Moline Universal

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Moline Universal Tractor Model D (ca.1918)

Moline Universal was the brand name of a two-wheel tractor from the US American agricultural machinery manufacturer Moline Plow Company in Moline (Illinois) . It is technically not related to the Universal manufactured by the successor company Minneapolis-Moline from 1934 onwards .

Two-wheel tractor

The first two-wheel tractor in the USA: Detroit Tractor (1913)

Agricultural tractors have been known since the late 1880s, initially with a steam drive, such as those from Advance-Rumely , Best , Holt or Case . These massive and very expensive vehicles often had to be operated by several people, which put the benefit and time savings into perspective. Two-wheel tractors were a viable route to a lighter, less expensive, one-man tractor. Corresponding developments began around 1910. The Detroit Farm Tractor , presented by the Detroit Tractor Company in Detroit ( Michigan ) in 1913, was probably the first usable representative of this genus.

Early two-wheel tractors usually required attachments that were specially designed for them, so the existing equipment (plows, harvesters, tillers) used with the farmer's draft animals could no longer be used. This additional benefit for the seller is likely to have deterred many potential buyers from investing in a two-wheel tractor.

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.

prehistory

Difficult environment

This advertisement for the Moline Universal tractor in Country Gentleman from January 19, 1918 advertises (still) with the labor shortage ("farm help")

As a result of the aid provided by the USA to the warring powers of the Entente cordiale in World War I , agricultural production rose in the USA. Encouraged by the government, more land was reclaimed. There was also a need for additional workers, which increased with the entry of the US into the war and the drafting of agricultural workers and farmers. Many farmers got into debt to buy new agricultural machinery or to electrify their operations. In the expectation that it would take a very long time before European agriculture would recover from the consequences of the war, prices for farmland also rose markedly: the national average in 1920 was 22 percent higher than the previous year and 68 percent higher than 1914 . As the agricultural sector in Europe quickly developed, broke the prices and many farmers found themselves increasingly unable to meet their obligations and their rates and mortgages to use. Many of them were also unable to pay the taxes that were due - and higher due to their earlier higher income. The complex problem accompanied the US economy for a decade and a half.

Universal Tractor Company

Moline Universal 9-18 (Model D) with plow (1920).


The Moline Universal was launched in 1914 by the Universal Tractor Company in Columbus, Ohio as the Universal Cultivator Tractor . It was after the aforementioned Detroit Farm Tractor appeared last year as one of the first single-axle tractors in the USA. The success of the Moline Universal led from 1919 to a competitor product from Allis-Chalmers , the 6-12 or Model 6 .

Moline Plow Company

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 and around 1870 as the Moline Plow Company . In 1882, Vice President George W. Stephens acquired the majority of the company, which under his leadership developed into an important regional supplier and also grew through the takeover of smaller competing companies.

In addition to equipment and machines for agriculture, horse buggies , the Mandt Wagon transport vehicle and, from 1916 to 1922, the Stephens automobile , which was then produced by an independent manufacturer for two years, were also produced. Moline Plow belonged 1918-1922 John Willys , the owner of the Willys-Overland - Group . After the sale, reorganized as the Moline Implement Company , it merged in 1929 with the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company ( Twin City tractors) and the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company to form the Minneapolis-Moline Implement Company (Minneapolis-Moline, MM), which was taken over by White in 1963 has been. The brand name only disappeared in 1974.

Moline Universal Tractor

Moline Plow bought Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company for US $ 150,000 in 1915 .

It turned out that the relatively easy-to-use tractor was well received by the market. 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.

technology

Propulsion of a Moline Universal Model D.

The Moline Universal is often defined as a two-wheel tractor , but this is only partially true. The vehicle is designed so that the implements form part of the chassis; as a result, unlike typical single-axle tractors, it can hardly be operated without them. The tractor itself, d. H. The front part of this composition consists of a sturdy ladder frame , the front axle with two massive, driven iron wheels, the longitudinally arranged two- or four-cylinder engine and a gear segment for the steering. The rear part consists of two central longitudinal members arranged one above the other and rotatably connected to the front part. They carry the non-driven rear axle and part of the steering device as well as, attached below, the linkage for the implement and the driver's seat. The two parts of the chassis can easily be separated by loosening two bolts, for example to change the implement. Together they form an articulated vehicle . The fastening mechanism consists of only two bolts; the rear is used to fasten the device, the front takes up the steering movements. The steering is steered by the action of the steering linkage on a gear segment, which shifts the rear part of the vehicle in the longitudinal axis. The rear chassis also contains the open driver's seat with controls and part of the steering mechanism. The seat is attached to the work tool.

The power is transmitted via shafts and gears to the large front wheels, which they hold by means of an internally toothed ring gear. The four-cylinder was introduced in 1918 with the Model D, with the water cooler being moved from the side to the more common position in front of motor vehicles, transverse to the direction of travel.

Depending on the application, the rear part can consist of a plow, a harrow , a cultivator , a transport trailer or a frame for mere locomotion without doing any work. The delivery program included other implements tailored to this tractor system, which can only be used in conjunction with the Moline Universal . That made this tractor expensive and comparatively impractical.

The vehicle had large iron wheels at the front with solid spokes and later with weights and smaller, also iron rear wheels. Iron tires were available with and without a profile and solid rubber tires at least for the front wheels.

Models A, B and C

Two-cylinder universal without concrete weights in the front wheels; the drive ring gear is clearly visible.

Model A was the name of the unchanged Universal Cultivator Tractor after the takeover by Moline Plow ; models B and C were improved versions of the same. All had two - cylinder boxer engines ; at least that of the Model A with 10 bhp output came from Reliable . All that is known of the B and C models is that they were further developments of the A, also with two-cylinder engines, and that they were replaced by the D model in 1917.

Universal asked for US $ 385 for the Cultivator Tractor and plow. The prices for the Moline Universal A, B and C are not known.

Model D ("Universal 9-18")

Model D is the last version of the Moline Universal . It was released for model year 1918 and was produced with few changes until 1923. The improvements include, in particular, a new four-cylinder engine with 9 bhp output at the drawbar and 18 bhp at 1800 rpm from the drive belt. With a 3½  inch bore and 5 inch stroke, the result is a displacement of 192.4  ci or 3153 cm³. The basic equipment included a Remy electric starter , electric lighting and a torque limiter. The carburetor came from Holley . The sources do not reveal the origin of the engine; because the Root & Vandervoort Engineering Company supplied almost all of the motors for Moline Plow , an R & V is at least likely. The tractor weighed over 3,380 pounds, including the concrete weights in the front wheels. They were added to lower the tractor's center of gravity and reduce a perceived tendency to tip over.

The technical features include a differential lock and a carburetor control by means of a rheostat ; so there is no mechanical connection between the gas pedal and the carburetor.

The tractor cost US $ 1,325 in 1920, the tractor encyclopedia names the Moline Orchard Tractor ( vineyard ) and the Moline Road Tractor ( road tractor ) as variants .

An engine output of 27.45 bhp was measured in a neutral test in which the tractor pulled 1778 lbs at 3.67 MPH.

Technology of the Moline Universal Model D

  • The attachment points for connecting devices. The steering mechanism is clearly visible (1920)

  • Rear view in the direction of travel. The ring gear for driving the wheels is clearly visible.

  • In the side view, the four-cylinder engine with the barrel-shaped fuel tank, the wheels with their concrete weights and the driving and steering mechanics are clearly visible. A plow is mounted as a work tool.

  • Advertisement from 1918 with information on the performance and application examples of available farm equipment.

Other American tractors (selection)

Competitive product: Allis-Chalmers 6-12 (advert from 1920).

literature

Web links

Commons : Moline Universal  - 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. ↑ Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890–1980 (2005), pp. 523–525 (Minneapolis-Moline Universal)
  2. ↑ a b c d Sanders: Vintage farm tractors (1996), p. 15.
  3. ↑ Rajan, Ramcharan: The Anatomy of a Credit Crisis: The Boom and Bust in Farmland Prices in the United States in the 1920s. P. 6.
  4. ^ Northrup: The American Economy: Essays and primary source documents (2003), pp. 327-328.
  5. ↑ Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890–1980 (2005), p. 270 (Detroit Tractor Co.)
  6. ↑ Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890–1980 (2005), p. 37 (Allis-Chalmers 6-12)
  7. ↑ a b c d e Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890–1980 (2005), pp. 552–553 (Moline Universal)
  8. ^ A b Willys Overland Knight Registry: Stephens
  9. ↑ a b Sanders: Vintage farm tractors (1996), p. 144.
  10. ↑ a b Kimes / Cark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (1996), p. 1395.
  11. ↑ a b c Farm Collector: Universal tractor
  12. ↑ a b c d Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890–1980 (2005), p. 553 (Moline Universal)
  13. ↑ Wendel: Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890–1980 (2005), p. 674 (Universal)
  14. ↑ csgnetwork.com: cubic inch calculator
  15. ↑ Farm Collector: 1917 Moline Universal Model D - Restored