Meinrad Rumely was born in Baden, Germany in 1823. He left Germany in 1848 after being pistol whipped in the German army because he wasn't standing right in line for inspection.
He & his brother Jacob set up a blacksmith shop & foundry in LaPorte, Indiana. Meinrad & Jacob formed the M. & J. Rumely Co. in 1853. In 1859 the Rumely separator won 1st prize at the U.S. Fair in Chicago
He had met Rudolf Diesel while he was there and was impressed by the potential of his engine.
On this side of the pond John Secor had also been developing an engine that could burn cheap fuels and in 1908 Dr. Rumely recruited his services. Assisted by the Rumely factory superintendent, William Higgins, he designed the first Oil Pull tractor in 1909. By the end of 1910 more than a hundred had been manufactured.
It is said that when he returned from Germany, he founded the Interlaken School at La Porte, the school where boys did all their own work, from carpentry up.
Rumely married one of the teachers at Interlaken, which closed in 1918 due to anti-German sentiments associated with World War I.
Early production models like the Type B 25-45 Oil Pull were large, heavy and expensive but they were well received and Rumely sold a lot of them. As it turned out Rumely sold too many of them ( most on credit sales ) and a crop failure in 1914 sent the company into bankruptcy when farmers defaulted on their loans. The company was soon reorganized but without the Rumely family who were left holding a lot of worthless paper.
The Rumely company merged with the Advance Thresher Co. in 1911 to form the Advance Rumely Co. (the name didn't actually change until 1915). The company then made tractors in heavy weights, light weights, and super light weights until June 1, 1931 when Allis-Chalmers bought the company out.
Rumely married one of the teachers at Interlaken, which closed in 1918 due to anti-German sentiments associated with World War I.
Isamu Noguchi (one of my favorites) was one of the last students to enroll at Interlaken before it closed.
Roosevelt contributed one, and possibly many more, editorials on the subject of the development of the American merchant marine. Two other critics who wrote articles for the paper were Samuel Sidney McClure and H.L. Mencken. (if you know of Mencken, you understand how important he was at the time)
Rumely's ownership caused him to be part of three major court cases, mostly due to perjury, and in July 1918 Rumely was arrested and convicted of violation of the Trading with the Enemy Act.
To get financing for the purchase of the newspaper Rumely was accused of receiving financing from the German government, which Rumely denied, claiming, instead, he had received money to buy the paper from an American citizen in Germany. He had failed to report this when he received the money.
President Coolidge granted him a presidential pardon in 1925
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