John Deere History 1830 - 1840 - 1850 - 1860
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History of Deer & Co.
Deere & Company began in 1836 when thirty-two year old John Deere moved to Grand Detour,
Illinois. Already an established blacksmith, Deere opened a 1,378 square feet
shop in Grand Detour in 1837 which allowed him to serve as a general repairman
in the village, as well as a manufacturer of small tools such as pitchforks and shovels.
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1837
John Deere develops the steel walking plow. Plows
had evolved for thousands of years and worked well in soil previously farmed.
Plowing the Illinois prairie for
the first time was hampered by soil that stuck to the plow.
John Deere curved a broken steel sawmill blade that let the
soil slide off the plow. Animal-drawn plows were the heart
of John Deere business for the next eight decades.
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The smooth sided steel plow solved this problem, and would greatly aid migration into the American Great Plains in the 19th century and early 20th century. Deere's production of plows began slowly, but increased greatly when he departed from the traditional business model of making equipment as it was ordered and instead began to manufacture plows before they were ordered and then put them up for sale. This allowed customers to see what they were buying beforehand, and word of the product began to spread quickly.
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1840,
Though increasingly known near Grand Detour, John Deere is a tiny manufacturer compared with rivals elsewhere.
In Pittsburgh, two companies make nearly 34,000 plows a year.
1842,
John Deere, blacksmith and manufacturer, In a newspaper advertisement, he "respectfully informs his
friends and customers ... and dealers in Ploughs, that he is now prepared to fill orders" for the Patent Cary Plow.
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In 1843, Deere entered a business partnership with Leonard Andrus and purchased
land for the construction of a new two-story factory along the Rock River in
Illinois. This factory, named the "L. Andrus Plough Manufactory", produced about
100 plows in 1842 and approximately 400 plows during the next year. Despite the success,
Deere's partnership with Andrus ended in 1848, when Deere relocated to Moline, Illinois in order to have access to the railroad and the Mississippi River.
In Moline, Deere formed a partnership with Robert Tate and John Gould and quickly built a new 1,440 square feet factory in 1848. Production at the plant
rose quickly, and by 1849 the Deere, Tate, & Gould Company was producing over 200 plows a month, and a two story addition to the plant was built to allow
for further production.
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The growing plow business moves to Moline, Illinois, 75 miles southwest of Grand Detour. On the Mississippi
River, Moline offers many advantages the Mississippi offered water power and
transportation along with recently
installed railroad line.
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An example of a John Deere steel beam walking plow made by John Deere from 1867 into 1940's
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In 1843, John Deere and Leonard Andrus become partners with the agreement that the factory in Grand Detour
will be known as L. ANDRUS. The two-story factory builds plows until 1848, when John Deere dissolves the partnership and moves to Moline.
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In 1848,John Deere chooses a new partner, Robert N.Tate, for his relocation to Moline. Tate moves to Moline
first and raises the rafters on their three-story 24x60-foot blacksmith shop by July 28, 1848. Records
the finishing of 10 plows on September 26 1848 . In the first five months of 1849, this factory produces 1,200 plows.
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Antique Farming Top Visited John Deere Pages |
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left bottom 1855 This early logo from Deere stationery indicates John Deere sells wholesale and retail. It also offers implements in addition to
plows. The chain on the plow suggests it may be drawn by oxen. The plow features a front gauge wheel and a
vertical knife to cut the prairie sod for a clean furrow slice. |
In 1853
John Deere bought out Tate and Gould's interests in the company in 1853, the same year that he was joined in the business
by his son Charles Deere. The business continued to expand until 1857, when the company's production totals reached almost
1,120 implements per month. For then ext 16 years, the company is known variously as John Deere, John Deere & Co., Deere & Co., and Moline Plow Manufactory.
1857
In 1857 John Deere introduced the walking gang plow. By mounting two and later 3 plows farmers could cut plow time in half or more.
The first gang plows were priced at sixteen dollars. A John Deere advertisement: "I am putting into my plows this year a better
quality of steel than is used in any other plow in this state." Output tops 13,000.
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In 1863 John Deere makes the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator, the first John Deere implement adapted for riding.
In 1869 John Deere sales $564,646
NET Income $198,237
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1867
John Deere walking cultivator is patented in August
1867. Although the riding farm equipment was popular and many farmers prefer riding, the lower
cost of this unit makes it sell even though the man has
to walk in soft ground while straddling a row of corn.
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Crude wooden plows pulled by oxen and horses were already around in the seventeenth and eighteenth century,
but as far back as 1797 a man by the name of Charles Newbold took out a patent for the first cast-iron plow.
Twenty-two years later, in 1819 Jethro Wood obtained a patent for an iron plow with interchangeable parts.
It is not known how many plows these two early pioneers produced.
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John Deere was an Illinois blacksmith and manufacturer. Early in his career, Deere and an associate designed a series of farm plows.
In 1837, on his own, John Deere designed the first cast steel plow that greatly assisted the Great Plains farmers. The large plows
made for cutting the tough prairie ground were called "grasshopper plows." The plow was made of wrought iron and had a steel share that
could cut through sticky soil without clogging. By 1855, John Deere's factory was selling over 10,000 steel plows a year. Most historians
agree that by the turn of the century Deere & Company was the world’s largest plow producer.
In June of 1857, a man by the name of James Oliver obtained his first patent from the U.S. government, entitled “Improvement in Chilling Plow Shares.”
It covered a new way to process a plow point, or share, to an extremely hard surface. This was his first improvement in the plow. Many were to follow
and the Oliver Plow became the most popular plow in the world. In 1855 Oliver and a partner by the name of Little purchased a foundry and began producing the plow.
So successful were Oliver and Little that they were able to advertise a reward of $500 to anyone who could “chill or harden plowshares with equal success without
infringing on their patent.” The firm was renamed “Oliver, Little & Co.” in 1860 when Thelus Bussell, a machinist, was taken into the partnership. Approximately
1,000 plows were produced and sold in 1864. Of these 100 were the patented steel share plows that sold for $17.50 each. They also made hundreds of “double shovels”
and some 25-road scrapers for which they received $8 each. Castings were sold for 10 cents a pound. The Civil War was in progress and prices continued to rise as
demands for production increased.
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JOHN DEERE 720 |
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The
John Deere 720achieved many records in the Deere line: It was
the largest row-crop two-cylinder model built by
John Deere
;the largest row-crop tractor tested at Nebraska; it provided
more work per gallon of diesel fuel of any wheeled
or crawler tractor tested up to that time; and the gas and
LP-gas models were also the most powerful row-crops of
their fuel type.
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JOHN DEERE DIESEL |
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1949
John Deere RTractor becomes the first diesel
by John Deere. The biggest
John Deere
to date offering power and
weight that large wheat and rice farmers required.. It
provides 43 belt hp and weighs 7,400 pounds. Its 2-
cylinder diesel engine is started by a 2-cylinder gasoline
pony engine. It is also the first John Deere tractor to
offer an optional cab.
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JOHN DEERE
GANG PLOW |
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In the 1890's Deere came out with the Riding Gang Plow
Riding Gang Plow. With six good horses on hills, or four good horses on level land, six acres per day could be plowed. It was universally used for the next thirty years
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JOHN DEERE MANURE SPREADER |
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The
John Deere
company sales catalog began showing John Deere Manure Spreaders in 1910 with the acquisition of the Kemp & Burpee and their successful spreader
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John Deere Backhoe |
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The
John Deere 92 Backhoe
became a popular backhoe attachment. Available in a 10 and 12 foot model. Mounting options were the John Deere JD300 or the John Deere JD400 loaders only.
The 92 John Deere Backhoe like all other JD Backhoes were treated as attachments. The backhoes could be demounted to free the loader tractor for three
point hitch, drawbar or PTO work.
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JOHN DEERE 440 |
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1958 The
John Deere 440 crawler becomes the first real industrail tractor . The Integral
+John Deere 831 Loader will become a popular loader option.
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