Flash in the Pan

120 H. P. LOMBARD AUTO TRACTOR-TRUCK

LOMRARD AUTO TRACTOR TRUCK CORP., Havemeyer Building 26 CORTLANDT STREET, NEW YORK

Kardell Four-In-One

Of all the combination machines, the Kardell Four-In-One tractor deserves the spotlight because it claimed to do the most of any of the convertibles: instead of one tractor, you got four. As the company's advertising says, 'The Kardell 'Four-In-One' Replaces 5 Horses on Every Farm of 200 Acres' and can be used as a 'Motor Plow - Truck - Tractor - Farm Power.

'The duties of the Kardell 'Four-in-One' tractor are not ended when it has finished plowing your acres, threshing your wheat, filling your silos and doing its work on the farm.

'After it has increased the output of your land, it hauls your products to your shipping point. There is no need to increase your machinery expense by purchasing a special truck for handling, which will only work on good roads. The Kardell is your truck when you have produce to haul, your tractor when you have work to do on the farm.'

The transformation from tractor to truck was accomplished by attaching a trailer or implement to what appeared to be the front of the machine, where the steel frame jutted out to the smaller wheel.

This actually was the rear of the tractor. The two large drive wheels (60 inches in diameter, with a face of 12 inches), which on most other three-wheel tractors are the rear drive wheels, are actually the front wheels on this machine.

Farm Implement News wrote of the Kardell: 'Its superior efficiency is largely due to the simplicity of construction of its units, insuring lightness without sacrificing durability or strength.'

One of its strengths, the News continues, is that it grabs on both soft and hard soil, and does not pack the soil down. Rather, it makes the soil 'even more mellow. This is due to the unique tractive design of the wheels. They have a webbed tread (which) grips like a horse's hoof.'

The plow unit consisted of three 14-inch plows, which were hitched to the front end of the frame by a patented, adjustable spring draw-bar. Here the Kardell was far ahead of its time: Farm Implement News continues,

'This 'safety' spring yields enough to release the clutch whenever a rock or stump is encountered, thus stopping the machine automatically and without damage.

'It also makes it unnecessary to use the extra-heavy type of gangs commonly used with tractors, which cause so much excess draft.'