters had a semi-steel frame for the #1, and a cast-steel frame for the "big daddy" #2. The larger Road Plows and Rooters had a steel frame, the lighter duty models had a wood frame.

The horse drawn plow or rooter/ripper is as old as dirt itself, and has been manufactured by many hundreds of manufacturers, in every country on Earth.
These Russell versions of rooters and rippers would likely have appeared in the period 1905-1910, as roads were being upgraded and installed for the rapidly increasing number of automobiles being produced.
The larger ones were designed to be pulled by horses, or tractors .. if tractors were available.
Tractors were relatively low in numbers prior to WW1, and it would have been a sight for a crowd of onlookers to gather, to watch a tractor pulling a road plow or rooter in the pre-WW1 era.

The #5 Road Plow is listed as weighing 200lbs, and was designed to be pulled by 4 or 6 horses. No tractor size is listed .. but as it's an all-steel plow, it likely could have been pulled by a small tractor.

What amazes me, is the brave men they must have rounded up, to hold onto the handles of a #2 Rooter, as it was being pulled through rock, shale or hard pavement, by a tractor.
All these plows are/were notorious, for picking up and throwing operators, if a rock or stump was hit, and if they held onto the handles too tightly, with stiff arms, at the same time .. 😞

It was common for operators to place down pressure on the handles to improve "bite" and alter the angle of attack. The operator would often have a stiff arm hold, to add his weight to the handles for control. If a stump or rock was hit at any speed, when in this position, the operator would get propelled over the handles .. 😞

The art of controlling them is a long-dead, "black art", I'm sure .. just like crankhandles on bigger gasoline engines, they need to be treated with great care and the correct approach .. 😊
Notice how the #2 Rooter has an adjustable "foot" on the front, to no doubt, control sudden movement, as well as depth control.

Here is an article on the Russell Grader Mfg Co .. http://www.constructionequipment.com/article/CA6397336.html?industryid=23403

.. and here is the 1923 Russell catalog page, showing the range of Road Plows and Rooters .. http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/2827/russellroadplowsax1.jpg

Most companies in that time period used 'codewords' to prevent confusion when there were several similar items listed in a catalog. I also think that since a lot of messages were sent via telegraph, that using a one word code to describe an item, would represent a monetary savings since telegrams were charged by the number of words in the message.

I just took at look at the plow in the barn an it is a #2 Rooter. I attached a picture I took after we found it. I've had a lot of trouble just trying to move it around. I can't imaging having a large team of horses to manage too.

I'm guessing the local town highway department was using it and they just took it apart on the side of the road and abandoned it after someone got hurt. I found it under a few inches of dirt next to the original road that used to run thru my property.

Now I need to find the adjustable foot to complete my lawn ornament (unless someone want a 500lb plow shipped to them).

tspisak - That's a neat find, and you got lucky, discovering it's actually the "big daddy" #2 Rooter. An item with that amount of steel in it, would have been snapped up by the scrap dealers in the past, if they saw it. It's quite likely it's 100 yrs old, and it has avoided the scrap men ever since before WW2.

It's possible it got abandoned when a new tractor with a scarifier was purchased. I could imagine there would be a rush to abandon it, when it was seen how much easier and faster, a tractor and scarifier did the job that the Rooter had been doing.

Carl - Art has nailed the answer to your question, right on the head. Phones were low in number in the 1910's and 1920's .. telegraph was the common way of doing business .. and big words cost you when you sent anything by telegraph. There was a real art to the economy of wording with telegraph messages, and orders had to be abbreviated and concise.

I find it interesting that Russell state that "RH plows only can be furnished". I wonder how many requests they got for LH plows, that they had to indicate the non-availability of LH plows? One has to wonder at the reasons for requesting a LH plow?

tspisak - That's a neat find, and you got lucky, discovering it's actually the "big daddy" #2 Rooter. An item with that amount of steel in it, would have been snapped up by the scrap dealers in the past, if they saw it. It's quite likely it's 100 yrs old, and it has avoided the scrap men ever since before WW2.

It's possible it got abandoned when a new tractor with a scarifier was purchased. I could imagine there would be a rush to abandon it, when it was seen how much easier and faster, a tractor and scarifier did the job that the Rooter had been doing.

Carl - Art has nailed the answer to your question, right on the head. Phones were low in number in the 1910's and 1920's .. telegraph was the common way of doing business .. and big words cost you when you sent anything by telegraph. There was a real art to the economy of wording with telegraph messages, and orders had to be abbreviated and concise.

I find it interesting that Russell state that "RH plows only can be furnished". I wonder how many requests they got for LH plows, that they had to indicate the non-availability of LH plows? One has to wonder at the reasons for requesting a LH plow?

OZ-
Wouldn't one need a LH plow south of the equator?

😊
CS

Carl - Well, dang me .. I never thought of that. I can tell ya, it's hard to throw dirt to the right, when you've been driving on the left, all your life .. 😄