The Threshing Machine King
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In 1869 Case brought out what was touted as a highly improved thresher, a no-apron machine called the Case Eclipse. The appearance of this thresher was significant for two reasons. First, the new Eagle trademark appeared on each Eclipse thresher, and, second, Case recognized that in order to realize the full potential of the new thresher, some power source other than horse treadmills or sweeps must be developed.
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The J.I. Case company trademark reportedly resulted in large part from an incident going back to 1861. At that point, Jerome Case happened to be in Eau Claire, Wis., when Company C of the Eighth Wisconsin was being mustered. The company mascot was a bald eagle named “Old Abe.” For four years the eagle was carried by the Company C soldiers and, although it was wounded several times, it came home with the regiment. The sight of the great bird apparently affected Case: When a trademark for the Case implements was conceived, Old Abe filled the role.
Driven to steam
Realizing the need for additional power to utilize the potential of his threshing machines, Case brought out the first of his steam engines in 1869. It seems likely he may have been inspired in his quest to manufacture a power source suitable for the American farmer by an address given by President Abraham Lincoln before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society at Milwaukee a decade earlier. There Lincoln said:
“The successful application of steam power to farm work is a desideratum — especially a steam plow. It is not enough that a machine operated by steam will really plow. To be successful, it must, all things considered, plow better than can be done with animal power, it must do all the work as well, and cheaper or more rapidly. ...”
Case Steam Engine No. 1 was manufactured to fulfill these needs. Apparently it did so successfully: In the ensuing years, 36,000 more of these portable steam engines were built to power American farm implements. The draft animal was not totally replaced: A team was necessary to pull the steam engine from job to job.
Ten years later, in 1876, the Case steam traction engine was developed. That year 75 of these engines were manufactured and sold. By that point, farmers — especially those in the wheat belt — were eagerly buying steam traction engines. During the 1870s, 3,000 of the mammoth machines were sold. A decade later, fully 5,000 steam traction engines were purchased to work the fields of North America.