H. G. “Pat” Murphy, (a cousin of Colonel Wiman) was the branch manager of the Portland, Oregon branch. Ben Keator his sale manger could see a need for a tractor with tracks in order to stay in competition with Caterpillar. They told Jesse (Pronounced JESS) that they could get a new Model “BO” orchard chassis and would he design it to take tracks? Upon receiving the chassis, it took about a year to complete the first Model BO Crawler Tractor. It was field tested at the Congdon Orchards in Yakima, where, unfortunately, the orchard was mostly flat ground. They started the first production of crawler.
The only instructions that went with the Lindeman Crawler other then the owners book that came with the BO Chassis was a shipping tag with typed instruction.
The dealer, “Interstate Tractor” that had bought some of the crawlers had put together an instruction manual for their customers. These were the only owners manuals that were ever sent out, other then the two pages that were in the parts book.
I believe that the above photos were of the first run of Lindemans built. They all have fabricated undercarriages like the ones on the GPO model rather then formed side plates, the tracks are all cast type rather then the turtle back type, plus the drive sprockets only have one bolt to pinch it against the drive shaft.
Very nice archives!
Thanks John, just trying to keep their history alive.