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A long-overdue account of the life and remarkable output of Bob Chamberlain, this book comprises 240 pages of text and 239 period illustrations packed with never-before published material with much from Bob's personal archive.

The list of chapters highlights Bob Chamberlain's extraordinarily diverse range of engineering work.

There are 100 pages of facts and photos of the popular Chamberlain tractors and farm machinery, detailing their development and manufacture, production statistics and modifications. An Appendix by Mechanical Engineer Douglass Potts provides expert assessments of Bob's patented designs, while another prepared by Craig Pink summarises Chamberlain tractor production to the time of the company's sale.

Inside its back cover, a DVD contains the 1953 Chamberlain promotional movie Put to the Test (covering contemporary Chamberlain farm machinery, with images of Bob, his father Bert, and his brother Bill), plus 159 colour images of sales brochures issued between 1949 and 1970.

After the initial limited print run of 1500 hard cover books and 100 leather bound books quickly sold out several years ago, there is now at long last, one more chance for you to get hold of a new softcover edition of this book, with only a very limited print run of 1000 copies. Get your order in now, this will be your last chance.

This book will be appreciated by admirers of Australian engineering ingenuity, enthusiasts for Chamberlain-designed machinery, students of Australian social or industrial or political history, and those with any connection to this remarkable man.

Table of Contents

• Frontispiece
• Title page
• Dedication
• Foreword by Stuart Murdoch
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction by Bruce Lindsay
• Chapter 1 The Chamberlain lineage - a family of innovators
• Chapter 2 Small Beginnings - The Australian Ball-Bearing Company
• Chapter 3 Introduction to motor racing - "The Beetle"
• Chapter 4 Fifty Years of The Inventive Mind - patents and designs from 1931 to 1981
• Chapter 5 Components for the Australian motor industry - the Rolloy Piston Co
• Chapter 6 In search of bounty - the prototype Chamberlain touring car 1936-1938
• Chapter 7 Assisting the War effort
• Chapter 8 Western Promise - the rise of Chamberlain Industries - the tractor venture
• Chapter 9 Fading dreams - the fall of Chamberlain Industries Pty Ltd
• Chapter 10 Chamberlain tractors and farm machinery
  • 10.1 The "heavy" 40K/KA, 45KA and 55KA tractors
  • 10.2 The 60DA, 70DA and Super 90 diesel tractors
  • 10.3 The 2-cylinder 55DA diesel tractor
  • 10.4 The DM or Champion "medium" tractor
  • 10.5 The Chamberlain "small tractor"
  • 10.6 Progeny of the Champion - Countryman Mks 1, 2 and 3; Canelander; Crusader; Countryman 6; Countryman 354/C6100; Champion 306; Industrial tractors
  • 10.7 Chamberlain implements
• Chapter 11 Marine and hobby engineering - Alan Chamberlain Engineering Pty Ltd
• Chapter 12 Bob Chamberlain - retrospective
• Appendices:
  • Appendix 1 Review of patents granted to Alan Hawker Chamberlain W D R Potts BA, Btech (Mech Eng), Dip Ed, MIEAust, MSAE, MAOQ, MRAI, CPEng
  • Appendix 2 Chamberlain Agricultural Wheeled Tractor Production at Welshpool WA 1949-1986 Craig Pink
  • Appendix 3 DVD attached to the back cover, containing
    • (a) DVD conversion of an original 16mm movie entitled Put To The Test. The movie was used as a promotional tool by Chamberlain Industries Pty Ltd. By 1953, when this film was made, farm tractors were freely available after being in short supply during WW2, and the Chamberlain factory in Welshpool, Western Australia, was surrounded by hundreds of unsold machines. This movie was just one way in which the Company sought to regain the marketing initiative. It was shown as a short in cinemas before feature films, and in specially constructed theatrettes at agricultural shows and field days. The original was kindly supplied by Harry "Jim" Hawker.
    • (b) A representative sample of sales literature for Chamberlain tractors, farm machinery and marine products from 1949 to 1972. Those brochures over which John Deere Pty Ltd currently hold copyright are reproduced with their kind permission.

Code No. 012073, 240 pages, $49.95

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