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1953 Patent for Gun Aiming Mechanism

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

C.W. Musser filed a patent for a “Gun Aiming Mechanism with associate trigger release mechanism and supporting mount” on February 24, 1953. This illustration with the gun on a jeep accompanied the patent.

“Fig. 1 is a side view of my gun aiming mechanism and associated trigger release mechanism with supporting mount shown in heavy solid line. For purposes of illustration the aiming and trigger release mechanisms are applied to a typical, large caliber recoilless rifle and its attached spotting rifle (both shown in light solid line), and the supporting mount is secured to a representative motor vehicle which takes the form of the jeep (also shown in light solid line). For simplicity of drawing the customary sighting system for the guns has not been shown.”

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1950 Mechanical Bola Patent

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

A patent for a Mechanical Bola was patented on September 23, 1952, by B.D. Manning with the purpose of helping a single person rope and manage cattle. The drawing reminds me of the early modified Texas hunting jeeps like this one.

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“A peculiar trait of such cattle is their curiosity with respect to motor vehicles. They soon become accustomed to jeeps, for example, and will come up to examine one, particularly if the motor is running. One can drive right up to a bunch of cattle in a jeep, without any of them taking the trouble to move, so long as the driverstays in the car.

With the device of my invention attached to aj eep or other auto vehicle, it is a simple matter to capture a single animal without waste of time, or if it becomes necessary to inspect or treat a large number of cattle for Screw-Worm or other disease, this may be done expeditiously, for if the rest runoff at the casting of one animal curiosity brings them back shortly if the driver moves his vehicle about a bit.”

 

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1959 Patent for a Portable Reeling Device

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

The patent for this portable reeling device was filed on December 25, 1962. It isn’t just for a jeep, but a jeep-like vehicle is shown and referenced. I’ve never seen any evidence this was ever manufactured; anyone else?

 

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From the patent, “Now with more particular reference to the drawing, FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4 show an embodiment of the invention with a jeep as the means to drive a power driven communication wire reel 16. The communication wire is retrieved and wound onto the communication wire reel 16 by activating outwardly an adjustable speed disk 31 with a clutch lever 20. The power to perform this function is derived from a power take-off 38 from the engine.

Persons familiar with jeeps of the military variety know that such jeeps have a transmission which connects the motor to two shafts which are connected in parallel. One of the shafts drives the ground engaging wheels of the vehicle while the other shaft is connected to a power take-off. This power take-01f may be used to drive a hydraulic system or other attachment. In this case, the power take-off 38 is connected to the shaft 37 and thence to a universal joint 36 and, from there, to the clutch for driving the reel. A pressure spring 35 is held in place and away from a spinning friction power disk 33 by means of a bearing 34 which is fixed to the friction power disk 33. The constant pressure which is exerted on the bearing 34 forces the friction power disk 33 outwardly and against the adjustable speed disk 31. By moving the clutch lever 20 to the left, a pivot 40 in a clutch lever support plate 22 will force lever lugs 39 to the right.”

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Liftmobile Patent

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This Liftmobile patent was filed by Schultz Kurt-Gunnar on January 16, 1960. This seems to be the only patent related to the jeep that he filed. I can find no evidence that this

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According to the patent, “The present invention aims at providing an improved elevator-type motor truck or liftmobile, repowered, equipped and counterbalanced for faster transportation of the load under care, to more distant places, even off the road, where they may be urgently needed under adverse conditions, as after accidents, during strikes, rebellions, forest fires, etc.

More particularly, the present invention aims at adapting a motor vehicle or truck, for example, a commercially available vehicle such as a Jeep, by appropriate modification and reconstruction thereof to quickly pick up the load at a depot from the ground or from a lorrys platform, for instance, canned food and refreshments, packed in boxes, first-aid material, barbed wire spools, bundled on pallets, and various other auxiliary and protective articles, to expeditiously travel with the load at the usual convoy speed, about 25-30 m.p.h., even over rough ground and in roadless country, and to promptly deposit the load in dangerous places under fire from rebels, at dark, by dumping, i.e., without necessity of stopping the vehicle for purposes of unloading.”

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Auburn Machine Works Trencher Patent

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: , This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

There are some great illustrations that accompanied this patent filed August 15, 1950, by Friedrich Schmidt on behalf of Auburn Machine Works.

According to the filing, “An object of this invention is to provide means for digging trenches particularly suitable for mounting on a conventional vehicle such as a truck or jeep without any substantial modification thereof and driven from the vehicle power take-01f. It is a related object to provide novel means coordinated with the digger portion of the device for enabling the vehicle to be advanced positively at a speed which is only a fraction of the normally obtainable minimum speed and with the engine operating at full rated R. P. M. I”

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1941 Willys-Overland Dual-Drive Patent

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Delmar Roos invented and Willys Overland patented this dual-driving-axle suspension on November 27, 1941.

According to the patent, “‘This invention relates to spring suspension for motor vehicles, and more particularly to vehicles of heavy duty or commercial type wherein the four rear wheels are mounted on tandem driving axles.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide means of mounting or connecting the axles to the chassis frame in such a manner so as to permit independentl vertical movement of the axles with respect to the frame without setting up undue strains in the connecting means, or materially restricting the vflexibility of the springs as the vehicle travels upon rough or uneven road surfaces or terrain.

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All-purpose-Farm Implement

• CATEGORIES: Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

This “Frangible Frame All-Purpose-Farm Implement 2” was filed by Albert H. Stockmar on September 5, 1945.

According to the patent, “The principal object of the present invention is to provide a composite agricultural machine which is capable in a single operation of performing a plurality of related functions such as cutting sta ks. listing beds, leveling beds, planting seed and placing fertilizer.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a composite agricultural machine of the type described wherein the supporting frame is constructed substantially entirely of welded metal tubing which may be relatively inexpensively produced and which will require a minimum of maintenance attention in operation.”

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FC-170 Power Hoe Patent

• CATEGORIES: Artists/Drawings, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

I had this post all completed, then went to add some background information when I discovered that Craig had already added the first page of the patent to his post about the FC-170 Power Hoe. So, lots of heavy lifting in terms of content can be found here, while below you can view the whole patent. I think the illustrations are pretty neat.

Craigs FC-170 Power Hoe page: http://www.thefcconnection.com/Historical%20Literature/Custom%20Built%20Vehicles/The%20Lafian%20Powerhoe/FCaaca/FCaaca.pdf

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Jeep-A-Loader

• CATEGORIES: CJ-2A, CJ-3A, Features, Unusual • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: This is the original patent for the Jeep-a-Loader! The application was first filed on February 07, 1955, by the Minneapolis Freeman Mfg, Co. (Out of Minneapolis??). I am guessing that the Jeep-A-Loader Corporation was a subsidiary or offshoot from the above parent company. The drawing shows that the Jeep-A-Loader was designed to fit over a CJ-3B (perhaps a CJ-5 as well), though the only one I’ve seen documented is fitted on a CJ-3A.

The filing date likely means this was manufactured around 1955, plus or minus a year. The patent was granted February 11, 1958.

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This photo is from 2009:

From June 2008:  A reader named Ed sent me some pics of a rare find he just purchased:  A front end loader for a jeep from a manufacturer called Jeep-a-Loader.   The serial number is 1001. The hydraulics system is powered by a Hy-lo hydraulic pump, which has been used to power other Willys devices.  You can see an example of a Hy-lo pump here and here.  Here are some pics below.

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Stratton Hydro-Implement Lift Information

• CATEGORIES: Advertising & Brochures, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

UPDATE: Nate’s hoping to gather some Stratton-related information. So, I’ll be using this post to gather that info. If anyone has any more insights into this lift, email me at d@ewillys.com or post it directly to Nate’s thread on the earlyCJ-5.com page.  Also, Clint Dixon and Barry Thomas have authored a five-part series of articles for the Dispatcher Magazine titled “The Making of the Farm Jeep”. The Fall of 2018 issue includes information on the Stratton Lift. 

As early as 1949 Stratton Equipment out of Cleveland, Ohio, was marketing hydraulic products. One example was their truck lift, a hydraulic lift used for placing cargo onto truck beds. The lift is pictured at the top of page 146 in the October 1949 issue of Popular Mechanics. This was just one of multiple patents filed over the period of three decades (1940s-1970s) by Alfred F. Foote, product designs both jeep-related and non-jeep-related.

1) On July 27, 1960, Alfred F. Foote filed a patent for the Stratton Lift with the Stratton Equipment Company as the assignee. Due to the lack of information related to Stratton lifts, it was unclear to most when this product hit the market. Given the patent date, the lift likely entered the market in late 1960 or later.

As part of his patent, Foote references both the Monroe and the Love designs. The patent for the lift was granted on Feb. 26, 1963.

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2) This Stratton brochure is currently on eBay (Nate has better scans of this brochure):

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3) These are two mailers that I think someone sent me .. was it you Barry?  Continue reading

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