Legends of Pine Village, Indiana: Arba Brutus and His Pickup Baler

In 1929, the renowned photographer J. C. Allen, who often snapped pictures on the Arba Brutus property just east of Pine Village, Indiana, made a special trip to capture on film Arba’s recent invention. I told the story of that memorable occasion in my article entitled “The Steam Engine Collecting of Glen J. Brutus,” published in The Iron-Men Album Magazine, Volume 54, Number 3, for January and February of 2000.

Arba Brutus’ Pickup Baler in 1929

Photograph Courtesy J. C. Allen & Son, Inc.

“According to Purdue University,” Glen said, “my father [Arba] was the first man in the United States to successfully bale hay out of the windrow.”

Agricultural historians generally agree that Ray Moore McDonald developed the world’s first successful commercially produced pickup baler—the Ann Arbor baler—in 1929. As with most claims for “firsts” in history, there can be similar inventions in separate locations at virtually the same time. Brutus’ invention may well have predated McDonald’s, but the Ann Arbor baler went into factory production prior to Arba’s machine. More in a moment on how Arba’s pickup baler made its way to the market!

In the Allen photo, Don Gephart is on the baler, and John Cooper is on the tractor. (In 1955, the photograph was reproduced on page 142 of Farming Comes of Age: The Remarkable Photographs of J. C. Allen & Son, published by Farm Progress Companies and Harmony House.) The camera faced the southwest toward Pine Village from the road that today is designated as N 450 E. When my family moved in 1968 to a farm not far from the Brutus farm, I often drove past the field seen in the Allen image.  

Arba Brutus “took the baler to the hay instead of bringing the hay to the baler.” Arba placed a Model T Ford engine in the center of his new machine. “I went with my father to Indianapolis to have sprockets made for an over-running clutch,” Glen remembered.

In the 1930s, Glen met a representative of the Case Company of Racine, Wisconsin, who came to watch Arba’s invention. The Case man studied Arba’s machine carefully. If the Brutus baler worked as well as rumor had it, Case intended to put a similar implement on the market. Indeed, Case soon was marketing a pickup baler—and Glen was developing a fascination for Case equipment.

 “You had to be a good judge of the moisture content in the hay before you could bale hay straight from the windrow,” Glen commented. “That was a new thing to have to consider and learn.”

Be sure to see Pictures from the Farm: An Album of Family Farm Memories at http://wildindiana.com/a/j-c-allen-sons-more-than-just-farm-photos/. You can find Farming Comes of Age: The Remarkable Photographs of J. C. Allen & Son and Farming once Upon a Time: More Remarkable Photographs of J. C. Allen & Son on Amazon.

Photo courtesy J. C. Allen & Son, Inc., West Lafayette, Indiana 47906

Legends of Pine Village, Indiana: Lee N. Brutus, Pilot

During the exhilarating years in Pine Village, Indiana, at the beginning of the 1900s, inventor Lee N. Brutus (1895–1998) became fascinated with flying. He served as an army pilot during World War I (yes, the first world war). Later, he became executive vice president of Waco Aircraft in Troy, Ohio, and, still later, president of Luscombe Airplane Corporation in Trenton, New Jersey. In 1947, Brutus served as Pacific Coast sales representative for the Nylok Nut Corporation of New York. As may be seen in the dates that I have provided, Lee lived longer than a century. He once told my father, Joseph C. Rhode (1918–1999), his WWI flight training involved taking off and flying until he had used half his fuel before returning to his point of origin by recognizing landmarks along the way.

Lee N. Brutus' Biplane Beside Charley Cobb's Barn in Pine Village, Indiana

Lee was one of three sons born to John Brutus and Rosetta Belle Belew. Lee’s brothers were Arba and Glenn H Brutus. Lee married Geraldine Broadie. The couple had no children. (Lee’s brother Arba will figure prominently in this series of blogs, for Arba invented a machine deserving of attention and comment.)

Despite assertions that Waco began in May or June of 1929, Waco may have formed as early as 1928. Lee was with the firm from its start. Waco grew from the Weaver Aircraft Company, which changed its name to the Advance Aircraft Company before becoming Waco, which was an acronym derived from Weaver Aircraft Co.

I remember seeing Lee at the Methodist Church when he visited his family in Pine Village. My recollection is of a distinguished gentleman who was soft-spoken. 

It must have been a stirring sight in 1922 to see Lee land a biplane in the pasture beside the barn on the land that my father eventually farmed across from the school. Tom Cobb first owned the farm. Then his son, Charley, owned it. Charley’s widow, Margaret, came into possession of it. Finally, my father owned it. At the time that the biplane was the center of attention, the land was in Charley’s name. Charley was fascinated with machines and undoubtedly took a keen interest in Lee’s aircraft. Charley ran steam engines, including a Reeves, a Huber, and a Gaar–Scott, and he assembled his own gasoline tractor from a hit and miss engine. I can only imagine what his conversation with Lee must have been like when Lee brought his plane to Charley’s farm.

The early decades of the 1900s were indeed heady times in Pine Village!