In 1919 Fox River Tractor Co. of Appleton, Wisconsin, was organized to build the 20-40 Fox tractor. About a dozen of the 4-cylinder machines, with a 5-1/2-inch by 7-1/2-inch bore and stroke, were built before the great agricultural depression of the early 1920s shut down the Fox Tractor Works permanently. It joined hundreds of other tractor-manufacturing companies all over the nation, ranging from the Iron Horse Sales Co., Los Angeles; Kardell Truck & Tractor Co., St. Louis; Minnesota Tractor Co., Minneapolis; Mobile Tractor Co., Mobile, Alabama; and Prairie Queen Tractor Mfg. Co., Temple, Texas. Every one of these went out of business permanently.
All went out of business except for Fox River Tractor Co., which began manufacturing other products. This was a boon to Nathan Brunner, who got his job in the Appleton plant in 1973, shortly after turning 20. “Our wedding was in six weeks, and I desperately needed a good-paying job, something that paid more than $2/hour. But long-term, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.
“Growing up, I never lived on a working farm but was exposed to farm life frequently. My dad owned 80 acres just outside our small town and had about 20 registered Herefords. I spent a lot of time there helping him with fencing, baling hay, and ‘holding the flashlight.’ Most of my friends were farm kids. In my mid-teens, I helped bale hay on a neighbor’s small family dairy farm. In my late teens, I drove a cattle truck for a small packing plant, picking up cattle and pigs from local farms. I understood a little bit of farm culture, the people, and their values.”
At Fox River, Nathan started off as a drill press operator in the machine shop. “I had a year of formal machine tool training, so I didn’t need much  additional training. Within two weeks, I was moved to three automatic chucking machines and joined a work partner in running them — at a significant upgrade in pay. Once each machine was set up, I fed parts into the machine, took them out when complete, and measured them for compliance with specifications. Sliding shields protected me from hot flying metal chips and coolant spray. Machine cycle times varied from 30 seconds to 15 minutes. Long cycles gave me a lot of time to think about what I was  going to do at the end of the workday. To be candid, much of the time, the work was brainless. But I didn’t dread going to work, as it was so much better than previous jobs. It was a respectable place to work. Friends and relatives didn’t pester me about the details of working at Fox, but they respected that I was  employed there.”
Before employment started, Nathan was provided a list of tools to purchase. “That included a machinist square, a measuring tape, a 6-inch scale, an adjustable wrench, slip-jaw pliers, a screwdriver, a ball-peen hammer, a toolbox, and a lock. Fox provided other specialized measurement tools and gauges.”
He said about a dozen people on each shift worked in machining on three manual turret lathes, six automatic chucking machines, a broach, a gear hob, two horizontal mills, and two drill presses.
“Finished products were made of a lot of stamped or formed steel, sheet metal components, bearings, and machined parts. My workstation machined lots of right-angle gear cases, bearing housings, and chain sprockets. We also machined the six-legged spider castings that retained and aligned the chopper blades. Each chopper got three spiders and six curved blades.”
Working on the automatic chucking machines wasn’t hard, he said. “Most of the parts were small, like a sprocket about the size of my hand with outstretched fingers. The cast iron gear cases were the size of a medium pumpkin, awkward, and a bit on the heavy side. Although we had a hoist, most of the time we didn’t use it. Getting the gear cases out of the raw parts basket, into the chuck, out of the chuck, then into the finished parts basket was the only strenuous activity. But it wasn’t that hard. I didn’t go home with sore muscles.”
The plant worked on a two-shift swing system, he said. “Most workdays were 9-1/2 hours with a half hour for lunch, 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. The only departments that didn’t work nights were shipping and receiving. Every other week I worked the day shift with intervening weeks on night shift. Night shift work paid a premium of a dime an hour. After each week of days, I had to work Saturday. After the night shift, the weekend was longer by five precious hours, and I really looked forward to them.”
There were seven pay grades in the plant, each with a UAW-negotiated pay rate. “Each job had an assigned grade, and those requiring more skill had a higher pay grade. In the machining department, each machine had a designated pay grade. I started out at level two on the drill press, then advanced to level five on the automatic chucking machines. Pay was based on a base rate plus incentive, often called ‘piece work.’ Each component to be machined was assigned a production target rate; for example, 13 pieces per hour. If I produced 13 pieces per hour at a base rate of $3/hour, I’d get paid 130 percent of base pay ($3.90/hour). If I produced only 10, $3/hour. 15 parts would pay 150 percent, or $4.50/hour. My work partner and I, as a team on three machines, would regularly hit 160 percent. On one particular chain sprocket, we hit 200 percent! I was averaging $4.85-$5 per hour, which was a lot of money for me. I had never earned more than $2 an hour, so I felt very lucky to have that job.”
However, there were some problems. “One time we were machining a steel gear case. I was putting a finished part in the basket, which was at the unguarded end of the machine. I was bending over, and I didn’t realize there were some really hot metal chips (about the size of a quarter) flying out. One of those critters went down the back of my pants and burned my backside. It really made  me jump!”
A bigger problem was noise, Nathan said. Â “Nobody wore hearing protection. Not offered, nor available. Glasses were required, but they didn’t have to be rated for impact. We never had side shields on our glasses either. The big emphasis was on foot safety — safety shoes were required. I believe the company paid for them.”
Another problem was the coolant. “It was 95 percent water with an additive that lubricated and cooled the cutting tool and work piece during cutting. The coolant was normally odorless, but if too many cast-iron chips accumulated in the machine’s bottom pan, it would smell foul after sitting a couple of days. It was sometimes a problem on Monday mornings, but always after a three- or four-day holiday weekend. The odor was like sewer gas. After 10 minutes of coolant pump operation, the odor dissipated, but those 10 minutes were highly unpleasant. The coolant was also tough on the stitching of my leather work boots. I think I went through two pairs of boots in 14 months in machining.
“When I moved to the automatic chucking machines, my work partner and I were responsible for three of them — two the size of a mid-sized car and one the size of a VW Beetle. Jim primarily performed machine setup, and I ran the machines, frequently two simultaneously. On rare occasions, we had all  three running.”
Nathan said that when new Detroit Diesel engines would come into the plant, they were stored along the aisle next to the paint bake oven, right across from his workstation. “There were always a dozen engines sitting there. When I had a long-cycle job, I’d go over and look at them, trying to understand the purpose of each component. During self-propelled harvester assembly, fork truck drivers moved engines to assembly. When each one started, it could be heard throughout the plant. Wow, they were loud!”
Nathan said he and one other guy were the same age and the youngest ones working in the machine shop. “Likely in the entire plant, but most workers were about 35 to 60-something. My partner was 37, and I  remember thinking he was ancient,” he said, laughing. “37 looks pretty good now, with my 72nd birthday on  the horizon.”
Nathan said while working in  machining, he never saw the finished product. “We weren’t allowed to move around the factory to see what was  going on in other departments. My workstation was in the corner of the shop, right near the exit of the paint bake oven, so I could see all the parts as they came out on the conveyors hooks. I saw a lot of orange parts, but it was still rare to see a finished machine. I didn’t understand where parts were going  until I worked in the assembly area.”
Working in the Assembly Area
“I worked in the machine shop for about 15 months. Since it was a UAW union shop with a seniority system, I got bumped to the assembly line when a former employee drafted to Vietnam returned and  was reinstated.”
While working in Assembly, a run of choppers was in process. “I don’t remember the model numbers, but I do know we assembled four or five  machines per shift. Nearly all of my assembly work was attaching sheet metal using a variety of common fasteners and pneumatic wrenches. For a day or two, I assembled the chopper blades to the spiders and set clearance to the cutting bar. It was dangerous work, and I could’ve easily lost parts of my fingers. Hazard pay premium applied to that task: 10 cents an hour.
“Assembly wasn’t a fast process,” he said. “The ‘assembly line’ consisted of four workstations. When each of us finished our assigned tasks, we’d manually push the machines 20 or 30 feet to the next station.”
Another machine he helped assemble was a salt-and-sand spreader. “The spreader was made to spread sand and salt on slippery roads. It was designed to mount in the back of a flatbed or dump truck. A conveying chain at the bottom of the V-shaped hopper moved salt and sand to the rear and a rotating disk spread it on the road. It’s controlled from the driver’s cabin. Those hoppers were monsters, likely 8 to 12 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 6 feet tall. I couldn’t see over the top. We had hoists for moving them. The only spreader parts requiring assembly were the conveying and spreading mechanisms. The hopper arrived at the start of the line with primer applied. The paint department wasn’t large enough to handle the spreaders, so the finish coat must have been applied after leaving  the plant.”
He was only in assembly for about six weeks. “Before Christmas, the rumor mill informed me I would be laid off. Late that Friday afternoon, the assembly foreman gave me a piece of paper informing me my service was no longer needed. At home that day, a letter from Fox thanked me for contributing to an all-time record for plant output. That day was troubling, ironic, and a little amusing. I didn’t know it then, but it was a blessing in disguise, as it opened a new chapter in my life. That was  mechanical engineering.”
Six weeks before resuming college, Fox called him back. “My last couple days at Fox, I was cutting out in the middle of the day to go to classes. It was a little surreal, spending part of the day in a plant and part in  a classroom.
“My experience at Fox taught me a lot, although I didn’t realize it while I was there. That manufacturing exposure was a basic building block for the next 44 years of an engineering career at three large manufacturing companies. I’ve always been thankful for that.” FC
Bill Vossler is a freelance writer and author of several books on antique farm tractors and toys. Contact him at Box 372, 400 Caroline Ln., Rockville, MN 56369; email: wdvossler@outlook.com.
