By most accounts, Curtis was the "dreamer" and "promoter" of the Baldwin brothers. While he would become the best known, his younger brothers became partners, and their roles were significant, if less visible. George was described by his daughter some years later as the brother who "could see in his mind the idea – know its workability." He, too, was a "designer," and took correspondence courses in drafting. Ernest was lower profile than either Curtis or George.
In 1910, Curtis Baldwin traveled to Wichita to unveil the "standing grain harvester" that he had designed and for which he filed a patent application.
The Wichita Eagle reported that the 2,500-pound thresher was constructed of steel and would allow farmers to "take harvesting to the field rather than transporting field crops to a thresher."
A stock company was organized in 1911 to raise money for the project. Banker L.C. Brown was president. Young Curt Baldwin hit the road across Oklahoma and Kansas to demonstrate his invention.
Baldwin's "Standing Grain Thresher" patent was approved in 1911. He and his brother George went to Canada for the wheat harvest that summer. Curtis returned to Nickerson a few months later to marry 23-year-old Ida Mae Van Sickle on December 10, 1911, in Wichita.
George Baldwin chose to remain in Canada with his own new wife, Kansan Mary Jane Sellers. They lived in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, where their daughter, Dorothy, was born in February of 1917.
In late July 1912, Reno county farmers, led by J.B. Cook as president, reorganized the company and secured additional patents on the machine in Canada and Argentina. A Wichita manufacturer was contracted to build the machines. Then, in November, the Hutchinson News reported that the Nickerson company had a contract with a Minnesota concern to "Re-Design the Machine invented by Reno County Farm Boy."
Of course, "farm boy" Curtis Baldwin was then 22 years old and married. He became a father on February 10, 1913 with the birth in Nickerson of their first child, Glenn Wilson Baldwin.
Publications across the country were taking note of the standing grain thresher patented by Curtis Baldwin. The Literary Digest even included a diagram (above) and summary of how it operated: "1. Revolving fan that blows air down a tube to 2, where it forces the grain heads against 3, the toothed cylinder; 4. auger that lifts the grain to 5, the rethresher; 6, the auger that lifts the grain to be dropt down tube at 7, where the chaff escapes, the grain being sacked at 8, and the chaff escaping at 9."
In July, C.B. Garten, a stockholder in the company set up to manufacture the standing grain thresher, told the Evening Kansan-Republican newspaper that the company "has never exploited the invention for the reason that the stockholders consider it imperfect in some particulars...three machines have been built, one each year since the first one was erected three years ago."
By the fall of 1913, it was apparent that plans to have the Minnesota company build the machine had faltered.
Baldwin announced that the Standing Grain Thresher would be built in Nickerson and he would oversee the operation. A newly-formed board included O. J. Windgate, Clarence "Cal" Stevens, and B.F. Griffin, among others. Griffin would serve as president, Windgate as treasurer, and Stevens – who would have a long relationship with the Baldwin brothers – as secretary.
Another year passed and not much progress was made.
Just before Christmas 1914, the Hutchinson News reported that Baldwin was again redesigning his machine, described as a "new model, a machine of small type."
Baldwin Manufacturing Company received its corporate charter and reported capitalization of $275,000. Within days, the company found a partner when the city of Sparta, Michigan, offered them 10 acres of land and a large modern building for a plant. Baldwin would also get $15,000 of equipment with the building. In exchange, the City of Sparta would received $25,000 worth of stock in the corporation, but the deal had to be voted upon by the citizens of Sparta.
Meanwhile, Baldwin continued to demonstrate his prototype machine.
On July 20, Baldwin received a telegram from Sparta that the bond issue had passed. The company received its first order from Carl Nelson of Potter, Nebraska, who had traveled to Nickerson to see the machine demonstrated. He was so impressed with it, wrote the Hutchinson News, "that he placed an order for a machine to be delivered the first of next June." The News subsequently reported that Baldwin Manufacturing had actually bought the factory building in Sparta and that the company would "manufacture tractors as well as the standing grain threshers."
Curtis and Ida Mae Baldwin's only daughter was born in May of 1915, but in less than a year – by early 1916 – the family moved from Nickerson to Sparta. Baldwin Manufacturing received a massive order for 1,950 standing grain threshers over a five-year period. But there was no news about actual production of the implement, which was again delayed – until February 1917. Finally, it was announced that three rail cars of the machines from Sparta would arrive in Hutchinson "the first of March." There is no evidence they ever arrived.
The only Baldwin "arrival" for the Curtis Baldwins was their second son, Elbert, born in Michigan September 17, 1917.
While the standing grain thresher had been viewed as a trailblazer in field harvesting, the Baldwin initiative faltered. The machine may have been well-designed and widely acclaimed, but it was an economic failure. Curtis Baldwin and his family were not long for Sparta. The struggling Baldwin Manufacturing Company in Sparta folded in 1918.
With the end of World War I, victorious doughboys were coming home to America. Curtis Baldwin and his family were headed back to Kansas.
After farming for seven years in Saskatchewan, George Baldwin's family returned to Kansas, too.
Following the demise of their standing grain thresher project, the Baldwin brothers regrouped and – with George Michaels and Cal Stevens – formed the Baldwin Brothers Company.
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| An illustration of how Baldwin's standing grain thresher operated (Literary Digest - March 1913) |
The Wichita Eagle reported that the 2,500-pound thresher was constructed of steel and would allow farmers to "take harvesting to the field rather than transporting field crops to a thresher."
A stock company was organized in 1911 to raise money for the project. Banker L.C. Brown was president. Young Curt Baldwin hit the road across Oklahoma and Kansas to demonstrate his invention.
Baldwin's "Standing Grain Thresher" patent was approved in 1911. He and his brother George went to Canada for the wheat harvest that summer. Curtis returned to Nickerson a few months later to marry 23-year-old Ida Mae Van Sickle on December 10, 1911, in Wichita.
George Baldwin chose to remain in Canada with his own new wife, Kansan Mary Jane Sellers. They lived in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, where their daughter, Dorothy, was born in February of 1917.
In late July 1912, Reno county farmers, led by J.B. Cook as president, reorganized the company and secured additional patents on the machine in Canada and Argentina. A Wichita manufacturer was contracted to build the machines. Then, in November, the Hutchinson News reported that the Nickerson company had a contract with a Minnesota concern to "Re-Design the Machine invented by Reno County Farm Boy."
Of course, "farm boy" Curtis Baldwin was then 22 years old and married. He became a father on February 10, 1913 with the birth in Nickerson of their first child, Glenn Wilson Baldwin.
Publications across the country were taking note of the standing grain thresher patented by Curtis Baldwin. The Literary Digest even included a diagram (above) and summary of how it operated: "1. Revolving fan that blows air down a tube to 2, where it forces the grain heads against 3, the toothed cylinder; 4. auger that lifts the grain to 5, the rethresher; 6, the auger that lifts the grain to be dropt down tube at 7, where the chaff escapes, the grain being sacked at 8, and the chaff escaping at 9."
In July, C.B. Garten, a stockholder in the company set up to manufacture the standing grain thresher, told the Evening Kansan-Republican newspaper that the company "has never exploited the invention for the reason that the stockholders consider it imperfect in some particulars...three machines have been built, one each year since the first one was erected three years ago."
By the fall of 1913, it was apparent that plans to have the Minnesota company build the machine had faltered.
Baldwin announced that the Standing Grain Thresher would be built in Nickerson and he would oversee the operation. A newly-formed board included O. J. Windgate, Clarence "Cal" Stevens, and B.F. Griffin, among others. Griffin would serve as president, Windgate as treasurer, and Stevens – who would have a long relationship with the Baldwin brothers – as secretary.
Another year passed and not much progress was made.
Just before Christmas 1914, the Hutchinson News reported that Baldwin was again redesigning his machine, described as a "new model, a machine of small type."
 |
| Advertisement in the Hutchinson News - July 12, 1915 |
Baldwin Manufacturing Company received its corporate charter and reported capitalization of $275,000. Within days, the company found a partner when the city of Sparta, Michigan, offered them 10 acres of land and a large modern building for a plant. Baldwin would also get $15,000 of equipment with the building. In exchange, the City of Sparta would received $25,000 worth of stock in the corporation, but the deal had to be voted upon by the citizens of Sparta.
Meanwhile, Baldwin continued to demonstrate his prototype machine.
On July 20, Baldwin received a telegram from Sparta that the bond issue had passed. The company received its first order from Carl Nelson of Potter, Nebraska, who had traveled to Nickerson to see the machine demonstrated. He was so impressed with it, wrote the Hutchinson News, "that he placed an order for a machine to be delivered the first of next June." The News subsequently reported that Baldwin Manufacturing had actually bought the factory building in Sparta and that the company would "manufacture tractors as well as the standing grain threshers."
Curtis and Ida Mae Baldwin's only daughter was born in May of 1915, but in less than a year – by early 1916 – the family moved from Nickerson to Sparta. Baldwin Manufacturing received a massive order for 1,950 standing grain threshers over a five-year period. But there was no news about actual production of the implement, which was again delayed – until February 1917. Finally, it was announced that three rail cars of the machines from Sparta would arrive in Hutchinson "the first of March." There is no evidence they ever arrived.
The only Baldwin "arrival" for the Curtis Baldwins was their second son, Elbert, born in Michigan September 17, 1917.
While the standing grain thresher had been viewed as a trailblazer in field harvesting, the Baldwin initiative faltered. The machine may have been well-designed and widely acclaimed, but it was an economic failure. Curtis Baldwin and his family were not long for Sparta. The struggling Baldwin Manufacturing Company in Sparta folded in 1918.
With the end of World War I, victorious doughboys were coming home to America. Curtis Baldwin and his family were headed back to Kansas.
After farming for seven years in Saskatchewan, George Baldwin's family returned to Kansas, too.
Following the demise of their standing grain thresher project, the Baldwin brothers regrouped and – with George Michaels and Cal Stevens – formed the Baldwin Brothers Company.
