20: JOLIET OIL TRACTOR CO BATES MULE ADVERTISING FOB

Nice die-stamped shaped medallion, reads 'The Bates Steel Mule, made by Joliet Oil Tractor Company, Joliet, Ill, U.S.A.' Mounted on a black ribbon.
Background from archives.hcea.net: 'From http://www.steel-wheels.net/bates.html: "Albert Bates started out by building machinery for wire fencing, but soon became interested in tractors. Around 1915 he designed his first tractor, the "Bates Steel Mule", which was subsequently manufactured by the Joliet Oil Tractor Company of Illinois. At around the same time, another company called the Bates Tractor Co. of Lansing, Michigan were (sic) also producing tractors. In 1919, the two companies merged to form the Bates Machine and Tractor Co. of Joliet, Illinois. A range of half-track tractors were produced, with normal steel tractor wheels at the front and crawler tracks on the rear. Eventually though, competition forced the company to concentrate on purely tracked models, which they produced well into the 1930s."
The Crawler Tractor Scrapbook Part Three by Richard H. Robinson states that Joliet Oil Tractor introduced the 13-30 Bates Steel Mule in 1915, that Foote Brothers Machine & Gearing Company acquired Bates Machine & Tractor in 1929, that the company "returned to Bates in 1935," and that it was shut down in 1937.
Undated sales literature in this collection, published over the name of the Bates Manufacturing Company, Joliet, Illinois, discusses the 40 full crawler tractor and cites the Bates factory's continuous operation for over forty-four years, which would date it to circa 1932.'
Measures 4.75 inches x 1.75inches.
Very good condition, as shown.
$150 - $200