Moline Plow Company

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Moline Plow Company

Moline Implement Company

legal form Corporation; Group brand
founding 1866
resolution 1929
Reason for dissolution fusion
Seat Moline , Illinois , USA
management
  • George W. Stephens
  • GA Stephens
Branch Agricultural machinery and equipment, tractors , Stephens automobiles

The Moline Plow Company is a former US company that manufactures agricultural equipment and tractors . It was the parent company of an automobile manufacturer , briefly owned by John North Willys and part of a merger in 1929 that resulted in Minneapolis-Moline .

Company history

Moline Plow Company's Columbus, Ohio branch , established in 1913

The Moline Plow Company was in 1852 as Candee, Swan & Company in Moline ( skirt Iceland County , Illinois founded). In 1866 it was reorganized as the Candee & Swan Implement Company . In an advertisement, the company saw 1865 as the year of origin: Manufacturers of Quality Farm Implements since 1865 .

Because of the use of the Moline Plow brand name for their plows, there was a bitter legal battle with the local Deere & Company . After a court had found Deere right in the first instance in 1867 , Candee & Swan appealed to the next instance, which in 1871 allowed them to use the name. The company was then reorganized under the name of its most important product. Another source gives 1870 as the date for this. In addition to equipment and machines for agriculture, horse buggies and the Mandt Wagon transport cart were also created . In 1882 the company's vice-president, George W. Stephens , acquired the majority in the company, which under his leadership developed into an important regional provider and also grew through the takeover of smaller competing companies. One of Stephen's first decisions was to purchase a patent for a horse-drawn ride-on plug, which was marketed very successfully as the Flying Dutchman from 1883 to around 1914 .

In the late 1870s, the inventor and industrialist William P. Bettendorf (1854–1910) worked for Moline Plow .

Moline Universal

Moline Universal Tractor Model D (1918-1923)

Steam-powered tractors manufactured by companies such as Advance-Rumely , Best , Holt or Case have been known since the late 1880s. Only six of the manufacturers of agricultural tractors around 1904 are known by name. In 1920 there were 166 suppliers who sold over 200,000 tractors; (According to another source, 10 manufacturers in 1910 and 190 ten years later).

The market benefited from increased agricultural production in the USA as a result of the First World War . It was the result of US aid to the Entente cordiale . The government encouraged the use of additional agricultural land. A growing problem was the lack of labor - exacerbated after the USA entered the war at the end of 1917 and the drafting of agricultural workers and farmers. Many farmers tried to alleviate the problem through mechanization.

Moline Plow decided to enter this market in 1915 and tested a motor plow built by International Harvester , but it was unsatisfactory. Instead, the company took over the Universal Tractor Company in Columbus (Ohio) that same year . This tractor manufacturer had developed a type of two-wheel tractor in 1914 , patented it and launched it as the Universal Cultivator Tractor . It turned out that the relatively easy-to-use tractor was well received by the market. The new owners offered it as Moline Universal until 1923.

It has two massive, driven iron wheels in front; Depending on the application, a tool such as a plow, harrow or cultivator is attached. This also serves as the rear axle for the significantly smaller, steered wheels and the driver's seat is also attached to the implement. This is how an articulated vehicle is created . However, contrary to its designation as a "single-axle tractor", it can only be used meaningfully in connection with a specially designed working device or a rear axle for pure locomotion.

As a result of a post-war economic depression and a violent price war, which was fought primarily by the volume manufacturers Fordson and International Harvester , but which affected the entire industry, the production of the Moline Universal had to be stopped. Moline Plow , like a number of other manufacturers, withdrew from tractor construction. The Minneapolis-Moline Universal , manufactured from 1934, is not technically related.

Stephens automobiles

Stephens Salient Six Roadster (1922)

The development of a passenger car also began around this time, with the aim of absorbing market losses in the production of agricultural machinery. The Stephens was built from 1916 to 1924 by the subsidiary Stephens Automobile Branch (from 1922 to 1924 Stephens Motor Car Company ) in Freeport (Illinois) . The production figures are between 19,146 and an estimated 35,000 copies.

GA Stephens , a son of the owner , became president of the company . Matthew A. Steele became managing director . Moline Plow invested in the automotive industry because of the need to diversify production and thus to offset a decline in agricultural machinery. The automobile was designed by engineer Edward T. Birdsall , and production began in May 1916 in the former premises of the coach builder John W. Henney & Company . The Stephens was an assembled car , ie a car that had been put together from purchased components.

The following models were made between 1916 (model year 1917) and 1924:

John North Willys

John North Willys , owner of the Willys-Overland Group, took over 51% of the Moline Plow Company in September 1918 . At that time the company had 22 branches and 3,000 dealers. Willys brought George Peek (1873-1943) as President and this appointed former US General Hugh S. Johnson (1881-1942) as the company's legal representative. Johnson served as a corporate attorney from 1919 to 1927. Both were previously on the War Production Board . Peek later became the head of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration , an agency within the Department of Agriculture.

Moline Plow was not incorporated into North's corporation, and most of the previous executives retained their positions under the new ownership.

Root & Vandervoort Engineering Company

Moline Plow used R&V gasoline engines in much of their farm equipment, manufactured by the Root & Vandervoort Engineering Company in East Moline, Illinois, founded in 1901 . This company had got into trouble due to unpaid arms contracts and was acquired by John Willys in 1920. It was affiliated as another subsidiary of the Moline Plow Company .

Root & Vandervoort brought in their own automobile production with the Moline Automobile Company, founded in 1904 . The last model, the Moline-Knight with slide motor , was built from 1920 to 1924 as the R&V Knight . As early as mid-1917, the Stephens Salient Six had been fitted with R&V engines, albeit not valve-controlled ones.

Moline truck

From 1920 to 1923, Moline Plow produced the Moline Model 10 truck with a payload of 1½ sh tn (1360 kg). The vehicle had a four-cylinder engine of unknown origin - an R & V is obvious after all - and a three-speed transmission. The wheelbase was 130 inches (3302 mm). In 1921 and 1922 the retail price was US $ 1,695.

Moline Implement Company

Shortly after the takeover of R&V, Willys ran into serious financial problems, which were due to the over-indebtedness of the profitable companies. John Willys had invested too much and taken out large loans. When a labor dispute broke out and a brief but severe recession set in, he was forced to allow the Willys-Overland Group to reorganize . This was carried out very successfully by the former senior General Motors manager and Buick boss Walter P. Chrysler . However, Willys was forced to part with large parts of his group. This included Moline Plow . This change of ownership probably led to the reorganization as Moline Implement Company . Peek's successor as President and General Manager was Frank G. Allen (1858-1940), who held this position for many years.

In a return to the core business, the manufacture of agricultural machinery, the manufacture of tractors, automobiles and engines was discontinued.

Minneapolis Moline Implement Company

In 1929, Moline Plow became part of a merger of several companies from the same industry: the Moline Plow Company , the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company ( Twin City tractors) and the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company became the Minneapolis-Moline Implement Company with the brand names Minneapolis- Moline and MM . In turn, it was taken over by White in 1963 ; their brand names disappeared in 1974.

Products (selection)

Moline Universal Model D, attachment points for connecting devices (1920)
  • Flying Dutchman ride-on horse plow (1883 – approx. 1914)
  • Highflying Dutchman ride-on horse plow
  • Dutch Uncle Harvester, horse drawn
  • Mandt Wagon wagon
  • Moline universal tractor system with attachments (1915–1923)
  • Stephens Automobile
  • Moline Model 10 , truck with 1½ sh tn (1360 kg) payload

literature

  • Charles H. Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890-1980. 2nd Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 2005, ISBN 0-87349-726-0 , ISBN 978-0-87349-726-8 .
  • Ralph W. Sanders: Vintage farm tractors: the ultimate tribute to classic tractors ; Town Square Books, Stillwater MN (1996), ISBN 978-0-89658-280-4
  • Chester Peterson Jr., Rod Beemer: Minneapolis-Moline Farm Tractor Color History ; MBI Motor Books International, Osceola WI (2000); (not available)
  • Charles H. Wendel, Andrew Morland: Minneapolis-Moline Tractors, 1870-1969 MBI Motor Books International, Osceola WI (1990); ISBN 0-87938-468-9 ISBN 978-0-87938-468-5 (not available)
  • Randy Leffingwell: Classic Farm Tractors: History of the Farm Tractor ; Crestline Books, 1st edition (1996), ISBN 978-0-7603-0246-0 (not available)
  • GN Georgano (Editor), G. Marshall Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles ; MBI Motor Books International, Osceola WI (1979); ISBN 0-87341-024-6
  • Albert Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles ; Krause Publications, Iola WI (1996); ISBN 0-87341-368-7 ; ISBN 978-0-87341-368-8
  • Albert Mroz: American Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles of World War I: Illustrated Histories of 224 Manufacturers (2009), Mcfarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson NC; ISBN 0-7864-3967-X ISBN 978-0-7864-3967-6

Web links

Commons : Moline Plow Company  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikibooks: Tractor Lexicon: Moline  - learning and teaching materials
Wikibooks: Tractor Lexicon: Universal  - learning and teaching materials

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890–1980 (2005), pp. 552–553 (Moline Universal)
  2. ↑ a b c d e Willys-Overland-Knight-Registry: Stephens
  3. ↑ a b c d e Sanders: Vintage farm tractors (1996), p. 144
  4. ↑ a b c d e Kimes / Cark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (1996), p. 1395
  5. ↑ a b c d Sanders: Vintage farm tractors (1996), p. 15
  6. ↑ a b Farm Collector: Universal tractor , p. 1
  7. ↑ Rajan, Ramcharan: The Anatomy of a Credit Crisis: The Boom and Bust in Farmland Prices in the United States in the 1920s. P. 6
  8. ↑ Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890-1980 (2005), p. 674 (Universal)
  9. ↑ Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890–1980 (2005), pp. 523–525 (Minneapolis-Moline Universal)
  10. ^ Genealogy Trails, Alice Horner: Freeport Home to Stephens Car
  11. ^ Automotive Industries, September 26, 1918: Control of Moline to Overland
  12. ^ Northrup: The American Economy: Essays and primary source documents (2003), pp. 327-328
  13. ^ Willys Overland Knight Registry: R&V, R&V Knight, Moline, Moline Knight History
  14. ^ Mroz: Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks and Commercial Vehicles. 1996, p. 280.
  15. ↑ Georgano, Naul: Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles. 1979, pp. 445.