ALL ABOUT TRACTORS

BY PAUL WALLEM

 A modern tractor, working in the field at night can be seen from a long distance. The area around it is as bright as a night baseball field. It wasn’t always that way.

Research is scarce on this subject when reaching back over 100 years. A good source is C.H. Wendel’s book “Encyclopedia of American Tractors.” His product photos of 349 different tractor manufacturers gives some idea of early lights and starters.

The limiting factor was power source. Very few ignition systems had been developed until after the turn of the century. Bosch was one of the earliest patented high-tension magnetos. Their creation began the process of eliminating early batteries, dynamos and systems used on primitive systems.

Lights appeared on some very early tractors. The 1917 Atlas tractor had headlights. (Ownership of the company had Adolfus Busch, head of Anheuser-Busch, as a major investor).

Ford Motor Company offered lights on 1918 tractors. That same year General Motors Corporation added lights to the Samson Sieve-Grip tractor that they owned.

Pay Motor showed their Pan-Tank Tread 12-24 tractor with lights at a mid-western fair in 1917. It was a crawler tractor, and never reached production.

A large percentage of the early tractors that offered lights were crawlers. This appeared to be because of their use in construction and forestry, with need for some night work. The 1924 Monarch model D crawler was advertised as the tractor “For Around-The Clock Work.” This manufacturer also made available a front mounted V-plow for snow removal. 

During the twenties numerous patents involved magnetos and improved spark plugs. As a result, starters and lights became more available. CleTrac added both in 1927, Caterpillar did so in 1931, J.I.Case in 1936. Most tractor manufacturers were offering them as an option by the late thirties.

ALLIS CHALMERS

Because of their progressiveness during early tractor history, the rest of this column will be devoted to the early years of Allis Chalmers.

Edward P. Allis & Co. had a steam engine in operation by 1869. They built the largest centrifugal pump in America in 1884. Allis Chalmers was formed in 1901, one year before International Harvester Co. and two years before Ford Motor Co. Their first tractor was built in 1914.

The AC 18-30 was very successful. Production ran from 1919 to 1929, with 16,000 built during those years. The smaller 12-20 was built until 1927 and was re-rated to 15-25 after its Nebraska test.

Allis Chalmers made a major expansion with the purchase of Advance-Rumely Thresher Co., one of the very earliest successful tractor companies. Their OilPull 25-45 type B received a lot of attention when announced in 1910 It was built until 1914. During 1911 the company hooked 3 Oil-Pulls together and conducted field demonstrations pulling a 50-bottom plow crafted by Oliver. This was purely for publicity purposes, and received attention throughout the industry. When Allis Chalmers acquired them, Advance-Rumely was known world-wide for their tractors.

Another major step forward occurred in 1933 when Allis announced their WC model. Between 1933 and 1938 it became the largest selling model in AC history, with a total of 170,174 being built.

Author’s note: A WC was my Dad’s major tractor. I couldn’t wait till I was old enough to cultivate with it. I thought nothing would be better than that. When he finally let me, I found out that all day in the hot sun, looking down at very small corn sprouts wasn’t the fun I had imagined. Cross cultivating as a result of his check-row planter was about the most miserable and bumpy job he ever gave me. I learned how to use hand brakes, but in later years I found that tractors with foot brakes sure worked better.

Allis Chalmers initiated two industry milestone events during the thirties. Their switch to rubber tires in 1932 started the elimination of steel tractor wheels. By 1939, 100 percent of tractors being shipped from all manufacturers were on rubber.

Then in 1939, this progressive company made starter and lights standard equipment on their tractors. They were the first to do so.

They had also grown worldwide. By the early forties, Allis and its subsidiaries were building farm equipment in 26 plants throughout the world. Future years brought more expansion, Gleaner Harvester Corporation was acquired in 1955, and the purchase of Simplicity Manufacturing from Wisconsin in 1965 placed Allis solidly in the garden tractor business.

Additional acquisitions and product development in future years maintained Allis Chalmers as a major player in the farm equipment world, and the name remains significant today as part of the AGCO family.

Paul Wallem was raised on an Illinois dairy farm, involved in 4-H and FFA. He spent 13 years with corporate IH in domestic and foreign assignments. He resigned to own and operate two IH dealerships. He is the author of THE BREAKUP of IH and SUCCESSES & INDUSTRY FIRSTS of IH. See all his books on www.PaulWallem.com. E-mail your comments to pwallem@aol.com