Ruralite - February 2012

Side Roads

Made in
America

One man’s crusade to remind people that high-quality products are still made in this country

obtain parts, and perform the work on the Henry conversion.

There’s not much to
see under the hood of
the electric Henry, but
Ken says it has enough
power to do the job of
a piston-driven ranch truck, along with
several additional benefits.

“Less noise, no pollution and there’s
really nothing to go wrong,” says Ken.
“No pistons and rings, no water pump
to replace. The only moving part is the
armitron on the motor.”
Ken says the Henry doesn’t even need
time to warm up on chilly winter morn-
ings. “You just hop in and go,” he says.

“There are three things on the ranch that I wouldn’t want to do without: the backhoe, the four-wheeler and the electric pickup,” says David. n

Above, Callie the dog bounds from trailer to pickup, while David and Ken feed cattle remotely. Left, David drives the electric pickup the old-fashioned way. Note the control mechanism mounted to the dash and steering column.

Electric Horsepower Continues from page 10

Should he decide to take Henry down the road, the vehicle will top out at about 50 mph.

The Henry is fitted with a power plug that is magnetically attached to its headache rack so David can run power tools without a negligible depletion in the truck’s electric charge.

Ken says the batteries should last about eight years before replacement. Although lithium batteries would work well on the feed truck, he doesn’t consider them an affordable option, yet.

It took David and Ken about a year— working in their spare time—to design,

The men have put together a manual that shows how to convert a diesel or gas pickup to an electric with remote. For more information, contact David at 541-519-3030 or Ken at 541-519-7658.

By Allison Hawkins

Mark Reasbeck’s motivation to launch www.USAonly.US all started with a porch swing.

Several years ago, Mark went to a number of large retailers looking for a porch swing. Everything he found was made in China.

“They were all made of inferior
components,” he says. “I’m a big guy,
and I knew these weren’t going to hold
me, let alone another person.”
Frustrated, Mark turned to the
Internet. He ended up ordering a
custom-made porch swing from a
family-owned company in Louisiana.

“It is a work of art, and it was only
$40 more than the swings made in
China,” he says. “This swing will last
longer than the house.”
Mark owned a window supply
company in Pahrump, Nevada, at the
time, and he wrote an article about his
experience for a trade magazine. He
offered his views about why people
should buy American-made products.
After receiving positive feedback from
readers, he thought, “There’s some-
thing to this,” and he started research-
ing businesses that made products in
the United States.