UPDATE: Nate’s hoping to gather some Stratton-related information. So, I’ll be using this post to gather that info. If anyone has any more insights into this lift, email me at d@ewillys.com or post it directly to Nate’s thread on the earlyCJ-5.com page. Also, Clint Dixon and Barry Thomas have authored a five-part series of articles for the Dispatcher Magazine titled “The Making of the Farm Jeep”. The Fall of 2018 issue includes information on the Stratton Lift.
As early as 1949 Stratton Equipment out of Cleveland, Ohio, was marketing hydraulic products. One example was their truck lift, a hydraulic lift used for placing cargo onto truck beds. The lift is pictured at the top of page 146 in the October 1949 issue of Popular Mechanics. This was just one of multiple patents filed over the period of three decades (1940s-1970s) by Alfred F. Foote, product designs both jeep-related and non-jeep-related.
1) On July 27, 1960, Alfred F. Foote filed a patent for the Stratton Lift with the Stratton Equipment Company as the assignee. Due to the lack of information related to Stratton lifts, it was unclear to most when this product hit the market. Given the patent date, the lift likely entered the market in late 1960 or later.
As part of his patent, Foote references both the Monroe and the Love designs. The patent for the lift was granted on Feb. 26, 1963.
2) This Stratton brochure is currently on eBay (Nate has better scans of this brochure):
3) These are two mailers that I think someone sent me .. was it you Barry?
Probably from the early 1960s. Stratton applied for a patent on the lift in 1960 and it was awarded in 1963. It replaced the Monroe Lift that was discontinued around 1956. All of the major lifts (Love, Newgren, Monroe and Stratton) endorsed by Willys and subsequent owners would fit on any model jeep. So it is not uncommon to see a Stratton on a 3a or a Newgren on a 5a. But it makes it hard to look at an ad and date it from the jeep/lift combination.
Thanks Barry!
Dave,
I’ve done a lot more research on Stratton, but have little to show for it. Evan and I are waiting for a new farmjeep.com site to go live in the next week or so. I wrote, along with Clint Dixon, a series of articles on the “Jeep Approved” lifts, including the Stratton lift, for the Dispatcher magazine and I’ll be making them available online on the redesigned site.
I hope to work with Nate to gather more information. Thanks for posting this.
Barry
I’ll add a note about the articles. I forgot to mention it in the post.
I love to see any and all information about farm Jeeps…..brochures….equipment…..advertising…..research….keep up the great work. And of course…..I still follow local farm auctions in hopes of the holy grail…..a complete Willys 3pt. setup with a few implements in the scrap steel pile next to the tree line. Never give up hope !
Allan
my wife needs the Stratton lift for her … well , I have to clean the garage …
Greetings…
How much for the pto drum .
Frank
570 449-4239
Feel free to text