Background
William Bettendorf was born on July 1, 1857, in Mendota, Illinois, United States, the eldest of the four children of Michael and Catherine (Reck) Bettendorf.
William Bettendorf was born on July 1, 1857, in Mendota, Illinois, United States, the eldest of the four children of Michael and Catherine (Reck) Bettendorf.
William's meager schooling was acquired in the common schools of Missouri and Kansas, where his parents made their home, and at St. Mary's Mission School, an Indian school in Kansas.
When about fifteen William began work as a machinist with the Peru Plow Company, later being employed with the Moline Plow Company, and with the Partin & Orendorff Company (Canton, Ohio); in 1882 he returned to the Peru Plow Company as superintendent and remained with them until 1886. His career as an inventor began in 1878 with the invention of the first power-lift sulky plow. A few years later he invented the Bettendorf Metal Wheel (for wagons and farm implements) and the machinery for its manufacture. In 1886, in conjunction with his brother, J. W. Bettendorf, he undertook the manufacture of this wheel at Davenport, Iowa, and was successful. The further use of steel for farm implements intrigued his imagination, and in 1892 he developed a steel gear for farm wagons. New machinery for its manufacture had to be designed and built, and he gave all his time to the task. In 1905 this machinery was sold to the International Harvester Company, but his own company at Davenport, which was manufacturing steel gears in addition to the metal wheels, continued the manufacture of gears under contract.
The next step conceived in Bettendorf's fertile brain was to enter the railroad field, where steel was fast being substituted for wood. His Davenport plant was large and in many ways adapted to this kind of manufacturing; so he soon began to add railway car parts to its production. A new car bolster designed and patented by him, using two commercial I-beams shaped and joined together with a few small parts, had an immediate sale and is found today under railway cars all over the country. After this came a new cast-steel side-frame truck and then the Bettendorf integral journal-box. Eventually he was manufacturing complete railway cars. His aim was always toward simplification - fewer parts, less weight, greater strength. At the time of his death he was working on a complete steel freight car.
With success in the manufacture and sale of railway car parts assured, a new plant was built three miles from Davenport in a town called Gilbert. The name of this town was changed to Bettendorf, and he took an active interest in the development and welfare of this community. Bettendorf died in 1910.
William Bettendorf was a well-known inventor of his time. During his life Bettendorf got about 94 patents. His major inventions: the power lift sulky plow, the Bettendorf metal wheel and the one-piece railroad truck frame. But Bettendorf's success was due not only to his inventive ability but to the confidence which he justly inspired and to the business ability which, combined with that of his brother, made it possible for him to weather the competition which was so keen a part of the manufacturing life of his day.
In 1879 Bettendorf married Mary Wortman, who died in 1901; and in 1908 he married Mrs. Elizabeth Staby.
