The evolution of technology does not advance in a straight line. Hiccups, missteps and afterthoughts are inevitable. Factor in the segment of the population that is resistant to change, and one would be forgiven if he stood up and cheered for successful launch of any new idea.
Take metal tractor seats, a popular collectible today. For hundreds of years, horses and mules provided the muscle to pull wagons and implements. There were no seats on implements; the farmer walked alongside.
But the American Civil War had an unexpected impact. It created boom times for northern farmers who increased production of hay, oats and corn for the army’s equine force, wool for uniforms and hides for saddles and harness.
Meanwhile, European crop failures increased demand for American grain and meat. That demand had previously been met by southern producers, but the Union Navy’s blockade of southern ports meant another drain on farmers in Canada and the northern states. A loss of manpower to the war effort compounded the situation. American farmers quickly discovered demand was stronger than their ability to meet it.
Understanding that a farmer seated on an implement could work far more acres a day, and recognizing the potential for increased sales, equipment manufacturers seized the moment. The first riding implement –a row-crop corn cultivator — was introduced in 1862. Today, implement seats are hot collectibles. We might just as well treasure them for their impact on agriculture.
Barely half a century later, when the Avery Co. of Peoria, Illinois, introduced its first farm truck in 1910, buyers were wooed with a large belt pulley that could be attached to the front crankshaft to power grain separators and other belt-driven machines. Early Avery trucks also had cast steel wheels into which wooden plugs could be driven to provide added traction. Pretty impressive stuff for 1910!
Other manufacturers — including Deere & Co., Dain and International Harvester — rapidly entered the market. But as Clell Ballard relates in an article about old fashioned turn signals in this issue, technology again advanced unevenly. The second world war ended before blinkers began to be standard on American cars.
Such a simple thing, a seat on an implement. Such an indispensable feature, a blinker on a wide-body, slow-moving farm truck. A new idea is the first step; improvements prove its worth. Food for thought the next time you cuss your cell phone for its inadequacies.
Leslie C. McManus
LMcManus@ogdenpubs.com
