Old-Time Tractors
(Page 3 of 4)
November 2004
Bill Vossler
In 1919 Goold, Shapley & Muir Co. of Brantford, Ontario, Canada, manufactured its Beaver tractor, a 12-24 with a Waukesha four-cylinder 4 1/2- by 6 3/4-inch bore and stroke. It had seven forward or reverse speeds, weighed 5,800 pounds, and disappeared in 1922, when Goold abandoned tractor manufacturing.
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Caterpillar Tractor Co. was not the first to build a 'Cat.' That honor went to the Four Drive Tractor Co. of Big Rapids, Mich., in 1927, with its Model E 15-30 Cat tractor. It weighed 5,800 pounds, used a Waukesha four-cylinder engine of 4 3/8- by 5 3/4-inch bore and stroke, and died out when Four Drive went out of business in 1930.
Kansas City Hay Press Co. of Kansas City, Mo., can probably be forgiven for naming its tractor the 'Prairie Dog,' considering the abundance of the pests in their Great Plains location. Name or not, it was successful; four models were built: the original 12-25 in 1914; the Model L 9-18, in 1917; the 10-18 in 1920, (a re-rated 9-18); and the large 15-30 Model D with a 4 1/2- by 6 1/4-inch bore and stroke in 1920. The renamed Kansas City Hay Press & Tractor Co. went out of business by 1922.
Gaar-Scott tractors, after the company's purchase by M. Rumely Co. in 1911, were renamed the TigerPull line, reminiscent of Rumely's successful OilPull line. Once Gaar-Scott's tractor parts inventory ran out, so did the TigerPulls.
Toro (from the Spanish word for bull) tractors were first produced by Toro Motor Co. of Minneapolis in 1918. The Toro was a two-row power cultivator with a LeRoi four-cylinder engine of 3 1/8- by 4 1/2-inch bore and stroke. In about 1920, Toro manufactured the To-Ro cultivator (echoing 'two-row,' which it was). Over the years, Toro has produced smaller tractors and lawn-mowers.
Wallis Tractor Co. of Cleveland produced its Wallis Bear in 1912, and in 1913, the Wallis Cub. Fewer than a dozen Bears were made, and only one is known to exist today.
Besides Wolverine tractors built by companies with that name, the Ypsilanti Hay Press Co. of Ypsilanti, Mich., manufactured the Wolverine tractor in 1912, producing 18, 25 and 35 hp machines with a sliding gear transmission and a pair of forward speeds off a two-cylinder opposed engine.
Stretching the animals
With a bit of imagination, this group of tractors and companies can be included in the group of those with animal names.
In mythology, a centaur was a creature with the head, arms and trunks of a man, and the body and legs of a horse. Centaur Tractor Corp. of Greenwich, Ohio, manufactured various Centaur garden tractors starting in 1921, and the 2,200-pound Centaur KV (Kleav-View) 22. Centaurs were built until World War II.
The Farm Horse tractor was built first by Farm Horse Traction Works of Hartford, S.D., in 1916, and then Guttenberg, Iowa, in 1919. The 15-26 model weighed 4,800 pounds and sold for $895. Their 5,000-pound 18-30 Farm Horse tractor sold for $1,685 in 1920, after which the company disappeared, as did many from 1919 to 1921, the result of the Agricultural Depression.