An excellent engraving of the Canton Monitor portable steam
engine, made by C. Aultman & Company at Canton, Ohio is used as
an illustration on a large sheet describing the firm, which we
found in a New York shop.
The sheet is apparently a page from an industrial encyclopedia,
an Album, which was used to advertise the products of many
different kinds of companies. Undoubtedly a reader can fill us in
on the Album. We have seen reproductions of other pages from it.
This one is an original.
Telling of the Canton Monitor, the Album says it is ‘cheaper
and better than any power operated by horses.’ It continues . .
.
‘Five sizes of these engines are made: 6, 8, 10, 12 and 16
horsepower; and no better engine of similar sizes, or designed for
similar purposes, was ever made. Primarily the Canton Monitor was
intended for a threshing machine, but it is really adapted to any
work requiring power within its limits.
‘It is a complete engine and boiler, and both boiler and
engine are of admirable construction. Mounted on truck, as shown,
it is very portable, or without the truck, it becomes a stationary
engine. It is complete in all its parts and attachments. It has a
steam gauge, glass water gauge, whistle, spring balance for safety
valve, locomotive blower, etc.’
The page shows other Aultman products a Buckeye table rake
reaper, a Buckeye self-binding harvester, a Buckeye mower, and a
Sweep states thresher and separator.
The company made various other pieces of equipment. Founded in
1851, it was succeeded by Aultman-Taylor Machinery Company, which
later became a part of Allis-Chalmers.
Jack Norbeck gives extensive Aultman coverage in his
‘Encyclopedia of American Steam Traction Engines,’ which
can be obtained from Stemgas, $20.70 postpaid.
A reprint of the Aultman-Taylor 1920 catalog is available from
Stemgas at $4.70 postpaid.
