Thanks to the thousands of people who viewed this site and emailed me over the years. There are far more of these machines out there than I ever thought.

Check out the new Burden Iron Works Museum page.

This machine was purchased in the early spring of 1977 from a coworker that used it for several years doing custom tilling. At one time he and his father had two of these machines. I bought this machine because I needed something to work my 5,000 square foot garden, it was in running condition, and the price was right at $75. Included was the another machine minus engine, wheels and tiller hood. Depending on the tine holders used, these machines can till 20" or 26" wide and 9" deep.

Over the winter I decided to refurbish the engine and transmission. Every piece was disassembled. All bearings, bushings, and seals were replaced. The cylinder was bored .040" oversize because of severe scoring. At the time Frazer Farm Equipment in Auburn, Indiana was my major source of parts and technical information. The shop there bored the cylinder and did the fitting of the piston. During the winter months of 81/82 I refurbished the tiller section. After all repairs were made I painted it with the proper color paint purchased from Frazer Farm Equipment.

I then used this machine to work my 5,000 square foot garden until about 1990. It was then that we gave up planting a garden. The garden area was greatly reduced and used for growing sunflowers, wildflowers, field corn, millet, etc. Basically my son turned into a small bird habitat area. The Rototiller didn't get used too much after this. I do keep it in running condition and "play" in the dirt with it from time to time.

Through communication with Frazer Farm Equipment, I learned a lot of the history of this machine. Shortly after my tiller was made, Graham-Paige became Graham-Paige-Frazer and later Kaiser-Frazer. Rototillers were sold at their car dealerships. These machines were expensive. Suggested retail price was around $435, which was probably close to the price of a vehicle in 1946. Visit Donald's Antique Rototillers website for the whole story on these fine old machines. You will learn of the connection of the present day Troy-Bilt tiller and my other Roto-Ette Model 2 to the Graham-Paige Rototiller. Another excellent history source is a book by Garden Way Inc. titled Gardening beyond The Plow.

This is a Rototiller Model 133A tiller built between 1959 and 1960. During this time Rototiller was associated with Porter Cable Machine Company. Porter Cable purchased a controlling interest in Rototiller in 1959 after Rototiller's Board of Directors decided to sell stock to refinance. The next year Porter Cable sold Rototiller to Rockwell Manufacturing Company of Pittsburgh, who did not keep them long either.

The handlebars and hood over the tines greatly resembles the early Troy-Bilt machines. The hinged flap that goes on the rear of the hood is missing. The tine holders are identical to the early ones on the Troy-Bilt tiller. It came with a 4 hp Clinton engine and chopper blade tines. The machine has the 4 speeds forward like the Roto-Ette tillers before it. According to the literature on this tiller, it has a 20" tilling width and weighs 330 pounds. Attachments and accessories included a 30" dozer-snow plow, auxiliary 35# weight, furrower, snow thrower, deep digging tines, 19" rotary-mower, tire chains, and a tiller shaft protection kit.

Special thanks to Donald Jones of Donald's Antique Rototiller's for literature on this tiller.

This is a Roto-Ette Home Gardener manufactured by Rototiller, Inc., with a 25" reel type mower attachment made by the Locke Company. Rototiller, Inc. tried this concept before without much success in 1938 with the introduction of the Wheelbarrow Cultivator. In 1944 Rototiller, Inc. made plans to discontinue the professional type B Model and devote their efforts to the Home Gardener.  This machine has 228 parts of which 36 are bearings.  It had a list price of $330 when it was introduced and was produced from 1945 until early 1949.

I bought this machine in December 2000 mostly disassembled, but in good shape.  Currently the B&S engine has a severely worn crankshaft and therefor is not in running condition.  There is a tiller attachment for this machine, which I have, as well as numerous other attachments.  Check my photo album for additional pictures of the Home Gardener.

On November 30, 2001, I purchased this Home Gardener. It is in good running condition and is complete with tiller hood, which is missing on a lot of Gardeners I see.  

If you have any of these machines, I would enjoy hearing from you.