ALL ABOUT TRACTORS

BY PAUL WALLEM

  We’ve all watched tractor brands disappear through the years. Some of us can even remember when Montgomery Ward Stores sold tractors.

AVERY - Avery tractors were sold only by Montgomery Ward in northern states. Dealers were established in the southern states. They were a plow company that started building tractors in the late 1930s. The company was absorbed by Minneapolis-Moline in 1951 and closed in 1955.

COCKSHUTT - This company marketed numerous models, seven in 1957. They were built in Ontario and Ohio. During their final year (prior to their acquisition by Oliver Corporation in 1962) they also sold Cletrac tractors for Oliver.

Minneapolis-Moline resulted from the 1929 merger of three smaller companies. MM produced dozens of models through the years, including the 1938 UDLX.  This tractor may have had the first cab in the industry that was fully enclosed with windshield wipers, radio, heater and defroster. The plan was to sell it to those who would use it in the field in the daytime, then drive it to town in the evening. One hundred twenty-four were built, and it was discontinued in 1941. MM was purchased by White Motor Company in 1963.

After the 1969 merger of MM, Oliver and Cockshutt into White, a variety of these three brands appeared identical except for paint and decals.

OLIVER - Oliver Farm Equipment Corp. also started in 1929 from the merger of four companies. One was Hart-Parr, a highly successful company in its own right. They had offered 16 different models through the years. The newly formed Oliver Co. named their tractors Oliver-Hart-Parr from 1930 until 1937, when the Hart-Parr name was dropped. During August 1956, Oliver announced to the press that there were ongoing discussions with J.I. Case about a possible merger of the two companies. Later that month it was announced that those negotiations had ended.

WHITE - As stated earlier, White Motor Corp. acquired Oliver, Minneapolis-Moline and Cockshutt brands. In 1969, White Farm Equipment Co. was created with these three brands. It became a division of White Motor Corp.

Other lesser known brands (and tractors) disappeared from the marketplace during the mid-century years. Some tractors were engineered and prototypes were built, but never reached production status. One example of that was the Hesston four-wheel drive tractor.

In 1976, Hesston, a major producer of forage harvesters, designed and built a prototype four-wheel drive tractor. Late that year forage harvester sales dropped sharply as a result of falling cattle prices. In March 1977, Hesston management felt they could not continue with their tractor project, and it was canceled.

Hesston was purchased by AGCO in 1991.  (In 1990, AGCO Corp. was formed, and during 1991 they bought Deutz-Allis, forming AGCO-Allis.)

Component progress during the 20th century

Many of the 369 tractor builders prior to 1925 were only assemblers. They drew up a plan, created a frame and purchased all the components, including engine, transmission, wheels, cooling system, rear axles etc. They did not have the funds or expertise to create these parts.

Recognizing this need, other independent companies went into business creating these components. Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. was formed in 1893 and specialized in engines. They became one of the largest engine builders in the United States. In March 1918, Deere and Company purchased Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co.

International Harvester Co. applied for and was awarded numerous patents during 1905 and became industry leaders in the stationery engine business prior to and then during tractor and truck production.

Aultman-Taylor, Rumely, Waukesha, Caterpillar, Continental and others were early developers of engines.

Today’s diesel engines were first developed by Dr. Diesel, dating back to 1892. His first attempts were using coal dust as fuel, then liquid fuel. One of the first production engines to use diesel fuel was the Waukesha-Hesselman engine. A significant diesel advance was the Caterpillar four-cylinder  pre-combustion chamber engine in 1931.

Tractors with crawler tracks appeared early in the 1900s. Holt, Best and Yuma developed tractors on tracks during these years. Cletrac was one of the leaders, and some crawler tracks of today still resemble those designs.

Paul Wallem was raised on an Illinois dairy farm. 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 AND INDUSTRY FIRSTS of IH. See all his books on www.PaulWallem.com. E-mail your comments to pwallem@aol.com.