DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company — and friend, this one's worth pulling over for. Now, you'd think a story that shakes the whole oil industry would start with a gusher, or maybe a wildcatter with fire in his eyes. But this one starts quieter than that.
It starts with sawmills. East Texas, 1902, and the timber business was king out here in Angelina County. The sawmills kept breaking down, and somebody had to keep them running.
So five men — J. H. Kurth, Frank Kavanaugh Senior, Frank Kavanaugh Junior, Eli Wiener, and Simon Henderson — they chartered a company.
A repair shop. A parts supply house. Nothing glamorous.
Just good, honest, grease-under-your-fingernails work keeping the mills turning. That was the Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company in its humble beginnings. But here's where the story pivots.
Under the leadership of a man named W. C. Trout, the company set its sights on something a whole lot bigger than sawdust.
They ventured into the oil industry. And not just dabbled — they manufactured the first enclosed geared pumping unit. Let that sit a moment.
The first one. Anywhere. And Trout wasn't done.
In 1926, he patented a counterbalanced crank that improved that pumping unit. A counterbalanced crank — sounds like a small thing, maybe, until you consider that it made a name for this company worldwide. A repair shop from Lufkin, Texas, known the world over.
Then 1939 rolls around, and the company adds industrial gears and truck trailers to its product lines, because apparently once you've already changed the oil industry, you might as well keep going. Started to keep the sawmills humming. Ended up helping pump the lifeblood out of the earth for the whole world.
Not bad for a parts supply house.
What the marker says
Chartered in 1902 as a repair shop and parts supply house for local sawmills, Lufkin Foundry & Machine Company was begun by J. H. Kurth, Frank Kavanaugh, Sr., Frank Kavanaugh, Jr., Eli Wiener and Simon Henderson. Later, under the leadership of W. C. Trout, the company ventured into the oil industry and manufactured the first enclosed geared pumping unit. In 1926, Trout patented a counterbalanced crank that improved the pumping unit and made a name for the company worldwide. In 1939 the company added industrial gears and truck trailers to its product lines. (1983)