Antique Farm Equipment: The Elsbree Collection

Chuck Elsbree grew up working on the family ranch in Windsor California during the 1940s and 1950s. For most of his professional career, Chuck worked as a research and development engineer in the aerospace industry. In this capacity Chuck helped develop missiles used in the Apollo Space Flight Program. One of his most memorable aerospace assignments was program manager for developing hardware used on the Lunar Lander. Chuck later founded an electronic hardware company and has been granted six different patents. Chuck and his wife Diana now have their collection of restored and partially-restored antique farm equipment on display at their Elsbree Family Vineyard Ranch in Windsor Chuck says, By preserving the implements and describing their functional and mechanical purposes, I hope that readers, and those who tour the collection on site, will better understand and appreciate the engineering talent required to create and manufacture antique farm equipment. I also hope that current and future generations will recognize the great contributions of these engineering marvels in helping build a strong America. Those early farm tools were the prototypes of most modern implements in use today.