Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Co. (1893–1895)
Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. (1895–1918)
John Deere Tractor Co. (1918–1920)

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1893
resolution 1920
Reason for dissolution Reorganization after sale to John Deere
Seat Waterloo , Iowa , USA
management John Froelich , George B. Miller
Branch Agricultural engineering , combustion engines , automobiles , commercial vehicles , tractors

The Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company is a former American manufacturer of agricultural equipment , internal combustion engines , tractors and automobiles. The company produced the forerunner of the John Deere tractors. The brand name was Waterloo Boy , but many products were sold through chain stores that sold them under their own brand names, such as Majestic .

description

The company was founded by John Froelich , the eldest of 9 siblings of Iowa- based farmers of German origin from Kurhessen . John Froelich operated a steam-powered threshing machine and grain conveyor in Langford (South Dakota) every fall . From 1890 he experimented with an internal combustion engine from the Van Duzen Gas and Gasoline Engine Works from Cincinnati ( Ohio ) as a replacement for the steam engine and from 1892 with a tractor. To do this, he put a Van Duzen single-cylinder engine in the chassis of a Robinson car .

The first attempt to market the tractor was a failure. In 1893 Froelich founded the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company with local investors around George W. Miller, based in Waterloo (Iowa) . Only four tractors were built, two had to be taken back. The company was then reorganized and re-registered as the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company in 1895 .

Waterloo Boy engines

Now agricultural equipment and stationary engines were built. John Froelich left the company in 1895. George B. Miller, a son of the co-founder, also invested Waterloo Gasoline in 1899 and became its CFO in 1903.

In 1904 the company had a new, self-developed petroleum engine called the Waterloo Boy ready. This was further developed for mobile use and produced in numerous versions from 1906 to March 1918. With the Hedford Foundry , the company controlled an iron foundry that also supplied competitors such as Associated Manufacturing and Galloway Engine .

Waterloo - automobiles

The Waterloo Anvil was a license to the Duryea ; here as Four-wheeled Gasoline Surrey (1903)

In the summer of 1902, Charles E. Duryea , the first automobile manufacturer in the USA, came to Waterloo. He was on an advertising tour with which he wanted to win licensees for the reproduction of the automobiles of his Duryea Motor Wagon Company . In November 1902 this was the trigger for a partnership with the Davis Gasolene Engine Company , which in turn was a subsidiary of the Cascaden Manufacturing Company in Waterloo. The jointly founded company was called Waterloo Motor Works . The product, an automobile called the Waterloo Anvil 2-passenger Phaeton , was such a license replica of the Duryea .

This project was not a lucky star either. In December 1903 a fire in the factory caused damage of US $ 25,000. However, production could continue. In 1905 a slightly larger version was added, also derived from a Duryea . Then the collaboration ended.

construction time model cylinder power
 Wheelbase
mm / in		 body List price
1903-1904 Anvil 3 12 HP 1829/72 2p Phaeton ( runabout ) US $ 1350.00
1905 Anvil 3 10/12 HP 1829/72 2p Phaeton (runabout) US $ 1350.00
1905 Folding seat 3 10/15 HP 2134/84 2 / 4p fore-seat tonneau US $ 1750.00

Success with tractors

Waterloo Boy Model R from 1917 in the Tractor Museum Bodensee, Gebhardsweiler, Uhldingen-Mühlhofen.

In 1909 George B. Miller became president of the company.

In 1912 he presented the Waterloo Boy tractor, which was available in the LA version from 1913 . These tractors require gasoline to start the engine.

By the time the successor model R 1914 was ready, 20 units had been sold. This could be sold much better; 8,000 copies were made by 1918.

John Deere

Waterloo Boy tractor in the colors of John Deere, circa 1920
John Deere Waterloo Boy Model N (1919-1920)

With the Waterloo Boy Model N they had a larger model ready that proved to be very successful. The engine was a petroleum-powered, top-controlled two-cylinder which in turn required petrol to start. It made 25 hp at a speed of 750 / min. The small petrol tank was in the front, the much larger one for petroleum at the rear.

Now the construction of stationary engines has been abandoned. In 1918 John Deere took over the company and reinstalled it as the John Deere Tractor Company . The Waterloo Boy Model N continued to be produced, of which 5,634 were built in 1918 alone. The market leader was Ford with the Fordson of which 34,000 units were sold during this time. Tractors quickly became the farm equipment manufacturer's main business. Only with the introduction of the successor model D did the name John Deere appear on a tractor.

Remarks

  1. ↑ according to promotex.ca Waterloo Tractor Works , created from a merger of Waterloo and Davis and dissolved again in 1906. There was no further evidence of a name change.
  2. ↑ According to the calculation method used at the time
  3. ↑ Fore-seat: A folding seat attached to the front of the vehicle in vehicles with a mid-engine or rear-engine engine. When closed, it formed the splash guard for the body.
  4. ↑ According to the calculation method used at the time

literature

  • George Nick Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present ; Dutton Press, New York, 2nd edition (hardcover) 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 (English)
  • Kimes, Beverly Rae (editor) and Clark, Henry Austin, jr .: The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 , 2nd edition, Krause Publications, Iola WI 54990, USA (1985), ISBN 0-87341-111-0 (English)

Web links

Wikibooks: Tractor Lexicon: Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company  - learning and teaching materials
Commons : Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kimes (1985), p. 1256.
  2. ↑ a b c majesticengine.com: Majestic Company History.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Kimes (1985), p. 1471.
  4. ↑ a b promotex.ca: Article about the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co.
  5. ↑ wikicommons: Image description for Waterloo Boy Tractor - geograph.org.uk - 1576658
  6. ↑ deere.com: John Deere Company History / Timeline