Allis-Chalmers

Allis-Chalmers
legal form	Corporation
founding	1901
Seat	United States , West Allis (Wisconsin)
Branch	Construction machinery, agricultural technology, switchgear, power plant technology, paper machines, turbine construction, combustion engines

Allis-Chalmers was an American mechanical engineering company from Wisconsin . The agricultural machinery division is now a brand of the AGCO Corporation .

history

Predecessor company

Blower machine from EP Allis

Fraser & Chalmers was founded in Chicago in 1872 by Thomas Chalmer and David R. Fraser. The company mainly manufactured mining machines. In 1890 a branch was established in London.

Gates Iron Works was a Chicago-based breaker and cement machine manufacturer .

The Edward P. Allis & Company established in 1861, when Edward Phelps Allis the Reliance Works acquired in Milwaukee. The company manufactured flour mills , millstones and sawmills . From 1869 steam engines were also manufactured. After Edward Allis' death in 1889, the company was continued by his sons Charles and William.

The Dickson Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of steam engines, blowers , compressors and locomotives. The company was founded by Thomas Dickson in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1856 . The area for locomotive construction went on in the American Locomotive Company .

The first years

Allis Chalmers was founded as Allis-Chalmers Company in 1901 through the merger of the four companies Edward P. Allis & Company (Milwaukee), Fraser & Chalmers (Chicago), Gates Iron Works (Chicago) and Dickson Manufacturing (Scranton). Charles Allis became the managing director of the new company, his brother William became chairman of the board of directors and William J. Chalmers became deputy managing director. Shortly after the merger, a new factory was built in North Greenfield , which was renamed West Allis in 1902 because of this factory . In 1904 Charles Allis resigned from his post due to his wife becoming ill. In the same year the Bullock Electric Company was leased and bought the following year. In 1905 the production of steam turbines began . Due to economic difficulties, the company had to apply for bankruptcy protection in 1912. Otto H. Falk was appointed as insolvency administrator. The insolvency that had survived in 1913 was highlighted with the new company name Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company , Otto Falk remained on the company's board of directors.

Rise and Expansion

An Allis Chalmers tractor

A Roto Baler 10 from Allis-Chalmers

In 1912, Allis-Chalmers began developing tractors. As early as 1914, the company was able to present its first tractor with the three-wheel model 10-18. In 1915 it was back in the black for the first time since bankruptcy. In 1928, the Allis-Chalmers Model 6-12, a tractor with two large, driven front wheels and two smaller, steered rear wheels, was presented. However, this did not stay on the market for long, because it represented a patent infringement on the Universal Tractor of the Moline Plow Company . In the 1920s, Allis-Chalmers bought several other companies, including a. Nordyke Marmon & Company in 1926 , the Pittsburgh Transformer Company in 1927, and the Monarch Tractor Company in 1928 . From 1929 the tractors were painted orange. In the same year, the production of the Universal began for the United Tractor and Equipment Corporation , an association of Fordson dealers. The Universal was sold as the Model U by both the United Tractor and Equipment Corporation and Allis-Chalmers until 1930 . The Model U was manufactured until 1952, initially with a Continental engine and from 1932 with an Allis-Chalmers engine.

Advance-Rumely was taken over in 1931 , and in that year the electrical switchgear division was also acquired from Brown Boveri 's US subsidiary . In 1932 the Ryan Manufacturing Company was acquired , which enabled graders to be added to the product range . In the same year Otto Falk gave up the post on the board of directors to Max Babb, but remained chairman of the board of directors . In 1933, the toilet was introduced, a tractor that was to become a bestseller; by the end of production in 1948, 178,000 units had been sold. In 1935, the All-Crop was introduced, a series of trailed combine harvesters . In 1938, the first caterpillar from the new HD series was presented with the HD-14. The HD series models had Detroit Diesel diesel engines in place of the gasoline engines used in previous models.

During the Second World War , mainly machines needed for the war were produced, such as caterpillars from the regular Allis-Chalmers product range, but also electric motors for submarines and specially developed vehicles such as the M4 , M6 and M7 . But Allis-Chalmers was also an important partner for the Manhattan Project .

By licensing John Rust's patents for his cotton harvesters , Allis-Chalmers entered the production of cotton harvesting machines as a third manufacturer alongside International Harvester and John Deere . In 1947 Allis-Chalmers introduced the Roto-Baler, a forerunner of the later round baler , which was manufactured until 1967. From 1949 Allis-Chalmers offered an equipment carrier with the G model .

With the takeover of LaPlant-Choate in 1952, Allis-Chalmers entered the production of scrapers . Allis-Chalmers used engines from Detroit Diesel, a subsidiary of General Motors, in their construction machinery until the 1950s. With the takeover of Euclid Trucks by General Motors in 1953, GM and Allis-Chalmers became direct competitors in the construction machinery sector. Therefore, the management of Allis-Chalmers decided in turn to take over the Buda Engine Co. With the takeover of Buda, Allis-Chalmers also received its forklift division. In 1954 a subsidiary was founded in Great Britain . In 1955 Allis-Chalmers offered the first wheeled tractor with a diesel engine (crawler tractors with diesel engines had already existed before). In the same year Robert S. Stevenson became the new managing director. Shortly after taking office, Stevenson reorganized the company and split the previous two business areas into a total of six. Also in 1955, the Gleaner company, a manufacturer of combine harvesters, was bought, whose brand name Allis-Chalmers was to continue to use for combine harvesters. Between 1955 and 1957, Allis-Chalmers produced the M50 Ontos for the United States Marine Corps . In 1957 the two new tractor models D14 and D17 were presented, which were part of the likewise new D series, which introduced the Power Director as an innovation . The series was expanded to include other models over the next few years, including the D21, which was available from 1963 and, with its more than 100 hp, was Allis-Chalmers' most powerful tractor up to that point.

In 1958 S. Morgan Smith , a manufacturer of water turbines , pumps, etc. was taken over. In order to get access to the European market, one needed own factories within the EEC . With the purchase of the Italian construction machinery manufacturer Vender in 1959, a corresponding factory for construction machinery production was acquired. In the USA, the Tractomotive Corporation was taken over that year, a manufacturer of bulldozers with which they had already worked together. The nuclear technology division of the American Car and Foundry Company was also bought in 1959 . After experimenting with fuel cells in the 1950s , in 1959 the Allis-Chalmers fuel cell tractor was the world's first larger vehicle to be operated with a fuel cell.

When in 1960 antitrust proceedings against 29 companies in the US electrical and power plant industry (including Westinghouse Electric , General Electric , Square D , Cutler-Hammer , Allen-Bradley , Ingersoll Rand and HK Porter ) and 45 managers of these companies for illegal price fixing came, Allis-Chalmers pleaded guilty. In the subsequent proceedings, the group and three of its managers were sentenced to fines. The European market was expanded further in 1960 with the takeover of the French tractor manufacturer Vendeuvre , which operated two factories in France. In 1961, the D19 was the world's first tractor with a turbo- charged diesel engine. In 1961, the British baler manufacturer Jones Balers Ltd. was bought. from Mold on. In 1962 the company withdrew from the steam turbine business , but continued to manufacture parts for steam turbines for the two previous competitors General Electric and Westinghouse Electric, especially in the West Allis plant . In 1965, Simplicity Manufacturing was taken over, a manufacturer of motorized garden tools . Simplicity had already purchased small tractors and snow blowers since 1961 and sold them under their own brand names.

After the profit margin had become very low in the 1960s and finally sales collapsed, Ling-Temco-Vought made a takeover offer in 1967, but the management of Allis-Chalmers rejected this. This resulted in a week-long takeover battle, at the end of which Ling-Temco-Vought withdrew his offer. A year later, there was another takeover attempt, this time by White Consolidated Industries , which in October 1968 acquired 30% of the shares in Allis-Chalmers from Gulf + Western . The new CEO David C. Scott defended himself against this takeover attempt, and the Federal Trade Commission also filed a complaint with the United States Supreme Court , which resulted in White losing the voting rights of his shares. So White sold his shares again in February 1971.

In 1968, the Terra Tiger, a floatable all-terrain vehicle equipped with six wheels, was launched on the market. Also in 1968, the Advanced Electrochemical Products Division (AEPD), a new division that had previously been part of the development department, was founded. The task of this division was the development and manufacture of fuel cells and life support systems , especially for government agencies such as NASA, US Navy, US Army and US Air Force. The headquarters of this division with a corresponding production facility was located in Greendale (Wisconsin) . Just two years later, Allis-Chalmers withdrew from this area, dissolved the business area and closed the factory in Greendale.

In 1969, an agreement was reached with the British forklift manufacturer Lancer Boss Limited to market their heavy-duty forklifts in North America to supplement their own portfolio.

Decline and end

Fiat-Allis wheel loader

From 1970 Allis-Chalmers was producing the HD 41, which was then the largest bulldozer in the world, a prototype of which had already been shown in 1963. Also in that year a joint venture for the production of steam turbines was founded with KWU under the name Allis-Chalmers Power Systems . From 1970, Renault Agriculture began purchasing tractors for the US market. From 1972 the Bearcat from Steiger was sold as Allis-Chalmers 440 in order to be able to offer a large all-wheel drive tractor, before the 7580 was able to offer its own model in 1976. In 1974 the conveyor technology division was acquired from Stephens-Adamson . In the same year, the paper machine division was incorporated into a joint venture with Voith and the construction machinery division into a joint venture with Fiat , which was named Fiat-Allis . Fiat initially held 65% of this joint venture, Allis-Chalmers 35%. Three years later, Voith acquired Allis-Chalmers' shares in this joint venture.

1977 agreed to, future compact tractors from Toyosha to market in the US. In the same year, the Siemens-Allis joint venture was founded with Siemens , which began operations in January 1978. The aim of this joint venture was to jointly manufacture and sell products in the field of energy technology (electric motors, switchgear), after a license agreement had existed with Siemens in this area since 1970. Siemens bought 35% of this joint venture from its partner in 1981, before acquiring the last 15% in 1985.

In 1978 they took over the filter manufacturer American Air Filter , in which they had previously held a 4.9% stake. This area was sold to Snyder General ten years later . In 1980, Hartman Metal Fabricators was taken over, a warehouse technology company . In 1983 Simplicity was sold to Wesray Capital Corporation .

In 1985, the previous CEO David C. Scott left the company. Wendel Bueche was his successor. Allis-Chalmers' agricultural machinery division was sold to KHD Deutz in 1985 . The production of the typical orange Allis Chalmers tractors was ended in the same year, instead green tractors made in Europe were offered in the USA under the new brand name Deutz-Allis . In 1986 the water turbine division was sold to Voith. The forklift truck division was also sold to AC Material Handling that year . This was taken over by Kalmar Industries two years later and the forklifts were then marketed under the brand name Kalmar AC . Once in June Allis-Chalmers 1987 bankruptcy protection had to apply, in 1988 several operations, the subsidiaries were sold, as Stephens-Adamson at Boliden and the pump division of ITT .

Allis-Chalmers Energy

When the remaining divisions of Allis-Chalmers were able to be released from bankruptcy in 1988, Allis-Chalmers Energy emerged , which was active as a service provider for oil companies. The company's headquarters were in Houston, Texas. In 2002 Strata Directional Drilling was acquired and in 2004 Safco-Oil Field Products . Allis-Chalmers Energy was finally bought by Seawell in 2011 .

AGCO-Allis

After a management buyout in 1990, Deutz tractors were initially imported, but these were again painted orange and sold under the brand name AGCO-Allis. The following new Allis tractors were bought from Same , whose US business AGCO had already taken over (until 1998). The AGCO-Allis brand name was discontinued in 2001 in favor of the new AGCO brand.

literature

Norm Swinford: Proud Heritage of AGCO Tractors . 1999, ISBN 978-1-892769-08-4 .
Charles H. Wendel: The Allis-Chalmers Story . 2004, ISBN 978-0-87349-927-9 .

Web links

Commons : Allis-Chalmers -Collection of Images

Wikibooks: Tractor dictionary: Allis-Chalmers - learning and teaching materials

Individual evidence

^ Boston Evening Transcript of October 21, 1905: Absorbed By Allis-Chalmers Co.

↑ pp. 32-33

↑ Tharran E. Gaines: How to Paint Your Tractor. MBI Pub., 2009, ISBN 978-1-61673-194-6 , p. 83. Restricted preview in Google Book Search

^ ^A ^b Terry Dean: Allis-Chalmers Farms Tractors and Crawlers Data Book. MBI Pub., 2000, ISBN 978-0-7603-0770-0 , ISBN 0-89658-280-9 , p. 24. Limited preview in Google Book Search

^ CH Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890-1980. Krause Publications, 2005, ISBN 978-1-4402-2795-0 , p. 41. Restricted preview in Google book search

↑ Machines Merge In: Time Magazine, April 27, 1931:

^ Mira Wilkins: The History of Foreign Investment in the United States, 1914-1945 . Harvard University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-674-01308-7 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

↑ The Pittsburgh Press, January 17, 1932: Allis Chalmers Buys Machinery Company

↑ Ralph W. Sanders: Vintage Farm Tractors: The Ultimate Tribute to Classic Tractors Town Square Books, 1996, limited preview in the Google book search

↑ The Milwaukee Journal, January 20, 1946: Allis-Chalmers' Share in Atomic Bomb Is Told

^ The Milwaukee Journal of October 23, 1944: Allis-Chalmers May Make Cotton Harvesting Machine

^ Charles H. Wendel, Andrew Morland: Allis-Chalmers Tractors . Motorbooks International, 1992, ISBN 978-0-87938-628-3 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

^ The Milwaukee Journal March 11, 1954: British Unit Formed by Allis-Chalmers

↑ The Milwaukee Sentinel, April 19, 1955: Stevenson One of Youngest AC Chiefs

^ The Milwaukee Sentinel, June 10, 1955: Allis-Chalmers Streamlines Organization

↑ The Milwaukee Sentinel, November 26, 1958: AC to Acquire Morgan Smith Co.

^ Gadsden Times, October 6, 1959: AC Acquires New Plant In Italy

^ The Milwaukee Sentinel, May 7, 1959: AC Reports Order Boom

↑ limited preview in the Google book search

↑ Toledo Blade, June 14, 1960: Firm Admits Price Fixing

^ The Milwaukee Journal of February 16, 1961: New Fines, Sentences Given in Price Fixing

↑ The Milwaukee Sentinel, September 13, 1960: AC Buys Control Of French Firm

^ Patrick W. Ertel: The American Tractor . Motorbooks International, 2001, ISBN 978-0-7603-0863-9 , pp. 22 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

^ The Milwaukee Sentinel of September 19, 1961: AC Unit Adds English Firm

^ ^A ^b ^c The Milwaukee Journal of February 19, 1970: AC, German Firms Form Power Field Links

^ ^A ^b The Milwaukee Journal, September 1, 1970: Court Allows Deal of AC, Simplicity

^ Frederick Zimmerman: The Turnaround Experience . McGraw-Hill Inc., 1991, ISBN 978-0-07-072899-8 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

^ ^A ^b The Milwaukee Sentinel of March 29, 1971: White reports loss

^ William R. Haycraft: Yellow Steel: The Story of the Earthmoving Equipment Industry . University of Illinois Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-252-07104-1 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

^ ^A ^b The Milwaukee Journal of December 10, 1970: AC Leaving Soft Market in Fuel-Cells

^ AC to Market Units for British Company. In: google.com. February 10, 1969, accessed December 31, 2014 .

^ Michael Alves, Keith Haddock, Hans Halberstadt: Heavy Equipment . Motorbooks International, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7603-1775-4 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

^ William R. Haycraft: Yellow Steel: The Story of the Earthmoving Equipment Industry . University of Illinois Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-252-07104-1 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

^ Eugene Register-Guard, August 8, 1971 , at www.news.google.com , accessed January 4, 2016

^ Allis-Chalmers 160 , at www.tractordata.com , accessed January 4, 2016

↑ ^a ^b Patrick W. Ertel: The American Tractor . Motorbooks International, 2001, ISBN 978-0-7603-0863-9 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

^ The Milwaukee Journal, June 25, 1974: AC Unit Put in Joint Venture

↑ St. Petersburg Times of January 8, 1974: Allis-Chalmers, Fiat to Join in Production

^ The Milwaukee Sentinel, May 4, 1977: Voith Buys AC Share

^ The Milwaukee Sentinel of November 27, 1982: Siemens-Allis weighs leaving West Allis site

^ New York Times of December 15, 1981: Siemens to Raise Stake in Venture

↑ The Milwaukee Sentinel, July 29, 1978: Allis-Chalmers to Acquire American Air Filter

^ Associated Press, April 12, 1988: Allis-Chalmers Plans to Sell Air Quality Business

^ The Milwaukee Sentinel, January 9, 1980: Allis-Chalmers purchases firm in New York

^ Associated Press, July 28, 1986: Allis-Chalmers Selling Hydro-Turbine Business