A.B. Farquhar Trade Catalog, "Pennsylvania Agricultural Works," 1886

As farmers mechanized barn and farmyard work in the nineteenth century, they began to use stationary power sources. These included portable steam engines and devices that converted animals' movement to drive a variety of agricultural machines. Enterprising manufacturers, like Pennsylvania-based A.B. Farquhar Co., specialized in producing and selling both power sources and the machines they were designed to run.