Copper Hopper: Crabb Gas Engine Co. — A History

It happened in West Union, Iowa. Just two blocks from the city square and courthouse, on Union Street. The unique, copper hoppered Crabb engine was created in 1909. After standing outside all winter in freezing cold, it was announced to the world. Finally, a solution had been invented that would prevent damage to engines from freezing water!  Isaiah Crabb, an experienced sawyer, had bought an established sawmill business in West Union a year earlier. Newly married, and wanting to bolster his income, he took on the agency for three makers of cars and went into the automobile repairing business.  Then Isaiah hit upon an idea that he believed would revolutionize the booming market for power on farms. This was in a time before electricity had come to farms, so power was provided by single cylinder gasoline engines. Farms needed power to run their equipment all throughout the year. Engines used water to keep them cool, but if left in the engine when not in use, the water would freeze and br