There are some great illustrations that accompanied this patent filed August 15, 1950, by Friedrich Schmidt on behalf of Auburn Machine Works.
According to the filing, “An object of this invention is to provide means for digging trenches particularly suitable for mounting on a conventional vehicle such as a truck or jeep without any substantial modification thereof and driven from the vehicle power take-01f. It is a related object to provide novel means coordinated with the digger portion of the device for enabling the vehicle to be advanced positively at a speed which is only a fraction of the normally obtainable minimum speed and with the engine operating at full rated R. P. M. I”
The detail in this illustration is amazing, the time it must of took to do this all manually, (pen & pencil)
then this has to be reviewed by someone in the patent office who is knowledgeable. No wonder it takes so long to get a patent.
I would have liked to see the patent agents face when this was presented. What a contraption!
It was a remarkable machine. My father Victor H Lunzman knew Fred’s son, Sterling D Schmidt and bought one of the first trenching machines built in Auburn NE. Dad did trenching jobs in NE and Dakotas and was paid 22 cents per foot of trench (same as hand-diggers). I worked with a 1960’s version of this jeep-mounted machine in the 1960’s in Ida Grove IA while working for Lunzman Trenching & Supply.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the additional bits of history. Do you know when those first ones were manufactured? Do you have an other anecdotes about the company or about using the machine?
Thanks,
– Dave
I have the Jeep-A-Trench Installation Instructions manual also the parts list book and newer parts price list books from 1976. I also have the Willys-Overland Universal Jeep Model CJ-3A owners manual from December 10, 1940. Is anybody interested in them? contact me
Dave
Somewhere on this site is a color postcard of the unit mounted in a Jeep in front of the Auburn factory.
I just saw it, perhaps in the postcard section, but can’t find it now.
Found it again..page Five of your postcard section, dated Dec 12, 2015.
http://www.ewillys.com/wp-content/uploads2/2015/12/jeep-a-trench-postcard-cj3b-1.jpg