In 1930 two enterprising farm boys, Vern and Wilbur Schield, put together $1,000 to purchase a “good for nothing” 40 acres of land near Waverly, Iowa, and successfully quarried agricultural lime from it. Along with a 1909 Thew steam shovel, they ran a crushing plant Vern had built from odd parts, using the then-new technology of electric arc welding.
Vern began building his own truck-mounted dragline, again from scrap and miscellaneous pieces, in 1941. It was a success, and it drew such attention he began building 1/4-yard machines for farmers in early 1944, after arranging an allocation of the needed steel. Thirty-four machines had been sold by the end of 1945. In 1946, the Schield Bantam Co. was incorporated, and that same year a new manufacturing plant in Waverly began production with another 70 sold.
The successful M-47 and M-49 line of small excavators, for mounting on commercial trucks and military surplus vehicles, was offered from 1947 through 1952, when the 3/8-yard or 6-ton T35 replaced it. The crawler C35 followed in 1953, and the self-propelled CR35 in 1955; then came the more powerful 350 series in 1959.
The Schields sold out to Koehring Co. in 1963, after selling an estimated 11,000 Bantams. Koehring expanded the line into hydraulic cranes and excavators until discontinuance in the early 1990s, but Vern Schield’s legacy lives on in the Schield International Museum at 805 West Bremer Avenue in Waverly.
The Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) is a 501(c )3 nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of the construction, dredging and surface mining equipment industries. With over 3,500 members in a dozen countries, our activities include operation of National Construction Equipment Museum and archives in Bowling Green, Ohio; publication of a quarterly magazine, Equipment Echoes, from which this text is adapted, and hosting an annual working exhibition of restored construction equipment. Individual annual memberships are $45.00 within the U.S. and $65 elsewhere. Our next International Convention and Old Equipment Exposition will be held August 28-30, 2026, at Concordia, Kansas. We seek to develop relationships in the equipment manufacturing industry, and we offer a college scholarship for engineering students. Information is available at www.hcea.net, or by calling 419.352.5616 or e-mailing [email protected].
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About the Author
Tom Berry
Tom Berry is archivist for the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA). Information is available at www.hcea. net, or by calling 419.352.5616 or e-mailing [email protected].