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The Birth &
History of the Farm Tractor
1891-1917
In 1891 William Deering and Co. built an engine with two parallel vertical cylinders which developed 6
horsepower. This was mounted on
a New Ideal mower to make it a self-propelled unit. Later this Company designed and built 12- and 16-horsepower engines. One of these
engines was used on a self-propelled vehicle from 1892 to 1895; another on an experimental corn picker; and still another was mounted
on a mower which was demonstrated at the Paris Exposition in 1900 and at the St. Louis Exposition in 1903.
Below
William Deering and
Co ran this advertisement in the 1901 Implement and Tractor
Magazine.
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In 1892 when John Froelich built the first mechanically successful gasoline
farm tractor, at that time he was exploring
and pioneering a new technology. Henry Ford would not be ready to test his first horseless carriage for another year and
wouldn't release Fords first farm tractor for another26 years Yet in Iowa, during the autumn of 1892, Froelich built a
gasoline traction engine that powered a thresher and pulled the rig from field to field.
John Froelich pieced together a farm tractor from components made by other people. Froelich built his farm tractor by
mounting a gasoline engine manufactured by the Van Duzen Gas and Gasoline Engine Company on a steam traction engine chasis
made by Robinson and Company. The following year (1893) Froelich incorporated
the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company of
Waterloo, Iowa. |
The company experimented with farm tractors for several years but sold only gasoline engines. In 1895 the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Co.
was reorganized as the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. Having achieved considerable
success in building gasoline engines, this concern continued its program of building experimental tractors. Almost 20 years passed,
however, before this Company began production of its kerosene-burning
farm tractor known as the "Waterloo Boy."
the Waterloo firm was absorbed by Deere and Company. Deere also acquired its now-familiar
green-and-yellow trademark color scheme.
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Naming the Farm Tractor In the early years, Farm Tractors were referred to as gasoline traction engines. In the spring of 1907, the Hart-Parr Company determined to find a shorter name
and eventually hit on the word, "Tractor," meaning a machine for pulling or hauling. From that time on, they advertised themselves as manufacturers of "Farm Tractors,"
and have consistently used that term ever since. Trade papers and newspapers took up the new name. Other companies used it later, and today the entire industry is
called the "Farm Tractor Industry."
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In the last decade of the 19th century, engineers were trying to adapt the
crude gas engine of that period to farm purposes. In 1892, two young men from Western farms, C. W.
Hart and C. H. Parr, entered the University of Wisconsin and determined to solve this problem. When they
graduated in 1896, after having built several successful gas engines in the University shops, they built
a shop in Madison, Wisconsin, and there for four years manufactured and sold a series of very successful
stationary gasoline engines. In 1900, they moved their shop to Charles City, Iowa, Mr. Hart's home. There,
in 1900, they perfected their ideas for a gasoline traction engine which was finally built and successfully
operated in 1901.
Right Hart-Parr Number 1 Built in 1901 sold in 1902
operated successfully by its farmer owner for seventeen
years.
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It wasn't long before Hart-Parr had to battle for tractor sales In 1902, McCormick and Deering, the two largest harvesting machinery companies,
merged. Together with a few smaller firms, they formed a large trust that achieved an unparalleled horizontal integration of the industry. Almost
immediately the new giant, christened the International Harvester Company,
By 1910, International Harvester became the leader in tractor sales and by 1911 furnished about one-third of the United States' production.
Left
In 1910, International introduced its "Mogul"
farm tractor that year they would become the leader in farm tractor sales and by 1911 furnished about one-third of
the United States farm tractors. By 1912, International's annual farm tractor sales had increased to a few thousand tractors per year.
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The The
farm tractor replaces the horse
| YEAR |
TRACTORS |
HORSES |
| 1920 |
246,083 |
25,742,000 |
| 1925 |
505,083 |
22,589,000 |
| 1930 |
920,021 |
19,124,000 |
| 1935 |
1,123,251 |
16,683,000 |
| 1940 |
1,567,430 |
15,182,000 |
| 1945 |
2,421,747 |
12,100,000 |
| 1950 |
3,609,281 |
7,800,000 |
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When the Bull tractor (above) came onto the market in 1913 it was an
immediate sensation. Here was the first successful small farm tractor to be
offered, and farmers bought them by the thousands. Old-timers in the tractor business found that farmers |
were far more interested in the small Bull tractors than in their oversized heavyweight farm tractors,
and within the year, virtually every manufacturer, and those aspiring to be so, were attempting to build "small" farm tractors.The Bull was a fraction of the weight of older farm tractors, yet delivered
five horsepower at the drawbar and twelve on the belt. But the farm tractors
most welcoming attribute was its
price, variously reported between $395 and $800.
In 1914 the Bull Tractor Company held first place in tractor sales,
falling to second place in 1915, fourth in 1916, and seventh in 1917.
The Bull tractor died in 1918, the Bull Tractor Company's brief success
is somewhat remarkable since The Bull Tractor Company itself did little
if any actual manufacturing. The tractors were farmed out to be manufactured
by the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company. The company used engines
from a variety of suppliers, but when engine suppliers could not meet Bull's
needs the industry passed them by.
The account of the Little Bull farm tractor exemplifies the unpredictability that marked the early farming tractor era.
It rose from a position of zero
tractor-sales to 38 percent of
total tractors sold in just eight months; first in tractor
sales in 1914, to seventh place in 1917, and finally, to suspension of production in 1918. |
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Tractor Shows
The publicity that the press furnished the tractor was increased by the great national tractor shows,
the first of which was the Winnipeg farm tractor show in 1908 .
In its early years, the farm tractor competition became something of a face-off between internal combustion and steam engines.
In 1910, the show delivered a decisive victory to the internal combustion camp. The age of steam was over, and the Winnipeg
Tractor Trials had become exceedingly important to the industry, the press, and the farmer alike. By 1912, most tractor companies
saw the importance to competing at Winnipeg. It was the Winnipeg show that first indicated the new direction in which the tractor
industry was moving when in 1913 the small Bull tractor stole the show.
Above
Parking lot of the 1916 tractor show held at Fremont Nebraska. The show drew tens of thousands of visitors from many surrounding states. Several
prominent people made appearances, including Cyrus H. McCormick, president of the International. Henry Ford, the car-manufacturing magnate,
and his son, Edsel, were also on hand. Henry Ford spent his time shaking hands with farmers and supervising his mechanics, who were operating three Fordson farm tractors.
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Because of location and cost of competing the tractor companies lost interest in the Winnipeg Tractor Trials. In it's
place A series of tractor shows were staged in the Midwest from 1913 to 1919. The special events were held at selected
sites reaching from Texas to the Canadian border. The tractor shows accelerated the introduction of farm tractors in the
United States. These tractor shows were huge and popular events that drew hundreds of thousands of people.
Left Fordson farm tractor performing at a farm tractor demonstration.
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New Names in the Farm Tractor Industry
Soon the farm tractor market would become saturated the Rumely Company, already well established in steam and threshing machines,
began building their soon-to-be-famous "Oil Pull" in 1909. At the same time, the long time implement manufacturing firm of B. F. Avery
began selling tractors through its dealer network. The following year, another long time farm industry player, Aultman-Taylor began
manufacturing tractors. International also introduced its "Mogul" in 1910. Even companies outside of the implement industry were attracted
to tractors. For example, the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Company, later to be a part of Minneapolis-Moline, began selling tractors.
In 1911, the huge railroad supply and windmill company of Fairbanks-Morse started building tractors. Finally, one of the largest steam
engine makers, the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, also threw it's hat into the farm tractor production ring
All of these companies were old, established firms. They were well financed and capable of concentrating enough capital to embark on
substantial production runs, which, although small in absolute numbers, were huge in relation to previous output. Even though these
companies had organized marketing structures, they soon saturated the farm tractor market
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The instant success of the Bull Tractor Company influenced the tractor industry far more than the company'
s
short life. Almost immediately, other farm tractor manufacturers rushed out their own light
farm tractors.
One of the more successful companies in building small farm tractors was the Wallis Tractor Company, the farm tractor
division of J. I. Case Plow Works. In 1913, it introduced a farm tractor that was more expensive than the Bull, but
was far better designed and better built. For some time the Wallis people had built and sold a large tractor that
they named the "Bear." Logically, then, when their small tractor emerged from the factory, it was dubbed the "Cub." |
Right The "Cub" traveled in it's own railroad car to plow contests
and demonstrations were it established many plow records.
The Wallis
farm tractor was far ahead of it'
s time, and departed from common practice in tractor construction in two significant ways,
It had no frame in the conventional sense. The lower portion of the engine was a curved section of boilerplate, that connected to the
front-end assembly on one end and to the transmission on the other. The frameless design became an industry standard in years to come.
The other significant and advanced feature in Cub design was its single front wheel. It was not widely copied immediately, but a decade
later and the introduction of the row-crop tractor, the single-wheel or narrow front end became the "conventional" steering gear for farm tractors.
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The Farm
Tractor Industry Becomes Standardized |
In 1917 the farm tractor industry would reap the benefit of the experience
and knowledge of the automotive world when the Society of Tractor Engineers
merged into the far larger Society of Automotive Engineers. The Automotive
industry was far more advanced and experienced in engineering and engineering
standards.
Many of the first farm tractors were cobbled together in shops that resembled
blacksmith shops instead of modern factories. Immediately the tractor companies
gained the benefit of the experience-earned knowledge of the automotive world.
It's hard to imagine running a farm tractor today with
without an air filter, however in the early days of the
industry not only were many tractors sold without them, some tractor company
bankruptcies can be partially linked to engine failures
caused by the lack of one. Within a few years after
standardization primitive ignitions, chain drives, exposed gear drives and babbit
bearings were quickly replaced in many models, or old models were replaced
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The early years of
farm tractor development, manufacturers concentrated on heavy, high powered machines to replace steam
engines. In the mid-1910s, Farm tractor engineers turned to the demands of small farmers. Successful two and three plow tractors
were developed, but failed to meet one very big and important power need on American farms
- they could not handle row crop cultivation.
Even after making the investment in a tractor, a small farmer needed to maintain a team of horses to cultivate row crops. |
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The result was the motor cultivator, a very light machine primarily designed to carry a set of cultivators. A fundamental problem
with the machine was that its usefulness was limited to cultivating and a few other very light tasks. A farmer needed a heavy plow
tractor to work the ground in addition to the motor cultivator to weed the growing crop. Fate of the motor cultivator was sealed
in 1924 when IHC placed the Farmall tractor on the market. The Farmall could plow and cultivate all for the price of one machine.
The only motor cultivator to survive the appearance of the Farmall was Rumely's Do-All, which remained on sale into the 1930s. |
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Antique Farming Top Visited Pages |
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Ford 8N Tractor
Ford 2N production stopped in July 1947 and 8N tractor production took over.
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Fords First Tractor
The Fordson was the first mass-produced tractor and revolutionized the industry
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Ford Tractor Conversions
Over one hundred companies offered kits to convert Ford'
s popular car
into a Ford Tractor.
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Massey Harris Tractors
Take a look at the roots of the Massey Ferguson Tractor
Company visit our Massey Harris Tractor page
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John Deere Tractor Model M
John Deere's Utility Tractor designed to replace the John Deere Model H,
John Deere Model L and Model LA
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Dairy Barn
The history of the dairy Barn and the work saving barn tools
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Component Farm Tractors |
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Beginning in the mid-1910s, dozens of farm tractor companies sprang to life in an
attempt to cash in on the tractor craze that was sweeping rural America. They made
their farm tractors from readily available, off-the-shelf parts. Everything from
radiators, ignition systems, bearings, stampings, and forgings to complete engines
and transmissions could be bought off the shelf and bolted together to make a tractor.
During the boom cycle of World War 1 these component farm tractors sold well but
suffered and didn't survive the hard times.
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Allis 10 - 18 |
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The best seller of all tractors in 1914 was the Little Bull built by the Bull Tractor Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rivals in the
fledgling tractor industry clamored to devise just the right tractor for this thriving market and in 1914, it looked that the Bull Tractor
equaled the one to match.
Allis-Chalmers
gave serious consideration to a joint venture with the Bull Tractor Company . Instead Allis-Chalmers determined to make their own tractor and in 1914 brought out their model 10-18
With a three-wheeled design and transverse engine, the Model 10-18 had a good deal in common with the already successful Little
Bull Tractor. But the fast-paced tractor industry left the 10-18 as well as the Little Bull in its aftermath since the demand for
more advanced tractors intensified. By 1919, the Bull Tractor was merging with another company to survive and the 10-18 production was down to only 71 units.
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Happy Farmer |
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In 1916 the La Crosse Happy Farmer came along, and enjoyed a considerable amount of
tractor sales
. Despite the sizable production of the Happy Farmer,
the tractor industry was changing very rapidly, and this model was simply a passing means to an end. Ever-changing designs soon limited sales,
and as a consequence, the Happy Farmer production ended in 1922.
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First Case Tractor |
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In 1915,
Case
ventured into the small
farm tractor
market with its 10-20 farm tractor. At the time, Bull Tractor Company of
Minneapolis was dominating
tractor sales
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FORDSON |
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Fordson
Fords first farm tractor brought mass production and intensified competition to the industry.
That competition refined the
farm tractor
in innumerable minor ways, and the
cumulative effect of those minor improvements was significant. However the majority of farms in the United States grew corn, cotton, cabbages, or other row crops. Fords first
farm tractors were of questionable value for the those types of farms. |
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FORD 900 |
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Ford 900
Wearing the famous gray and red color scheme of the historic
Ford 8N Ford's "900" tractor series, introduced in 1955, was historically significant
as the company's first "tricycle" or row crop tractors. The Model 961 was a later edition
of the series, appearing around
1959. It was of row-crop design and part of
Ford's Powermaster line.
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Implement Historyry |
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In earlier days when horses provided almost all farm power, implements such as binders or mowers drew their
power from a bullwheel, a large wheel with cleats or lugs that was forced to turn as the implement ran over the ground.
When conditions were good, the implements wheels rolled and turned the rest of the machinery, but when the ground was
soft or muddy, the wheels often slid along under motionless shafts and cogwheels. Yet this crude system continued well
into the
farm tractoror era.
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