THE STEAM ENGINE COLLECTING OF GLEN J. BRUTUS
(Page 4 of 8)
January/February 2000
Dr. Robert T. Rhode
Charles also commented on a typical day of plowing with the big
Case engine: 'We had her hot at four o'clock in the morning
and shut her off at ten o'clock at night, and we had forty
acres plowed.'
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Charles explained to Glen that the 110 narrowly escaped the
junkman's torch. He had sold the engine to a junk dealer for
$250 during World War II, but the dealer demanded that Charles load
it on a flatcar. Glen remembered Charles's next remark: 'I
refused. That was the only thing that saved her.' Two other
110s in the same area were repossessed.
Glen did not purchase the engine directly from Charles Stannard.
First, Danny H. Roen of Comstock, Minnesota, bought the engine for
$450. In turn, he sold it to Justin Hingtgen of LaMotte, Iowa. The
engine passed inspection for 175 p.s.i. Justin put a new governor
on it and used it in a sawmill. J. R. Winters of Detroit, Michigan,
who owned the patent on the stamped-out rocker arm used on Green
Diamond International engines, offered to buy the 110 from Justin.
'Yeah, I'll sell it to you,' Justin said, 'but
you've got to furnish me power to run my sawmill.' Winters
replied, 'I've got a 110 skid engine plus $3,000.'
'It was in 1954 or '55 that Justin told me,
'You'd better get up there and get that bought,''
Glen recalled. Dutifully, Glen and his friend Gene Gephart took a
train to Detroit. Glen said, 'Winters's bookkeeper had told
me that Winters had over $3,000 'tied up in that engine.'
We met J. R. Winters at the factory on Sunday morning. The 110 was
sitting inside the factory building. Winters didn't know that I
knew about his economic difficulties. I offered him a thousand
dollars for the 110. 'I'll junk the s.o.b. before I'll
take a thousand dollars for it!' Winters yelled. He finally
simmered down. He said he'd sell it for $1,500. Somehow we
split the difference. I got it for a little more than a
thousand.'
Glen wanted to construct a cab for the 110. He kept sending
letters to the Case factory in Racine, Wisconsin, but received no
response. 'I wasn't getting anyplace,' Glen said,
'so I decided I was going to write to the president of the
company. Then things started moving!' Glen was put in touch
with the blueprint department, and he secured a copy of the 1912
prints for the 110's sheet-steel and wood contractor's
bunkers and cab. He also received a new smoke-box door for his 110
(as well as the ring and door for the 6 portable mentioned
earlier). When Glen learned that the Case president was scheduled
to speak at nearby Purdue University, Glen invited him 'to come
out to see the 110, but he wrote back that he was too
busy.'
After several years, Glen's restoration of the 110 Case was
complete. It towered proudly above the crowd at the 1973 Indiana
State Fair, where it performed with flawless perfection. Glen said
that the Kelly brothers from Pawnee, Oklahoma, drove to his place
once and returned with some parts for their 110 Case. On September
9, 1975, Glen sold his 110 to Lehart Frederich of Lake Elmo,
Minnesota. In 1992 at Rollag, Minnesota, Glen videotaped it and
several other 32 and 110 Casesin action at the 150-year anniversary
of the Case company. After Lehart Frederich passed away, the 110
which Glen had owned was sold to Dr. Roland Larter of Hallock,
Minnesota.
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