Two, Count 'Em ...Two "Adams" Road Graders
From the recent road trip to Vancouver Island. JD Adams built the first "leaning wheel" grader in 1885. It was made primarily of wood and was pulled by horses or oxen for road building or maintenance duties. Not wanting to brag too much, it was named the" Little Wonder". The 1896 all steel/ 4 wheel version ( still pulled by hay-burners )stepped it up a bit and was heroically called "the Road King" The first self-propelled Adams road grader didn't appear until 1928. ( carefully waiting to see if this whole "internal combustion thing" was going to stick around. ) The JD Adams company was purchased by Le Tourneau-Westinghouse in 1955. They manufactured under the Adams name until 1960/61. The first Adams grader in today's selection wasn't even a struggle to find...it was right beside a major road...and just to make it easier, it was fenced in. ( insert "shooting fish in a barrel" remark here ) The second one was more ...