A.D. Baker Engines 1927 Catalog

During its heyday, Baker built numerous steam traction engines,
most famously the 19-65, 21-75 and 23-90 HP Baker Uniflow engines,
all of which employed the famous Baker valve gear, which was also
used extensively on steam-powered railroad engines.

The engines shown here, a contractors engine (right) and a road
roller (above), were featured in the company’s 1927 catalog, along
with Baker’s developing line of gas-powered tractors. The future,
Baker knew, wasn’t with steam, but still the company didn’t seem
eager to abandon its roots by dropping steam engines altogether.
The road roller, which carried a 19-65 HP rating, is especially
interesting, as few have survived.

All Baker engines at this time used compensating and
intermediate gears with same-length hubs. In practical terms this
meant the gears could be swapped when wear became obvious, giving
the gears a new contact face. Ingenious but simple, this type of
engineering was a hallmark of Baker engines.

Other features on the road roller included concaved wheels, with
the rear rollers overlapping the front by 4 inches on each side and
a crown of 1-1/2 inches over the width of the rollers. Baker
claimed this made their road roller easier to steer on crowned
roads, and of course it also meant a Baker road roller would pack a
crown into any new surface it was preparing.

According to Robert T. Rhode and Judge Raymond L. Drake in
Classic American Steam Rollers, Baker built 157 10-ton
road rollers between 1909 and 1927. The best year was 1916, with 33
produced, while none were produced between 1920 and 1925, and only
two were made in 1926, and again in 1927.

This was the last annual catalog to feature the Baker road
roller, and a few years later, in 1929, Baker steam engines
appeared in the Baker catalog for the last time.

Baker continued in business manufacturing gas tractors,
threshers and other farm equipment until World War II, after which
the company quietly closed its doors.