Root Cutter built in Yipslanti Mi by O. E. Thompson (from auction catalogue):
http://www.auctionzip.com/cgi-bin/auctionview.cgi?lid=1369177Oliver E. Thompson, born in Ypsilanti in 1838, was the son of a pioneering family. In 1865 he began to manufacture wagons and in 1870, the year after he moved into the Norris Block, he began to make carriages. In 1871 he began to sell Jackson wagons made by Tomlinson & Webster. In 1873 he started selling agricultural implements, some of his own invention, that were manufactured in the Norris Block such as root cutters, grass seeders, and kraut and slaw cutters. Thompson and his sons Benjamin, Edward, and John were also active in the business of house, sign, and carriage painting, and sold other items such as swings, wall-paper and bicycles. In one year, Thompson and Sons sold more than two hundred bicycles.
By 1900, Thompson & Sons employed about fifty men. Although they owned the building, their business interests rarely occupied more than the three bays as the south end of the building. The bays at the north end of the building were rented out for the use of other businesses. ref:
http://ypsigleanings.aadl.org/taxonomy/term/569?page=2They also made kraut and slaw cutters - smaller versions of the root cutter????
My grandfather, O.E. Thompson, my father, Benjamin Thompson, my uncle, Edward Thompson, and my uncle, John Thompson were very busy in the manufacturing of agricultural implements; root cutters, grass seeders, kraut and slaw cutters, and later, porch swings. They employed about 40 men. They also ran a retail business selling coal, building supplies, carriages and wagons, paint and wall paper-at one time sold over 200 bicycles in one year. They had the agency for the Nichols and Shepherd threshing engines that were made in Battle Creek. I recall that they had a crew of paper hangers and painters that were busy in the city in that line of work. ref:
http://ypsigleanings.aadl.org/taxonomy/term/543?page=4
