HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association Thresher Reunion, 1987-09-09, Page 9THE CITIZEN. WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 9. /• 7. PAGE A-9
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Ontario’s last steam
tractor built by Huron
County company
The last steam engine made in Ontario at the Robert Beil Industries
plant in Seaforth leaves the Morris township shed in this old photo, on
its way to crush gravel in the township. William Shortreed was the
purchaser of the last engine.
incorporation, Robert Bell himself
succeeded M. Y. McLean as
president of the company.
Self-propelled steam traction
engines had become popular for
agricultural fieldwork, and Robert
Bell Industries needed them to fill
its orders, but had nobody on staff
with the time to design one. Mr.
Bell himself had always been a
keen admirer of the patented,
corrugated, self-cleaning wheels
on some of the model engines then
available, and this feature may
have been the reason for his
Continued on page 10
Our very best wishes to the
26th Annual
Thresher Reunion
iRpiiwiuhrr
•j
1
you are at the Thresher
Reunion to drop in
and visit us.
GIFTS FROM
THE PAST
& PRESENT
Take time to
IRemember
fflljen...
170DinsleySt W.
Blyth, Ont. NOM1H0
Tel. [519)523-9554
[West at hotel corner]
/i
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One of the most common names
around Ontario steam shows has
its roots in Huron County.
Seaforth’s oldest industry, Ro
bert Bell Industries Limited, is one
of only two industries in Ontario
still manufacturing firetube boil
ers, although since 1986, the
company has been operated under
the name Boilersmith Limited,
reflecting the name of the family
which has been at its helm since
1951.
Robert Bell Industries Limited,
however, still exists as a corpora
tion , and still owns the plant facility
in Seaforth, which it peases to
Boilersmith Ltd., where Charles
Smith has been president and
general manager since his father,
Brad Smith’s, death in 1983.
The founder of the Seaforth
industry, Robert Bell, was born
near Hensail in 1864. Close by was
a water-powered pioneer sawmill
which fostered the growing boy’s
liking for machinery, and enabled
him, while still a young lad, to build
a miniature sawmill of his own at
his father’s farm.
In the mid-1880’s, an attempt
was made to grow sugar cane in the
district, and young Robert’s first
business venture began in 1883,
when he and William Dougall
bought a small steam engine from
E. Leonard and Sons of London,
using it to operate a mill for
crushing the cane. The sugar cane
idea proved a failure, and Mr. Bell
moved the engine into the village of
Hensail, where he started a
general repair shop.
Although he was a very success
ful general mechanic, Mr. Bell was
particularly interested in the local
traction engines and separators
brought to his shop for repairs and
maintenance, and finally decided
to go into the manufacturing field.
He purchased a locomotive-type
steam boiler from George White
and Sons of London, and had John
Finlayson, an experienced Hensall
carpenter, help him design and
make patterns for a side-crank
engine to mount on the boiler.
The design proved successful,
and the first “Bell” steam traction
engine was completed and sold to
William Jarrettof nearby Hill’s
Green in time for the 1899
threshing season. It proved an
immediate success, and two more
were built and sold for the 1900
season, but more orders than the
small Hensall shop could handle
began to come in, and a new
location became an immediate
priority.
A suitable plant, complete with a
small foundry, was available in
Seaforth, so the move was made,
with the new business established
as the Bell and Finlayson Foundry.
Growth was phenomenal, and in
1903, the new company was
incorporated as the Robert Bell
Engine and Thresher Company
Limited. The first president of the
new company was M. Y. McLean,
grandfather of former publisher of
The Expositor, Seaforth’s weekly
newspaper, A. Y. McLean. The
latter Mr. McLean is now retired,
but still lives in Seaforth, and still
owns shares in Robert Bell In
dustries Limited. Shortly after
Always a good selection of fully-reconditioned •USED CARS AND TRUCKS
•GENERALREPAIRS. Class ‘A’ mechanics on staff.
HAMM’S
CAR SALES LTD.
BLYTH
Sales 523-4342
Service 523-9581
TODD’S BAKERY
BRUSSELS
887-6666