He is credited with the invention of the power lift sulky plow, the Bettendorf metal wheel and the one-piece railroad truck frame.

[3] He changed his surname to Bettendorf when he immigrated to the United States at age eighteen and became a school teacher.

The family moved to Sedalia, Missouri where the elder Bettendorf opened a grocery store, and then to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas where he became a government clerk.

Two years later he moved to Peru, Illinois where he became a clerk in the hardware store owned by A. L. Shepard.

Prior to his invention the farmer had to manually lift the plow blade at the end of each furrow.

[2] Bettendorf went on to work at the Moline Plow Company in Moline, Illinois for ten months before becoming the foreman in the fitting department of the Parlin & Orendorff Company in Canton, Illinois, which manufactured plows and other agricultural implements.

He severed his ties with Bettendorf Metal Wheel and designed the machinery to manufacture the steel gears, which he eventually sold to International Harvester in 1905.

The residents of the town of Gilbert, which was about three miles (4.8 km) east of Davenport at the time, raised $15,000 to buy the old Gilbert farm between the Mississippi River and the Davenport, Rock Island and North Western Railway tracks.

Its rapid growth was spurred by Bettendorf's design of a one-piece railroad truck frame that eliminated bolts.

[4] The company expanded in the early 20th century to manufacture oil burners, toys, water pumps, ice crushers and other products.

He began building a 22-acre (8.9 ha) estate on a bluff overlooking Bettendorf and the river valley below.

The exterior featured large porches, a grand fountain and a carriage house that could hold six cars.

His wife and stepson lived on the estate until 1926 when they sold it to the Grand Lodge of Iowa AF & AM.