The True Universal Tractors: Stillwater Universal and Moline Universal
While many tractors claimed to do it all, only two lived up to the "universal" billing
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A front-side view of a Universal tractor.
Bill Vossler
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For early manufacturers eyeing the market, it didn’t take long to figure out that a multi-tasking tractor had enormous commercial potential.
Delivering the goods, however, was another matter. Many tractors over the years have carried the name “Universal,” but only two came close to the ideal.
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The Universal of Stillwater, Minn., and the Moline Universal, both launched before 1920, were designed and used for a broad variety of farm chores at a time when the definition of the word tractor was still evolving. “The Universal is well-suited to the running of the clover huller, corn shredder, corn sheller, feed grinder and many other various uses,” notes a booklet published in 1917 by the Universal Tractor Co., Stillwater, Minn., “as well as in pulling binders, manure spreaders and hauling heavily loaded wagons and in fact for all general purposes on the farm.”
The early 4-wheel Universal
The first mention of the early 4-wheel Universal came in 1909 from the Universal Tractor Co. “offering a tractor by year’s end,” built in Crookston, Minn., but supported by Stillwater-based capital, according to R.B. Gray in The Agricultural Tractor 1855-1950. That machine, which resembled a smaller version of the Pioneer tractor built in Winona, Minn., had a 2-cylinder opposed engine with a 7-1/2- by 8-inch bore and stroke and was capable of producing 18 hp.
Even before it was finished, the tractor drew industry interest. “The engine is not completed yet,” noted an account in Power Farming, “and the test Saturday was made with two ordinary gang plows, and the engine showed all kinds of power. The test was made on Timothy sod that had not been plowed for six years and was very tough. The plowing was done 6 inches deep and was an excellent job.” The writer credits A.O. Espe with engine design, and reports that manufacturing took place at the Espe foundry in Crookston.
The landscape changed quickly for the Minnesota-type Universal. In May 1910, Gas Engine magazine (unconnected to Farm Collector’s sister publication of the same name) announced, “The property of the Universal Tractor Co. has been taken over by the Northwest Thresher Co., Stillwater, which will continue to manufacture the tractors and place them on the market.”
In 1911, Minneapolis Threshing Machine Co. started selling the Universal as the “Minneapolis Universal Farm Motor.” That company’s 1914 catalog shows the tractor as a beefed-up 20 hp machine; 1915 was the last year the company sold the Universal.
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