Case Steam Rollers, Scale Wood Bros. Engine, Geiser Mfg. Info: Readers Share

Enlarge Image Image Gallery A 40 HP Case steam road roller takes a break during its showing at the 2006 Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion, Rollag, Sept. 1-4, 2006. An article about Case steam rollers inspired readers to share their knowledge about the company's steam rollers.

Case Steam Road Roller Information

Regular contributor Robert T. Rhode (e-mail: case65@earthlink.net) and Raymond L. Drake (e-mail: raymond88@earthlink.net) write in this issue to share what they’ve learned about production data on Case steam rollers. Bob and Ray write:

We would like to compliment Bill Vossler on his fine article “A Tale of Two Steam Road Rollers” in the Winter 2007 issue of Steam Traction.

When we were doing our research for our book, Classic American Steamrollers 1871-1935 Photo Archive, we viewed as many extant rollers as possible and discovered major discrepancies between the known lists of production figures of Case steam rollers. All too often, we would find a Case roller, and, when we compared the serial number of this machine to several of the published production lists available, there was no correlation between the two.

For instance, we took the serial number of a known 40 HP Case roller, and, at the time we found it on one of the lists, we discovered that it was erroneously cataloged as a 40 HP traction engine. We are happy to inform fellow steam preservationists that at least one list has no inaccuracies that we were able to find, and it was first published by David Erb, former editor of Old Abe’s News. We recommend to steam aficionados trying to identify Case steam rollers that this is the list they should consider to be the final authority. See the production statistics in "Case Steam Roller Production," directly below this writing, which is a general overview of Case roller production figures from our book.

According to the figures, Case built 678 10-ton steam rollers and 29 12-ton rollers, for a combined total of 707 steam rollers.

We always enjoy hearing from other road roller enthusiasts, and we would like to encourage our fellow preservationists to contact us with any information they have and to ask any questions that may arise. We have found that many preservationists have in their collections photos of unknown or unidentified road rollers. We want to state that we are always happy to assist in identifying these machines.

Case Steam Roller Production

The first 10-ton Case steam roller was serial no. 15901, built in 1905. The first 12-ton roller appeared as serial no. 20649 in 1908. The 10-ton size proved most popular, as shown by annual production statistics: