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Russell Manufacturing &
Henry Masbruch and His Innovative Halters
Frank Russell opened his machine shop on the northeast corner of Mineral and Water streets in June, 1926. Fabricating items out of metal was his specialty. If you designed it, he likely could make it.
Besides metal working and fabrication, The Russell Company, later known as Russell Manufacturing, also provided other goods and services to the citizens of Platteville. In 1930, Russell was selling Case tractors and Plymouth automobiles.
Henry Mausbruch had an inventive turn of mind. From 1926 to 1949, he registered a total of eleven patents for various items ranging from attachments for water pumps and lawnmowers, a device for flooding skating ponds, mechanical turn signals for cars, and various types of cattle halters.
Because many of these items needed to be fabricated from metal, Masbruch teamed up with Frank Russell to bring his inventions to life. The museum has an example of his halter patented in 1947 and his bull halter and controller, patented in 1949. This was the last and most improved version of the halter that Masbruch first patented in 1932.
Because many of these items needed to be fabricated from metal, Masbruch teamed up with Frank Russell to bring his inventions to life. The museum has an example of his halter patented in 1947 and his bull halter and controller, patented in 1949. This was the last and most improved version of the halter that Masbruch first patented in 1932.
Masbruch's design of a horse halter
The design of the bull halter prevents injuries caused by bulls charging their handlers. Similar to blinders used on horses to keep them from seeing things that might frighten them, the halter controller keeps the bull from seeing things right in front of them. Because a bull lowers its head when it wants to charge (to use its horns) the metal eyepiece blocks its forward vision and the bull can't see the perceived enemy. You can't fight what you can't see.
The slit in the bottom of the metal eyepiece allows the bull to see enough to be able to graze, drink, and walk around the pasture or pen.
The slit in the bottom of the metal eyepiece allows the bull to see enough to be able to graze, drink, and walk around the pasture or pen.
This view of the eye piece shows the slit that let the bull see the ground around his feet. Depending on the model, these pieces were either cast aluminum or stamped steel. The tool was used to join leather straps.
Bulls were a serious threat on family farms. Being trampled, jammed against a wall or gored by a bull was one of the most frequent causes of death in the U.S. dairy industry prior to 1940.
The bull halter appeared in the February 1947, Popular Mechanics under the headline Bifocals Blackout Bulls. "Farmers know a bull won't charge when he can't see. The Masbruch halter above [picture], produced by the Russell Mfg. Co., Platteville, Wis., lets a bull walk and graze, but when he lowers his head to charge, his vision is blocked.
