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Let's Talk Rusty Iron
The Fate-Root-Heath Company: Not Just Silver Kings
By Sam Moore
In the March issue of Farm Collector was a letter from Bryan McKillip asking about a hand-cranked corn sheller he recently bought. Bryan wrote that the sheller was built by the Root & Heath Manufacturing Company of Plymouth, Ohio, and asked for information about the firm and its products.
The Root Brothers Company was founded by Clayton F. and George A. Root in Medina, Ohio, to manufacture and sell such items as shoe repair kits and horse harnesses. The business grew and ran out of space at the Medina facility. The Root brothers were buying castings from a foundry in Plymouth, a small town in north central Ohio, and heard of a two-story brick building that was standing empty near the foundry. The village of Plymouth offered the building to the Root brothers as an inducement to move their operation to Plymouth.
George A. Root opted not to make the move, selling his share to Charles E. Heath, who had married Clayton Root's daughter. The move was made in 1895, and in 1904, the Root Brothers Co. became the Root-Heath Manufacturing Company, and began building hardware items such as corn shelters, grist mills and lawn mower sharpening machines, in addition to the cobbler's tools.
The Bigelow Clay Company of New London, Ohio, used mules to pull mine cars around its property. The owner was weary of the trouble and expense of the stubborn beasts, and asked the Fate people if they could build a gasoline-powered substitute. Fate engineers designed a small rail engine using the same motor and transmission as the Plymouth trucks. The little engine was successful, and in 1912, the J.D. Fate Company began building small gasoline-powered yard locomotives, a product that became so popular that the truck and bus line was dropped in 1915, after less than 200 had been built.
John A. Root then married a sister of the Fate boys, and in 1919, the companies were married as well, resulting in the Fate-Root-Heath Company. After the merger, the company embarked on an extensive building expansion program that included a 300 hp gas engine to provide power for the plant. The industrial locomotive line was enlarged, and models up to 120 tons were built. The F-R-H ceramic machinery, used by pottery, artware, electrical insulator and brick and tile indus tries, was quite successful until the widespread use of plastics cut deeply into this business. Ideal and Peerless sharpening machines for reel-type lawn mowers were another important product until rotary mowers became popular.
The firm prospered during the "Roaring '20s", but fell on hard times when demand for locomotives dropped off during the Great Depression. General manager Charles Heath decided that a good way to keep the factory operating was to build a small, light-weight tractor for farms of 60 acres or less, most of which still used a team of horses for power. The new tractor was introduced in 1933, and had a Hercules engine, and optional steel wheels. The little Plymouth tractor weighed 2,100 pounds, could pull a 14-inch one-bottom plow, and was painted silver with blue wheels. The word "Plymouth" was prominently cast into the vertical divider down the center of the V-shaped radiator.
Not long after the Plymouth tractor appeared, Chrysler-Plymouth dealers started getting people in their show rooms wanting to buy a tractor. Walter Chrysler's legal department swung into action, claiming ownership of the Plymouth name, which they had used on their low priced cars since 1928. That is when the broken-down car finally earned its keep. It proved that Fate-Root-Heath had built a Plymouth car long before the Chrysler Corporation was even a gleam in Chrysler's eye. However, F-R-H sold the rights to the Plymouth name to Chrysler (reportedly for about $1.00) and cast about for a new name for their tractor. Because of the silver color, and because F-R-H felt their machine was "The King" of tractors, 'Silver King' became the new name cast into the radiator divider.
Now, back to corn shellers. A catalog issued by the Fate-Root-Heath Company shortly after the 1919 merger lists four hand corn shellers. The top of the line was the R-H model, which was finished in red and gold, and had a capacity of 14 to 16 bushels per hour (I'm sure these advertised capacities had much more to do with the strength of the farmer's back and arm than with the design of the machine.). Next was the black-painted Neverfail that could shell 10 to 14 bushels each hour. Both shellers were available with or without a butting and tipping attachment. Less expensive, and lighter duty models, were the Little Giant and the Gem shellers, both of which were advertised as being capable of eight bushels per hour. A popcorn attachment was available for the Gem, while the Little Giant could be equipped with the popcorn and the butting-and-tipping attachments. No colors are listed in the catalog for the latter two shellers.
All the shellers had provisions for mounting on the edge of a wooden box or barrel. The shelled corn fell into the container, while the cobs were dropped outside. Robert Rauhauser, a keen collector of corn items, told me that at some time, F-R-H also sold a hand sheller called the Plymouth Rock, but these are seldom seen. According to Mr. Rauhauser's collection of Farm Implement News Buyers' Guides, F-R-H stopped selling corn shellers about 1924.