The Square Turn Tractor
(Page 2 of 4)
July 2009
Loretta Sorensen
Inventors step aside
Experiencing the financial challenges common to any start-up, Kenney-Colwell was forced out of the tractor business in just two years. The partners sold their patents to the Albaugh-Dover Co., Chicago, in 1916. The Square Turn Tractor Co. was organized in December 1917 with headquarters in Chicago; the manufacturing operation remained in Norfolk.
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Over the next four years, approximately $2 million in common stock was sold to 3,500 investors. Plans called for construction of approximately 2,000 tractors per year. Equipped with a 3-bottom gangplow attachment (an Oliver 3-bottom plow was the standard offering), the Square Turn sold for $1,385. Albaugh-Dover also streamlined the 7,800-pound tractor and added a Waukesha engine.
The tractor’s primary selling point remained its unique ability to make a square turn. The grip drive made it possible for one wheel to move forward while the other wheel moved in the opposite direction, effectively turning the tractor in its own length. A unique foot throttle was used to control speed.
“No other farm tractor is so easy and natural to drive as the Square Turn,” advertisements boasted. “Pull left lever to turn left, right lever to turn right and pull both halfway back to stop and all the way to back up. Anyone can learn to drive the Square Turn in ten minutes.”
U.S. involvement in World War I, however, presented challenges the company could not overcome. Federal restrictions on steel and other critical materials hamstrung domestic manufacturing operations during the war. The company was able to produce nothing more than demonstration models, and customers demanded refunds of cash deposits they’d paid.
Competitive pressures and the Agricultural Depression of 1920-21 sounded a death knell for the company. Although Square Turn sold as many as 50 tractors in 1921, the enterprise was never profitable. By the end of that year, Square Turn Tractor Co. had ceased operations and filed for bankruptcy. The Norfolk plant was sold in 1925.
Plenty of power
The Square Turn also had an uncommonly powerful engine for the era. It was much larger than those used in other tractors and cost a great deal more to produce. But customers determined it well worth the cost. “This liberal surplus of power can be drawn on when field conditions are heavy or when there is an overload to pull,” promotional materials noted. “There is never a feeling of the engine laboring or that you are in danger of stalling.”