HISTORY OF STEAM SHOVELS

PART 10

MASSILLON

In 1842, C M Russell & Company started in business by three brothers: Charles, Nahum and Clement Russell. Located at Massillon, Ohio, the initial business was carpentry and general manufacturing, but in 1853 they began building railway rolling stock, including freight and passenger cars. In 1878, the company was re-incorporated as The Russell & Company with steam traction engines its main product. In fact Russell became one of America’s most famous builder of these machines.

In the 1920s Russell commenced design and manufacture of steam shovels and, in common with many American excavator manufacturers, the name of the city where they were located became the company’s brand name, in this case Massillon.

The first Massillon was the Type 22 launched in 1925.