They are not brand conscious; Kent and Jane Elliott just like antique tractors of the different and the unusual. Their latest buy was a Massey-Harris 555 LP tractor that they recently purchased at Aumann Auctions’ Thanksgiving Day Auction.

Looking over the shed next to their lovely home, a visitor can see some amazing finds: a hi-crop International tractor once used in the sugar cane fields, a rare Minneapolis-Moline UOPN – which is a UDLX without a cab – and many more. They prefer tractors that may need a bit of work, but not a whole lot, because they don’t have a lot of extra time: The Elliotts own two manufacturing entities, New Century Performance and Rotary Ram, Inc.

Kent and his brothers grew up on a farmstead with a father who had a towboat-building business with 200 employees at the tender age of 23. Kenneth Elliott went on to invent a valve actuator that set the family up in business.

“Dad started his business in the basement farmhouse, then in 1959, built the first building for his manufacturing plant,” Kent said. “We made control valves, high pressure hydraulic valves, precision products that tie in with energy and natural gas pipelines.

“The device is an electric actuator, it was a fine product that founded our company. One of the selling points was that our product didn’t use much energy to operate it. Panhandle Eastern Pipeline purchased several thousand of them.”

The device is still at many of the compressor stations that Kent said is set at every 30 miles in the pipeline.

The small building where Kenneth began his business has expanded several times. While there have been several changes over the years, the family still keeps to the same principles that they began with more than 50 years ago. “I am still using Dad’s desk that he bought new in 1951,” Ken said.

One big change the company has seen came about in the 1960s when Kent followed his inventive father’s footsteps and created a declutching manual override that Rotary Ram now produces and the Ken Elliott Co. sells.

“Dad’s product got expensive to make and we couldn’t afford it anymore,” Kent said. “Now we sell gearboxes of my design that I started in the early Sixties. In 1972, we dropped Dad’s product line, but for 20 years after, we provided parts. My father was very inventive.”

When they switched from manufacturing one product to another, he said they made good use of the equipment they had before adding new. “I am always a big proponent of see what you’ve got, and use it to its fullest,” he added.

The development of Kent’s declutchable gear begins with steel that is cast, then ground. “We are in a business that has to be low-cost, but precision; that is our theory.”

Jane added, “We are a union shop.”

The Elliotts said clients won’t pay for a standard gearbox. “Ours is a declutchable gear like on sprinkler systems,” Kent said. “They operate to turn the water off and on and are used on an automatic system as a backup. Most automatic systems don’t have a backup, but for oil and gas or when you worry about flooding a building, you need that backup in case of failure.

“We need a valve box because humans can’t turn the valves off, because they are too big. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the declutchable gear will just sit there, but we think it is pretty important it works that 1 percent.”

Over the years the Elliotts estimate they have produced 100,000 or more declutchable gearboxes. “They may never be used, but are needed just in case,” Kent said. “When I invented these, I built them to the same specs and safety features as the manual actuators. Competitors made cheaper ones, and what kind a failure system is one that might fail when you need it?”

When the gearboxes were first built, he just called them 1Ms, 2Ms, et cetera. When competitors began copying the same numbering system, the Elliotts changed their system to “KE,” for Ken Elliott, to protect the name.

Value and precision is important to the Elliotts, who say their gearboxes are found in buildings and even in nuclear power plants. Their declutchable gearboxes have passed standards for companies that other manufacturers don’t usually pass. One example Kent used was Emerson Process, which stated that most products won’t pass their standards. Kent submitted one of their samples and they have been doing business with the company ever since.

“We make manual and declutchable actuators. We make 400 different parts of Emerson Process Management alone. We sell torque, a twisting force which is the ingredient needed to operate 90-degree turn valves,” he said.

The factory is located on the former farmstead and is a bit off the beaten path outside the Godfrey, Ill., main drag. “I grew up on a farm. Dad farmed and was also a pilot on towboats on the river,” Kent added.

Kent and Jane enjoy equipment, whether it is used to build their products or is the power behind the antique tractors they collect. Kent and his son, Gary – president of New Century Performance and vice president of Kent Elliott and Co. – also enjoy power and speed. In fact, the company they own with Lowell Bondenbach, New Century, fits right into their love of racing.

In a building near the Elliotts’ home, New Century offers engines and components for motor sports. They bought out Arias Engines and provide engines for drag racing, boat racing, pulling tractors and mud boggers. “We do have our engines in a number of NTPA (National Tractor Pullers Assoc.) pulling tractors,” Kent added.
Kent and Gary are both fans of the tractor-pulling sport. Their website www.newcenturyperformance.com shares, “The New Century Block is an excellent foundation for supercharged, turbo-charged, nitrous assisted or high horsepower normally aspirated engines. New Century Performance also offers gear drives, oil pans, valve covers and other accessories for these blocks and other Chevrolet-based engines.“

With their equipment background, it is easy to see why the Elliotts love machines, and they collect from a special perspective that shows in their antique tractors.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.