ELSTON
George Elston (1857-1931) of Welby in Lincolnshire was a threshing contractor who in his spare time in the 1890s made small portable engines. These were typically used on pumps and for powering showmen’s organs. Using one of these engines to power his lathe, he also built a miniature traction engine ten feet eight inches in overall length. This together with one of the portables still exists.
ELWARD
John (and sometimes Mary) Elward of Polo, Illinois, USA took out the first of many traction engine patents in 1881. The ideas were refined with a 4x4 machine in the following year. This had turntable steering at either end with power to central bevels by flexible shaft and thence drive to ring gear in the wheels. Interestingly, this one is in John’s name alone and from an address in Stillwater, Minnesota from where he refers to what was presumably the original 4x4 patent taken out by J Robingson in
