During the colonial period of America's history, the British Crown carved land
up into huge chunks, which it granted to private companies or individuals.
These grantees divided the land further and sold it to others. When we
gained independence from England in 1783, America's Founding
Fathers needed to develop a new system of land distribution.
They agreed that all unsettled lands would come under the
authority of the federal government, which could then
sell it for $2.50 an acre or $6.25 a hectare which is
about 40% larger than a acre.
The revolution in agriculture, paralleling that in manufacturing after the
Civil War, involved a shift from rough hand labor to machine farming,
from subsistence to commercial agriculture. Farm machines were
built in rapid succession: the threshing machine, the reaper
thresher or combine and the automatic wire binder.
Mechanical planters, cutters, huskers and shellers appeared, as did cream
separators, manure spreaders, potato planters, poultry incubators,
hay driers, hit & miss engines, farm tractors and hundreds
of other innovative inventions, helping produce the
American Farmer of today.
Early Video History of Antique Farm Tractors
NOTE: Sometimes This Video Needs To Be
Reset To The Beginning
Look What TTG Just Added For The Pull'n Crew ! Link Here
TTG 1951 Minneapolis Moline UTS-LP
M-M was headquartered in Hopkins, MN and had
plants on Lake Street at Hiawatha Avenue in
Minneapolis, MN, in Hopkins, MN, and
Moline, IL. It was acquired by the
White Motor Company in 1963
and the brand name was
dropped in 1974.
In 1855, James Oliver of Mishiwaka, Indiana bought ¼
interest in a small foundry outside of South Bend.
In 1857, he received his first patent for his
chilled plow. This chilled plow had a
very hard outer skin and was
able to scour in heavy,
sticky soils.
In the 1920's, Oliver began experimenting with a tractor
of their own. The result was the Oliver Chilled Plow
Tractor. Only one example of this tractor is
known to exist today.
The Oliver Farm Equipment Co. was formed in 1929
after the merger of Hart-Parr Tractor Works,
Nichols & Shepard, Oliver Chilled Plow
Works, & American Seeding Co. This
company could now supply the
farmer with a tractor, till-
age tools, planting tools
and harvesting
machines.
In 1944 The Oliver Farm Equipment Company
became the Oliver Corporation.
1930 Oliver/Hart-Parr 18-27 Row Crop 4-Cyl Kerosene
1st Company To Produce A Row Crop Tractor
Hart-Parr is also credited with introducing the word
"Tractor" into the English language.
Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr met as mechanical
engineering students in 1892 at the University of
Wisconsin in Madison. Their mutual interest
in the development of the internal com-
bustion engine led them to a joint,
extra credit project to produce
an internal combustion
engine.
In fact, they produced five engines and graduated with
honors. They found some financial backing, incor-
porated and built a small factory in Madison
to produce stationary engines. These were
designed to run on gasoline. According
to Hart-Parr records, about 1,200
stationary engines were built
at their Madison factory.
By 1900, production had exceeded their factory space
and Hart wanted to build a traction engine that
could pull a plow. They needed more capital
and a larger factory. This they found in
Charles City, Iowa, Hart's birthplace.
Charles Hart's father interested
local business men in backing
the new factory. On July
5th, 1901, this was the
1st factory to begin
producing farm
tractors.
In 1946, Cockshutt began making the first line of modern farm tractors
manufactured in Canada. The origins of the company's agricultural
business can be traced to the 1870's operated by the Cockshutt
family. In November, 1960 White Motor Corporation of
Cleveland, Ohio, a truck manufacturer, acquired
Oliver Corporation as a wholly-owned
subsidiary. White also acquired
Cockshutt Farm Equipment
of Canada in February,
1962, and made a
subsidiary of
Oliver.
After a prolonged bankruptcy proceeding, the White
Motor Corp. was purchased by AGCO in 1991.
The machinery manufacturing company that bore the
Rumely name for nearly 77 years had its beginning
in 1853 when Meinrad Rumely, a mechanic by
trade, settled in La Porte, Indiana, after im-
migrating from Germany to the United
States at age 25. He persuaded his
brother John to join him in
partnership to start a
repair shop.
The Rumely brothers started producing threshers and
later moved on to steam engines. The first internal
combustion tractor at the company was the
OilPull, launched in 1910, with an oil
cooled engine.
A 1911 merger with the Advance Thresher Company
changed the name to Advance~Rumely. In the
late 1920s, Advance~Rumely attempted
to enter the market for smaller
tractors with the DoAll
& the 6A, but had
difficulties.
Allis-Chalmers purchased Advance~Rumely in 1931
and stopped production of all models by 1936.
When the John Deere Company "New Generation" tractors
were introduced on Aug. 30, 1960, in Dallas, Texas, it
was a ground breaking event.
Why? Because the New Generation tractors didn't exhibit
the usual "evolutionary" modifications of new models.
Instead, these were truly "revolutionary" tractors.
TTG John Deere 3020 Info & SlideShow Here
The museum is named after Lester F. Larsen, Chief Engineer
of the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory from 1946 to
1975. Larsen initiated the collection of historic
tractor test equipment and tractors that
illustrate key developments in agri-
cultural technology over
the decades.
More Museum Info Here
In 1919, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill requiring
that any agricultural tractor sold in the state must
have its advertised performance claims verified
by a board of three engineers. The Nebraska
Tractor Test Laboratory was established
in 1920 in response to the Nebraska
Tractor Test Act of 1919.
The legislature established a facility for tractor testing
on the east campus of the University of Nebraska at
Lincoln, to ensure that tractor manufacturers
met their advertised claims of the new
tractors performance.
The first tractor successfully tested in the lab in 1920 was
a John Deere Waterloo Boy. Today it remains the
only tractor testing museum in the world.
It is also still the only complete
tractor test laboratory in
the world.
It has been only a couple generations ago that the Hit & Miss engine
promoted the explosion of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of engine manufacturers sprang up
all over the civilized world. These engines were a boon to
farmers and industrialists alike. The farmer with the
purchase of just one small engine could now run
his cream separator, wood saw, butter churn,
corn sheller, feed grinder, gristmill and
pump water. Everything from small
shops to factories could be run
on these engines now.
Nothing today sounds quite like a Hit & Miss popping along at
a show or country fair. Let's hope these relics of the past
will be here for our future generations to enjoy.
Hit & Miss How Old Iron Works
Hear The Sounds & View More Info Here
Farm Find Saved From The Scrap Yard
( owner was about to scrap it in minutes )
1935 International C-30, 1 ½ Ton, Flat Head 6 Cyl
TTG IH C-30 Truck Refurb SlideShow Here
Early Video History of Antique Farm Tractors
