Oliver Farm Equipment Company
The Oliver Farm Equipment Company was an American farm equipment manufacturer from the 20th century. It was formed as a result of a 1929 merger of four companies: the American Seeding Machine Company of Richmond, Indiana; Oliver Chilled Plow Works of South Bend, Indiana; Hart-Parr Tractor Company of Charles City, Iowa; and Nichols and Shepard Company of Battle Creek, Michigan.
On November 1, 1960, the White Motor Corporation of Cleveland, Ohio, purchased the Oliver Farm Equipment Company.
The Oliver Farm Equipment Company continued to make tractors until they went out of production in 1976.
Merger
Four companies merged on April 1, 1929, to form the Oliver Farm Equipment Company: The Oliver Chilled Plow Company, dating from 1855; the Hart-Parr Tractor Company from 1897, and the American Seeding Machine Company and Nichols and Shepard Company, both dating from 1848.By 1929, each of these companies had reached a point where continuing operations independently would not be feasible. For most of them, the market had some time earlier reached a saturation point, and in some instances, their machines were dated and rapidly approaching obsolescence. By uniting their various and somewhat diverse product lines into a single company, Oliver Farm Equipment immediately became a full-line manufacturer.
Merged companies
American Seeding Machine Company
The American Seeding Machine Company was organized in 1903 from the a merger of seven different manufacturers of grain drills, corn planters and other "seeding machines." The leading corporate component among the seven merged companies was the Superior Drill Company of Springfield, Ohio. Accordingly, the American Seeding Machine Company established its corporate headquarters at Springfield in the facilities formerly operated by the Superior Drill Company. Other companies which formed the 1903 merger include P. P. Mast and Company, Hoosier Drill Company, the Empire Drill Company, and Bickford & Huffman. The Superior Drill Company name lived on for many years following the merger that created Oliver, in the "Oliver Superior" line of seeding drills and related equipment.Oliver Chilled Plow Works
started the Oliver Chilled Plow Works in 1853 In Mishawaka, Indiana, where he worked in a foundry. He later bought into an already existing small foundry in South Bend, Indiana. Plows with cast iron bottoms and moldboards had been successfully used by farmers and planters in the eastern states of the United States since the time of Thomas Jefferson. However, in the sticky soils of North Dakota and various other portions of the Midwest, the cast iron plows would not "scour"; that is, the sticky soil would cling to the plow, disrupting the flow of soil over the plow's surface, making plowing impossible. Thus, when settlement of North America moved over the Allegheny Mountains into the Midwest, there was a need for a new plow that would be able to scour in the soils of the Midwest. To allow a cast iron bottom to scour in sticky soil, various methods of heat treating for creating a hardened surface on the metal plow bottom had been attempted. All of these processes failed because the hard surface created was very thin and would soon wear through to the soft iron under the heat-treated surface. James Oliver developed his sand casting process to include rapid chilling of the molten iron near the outside surface of the casting, which resulted in a bottom that had a thick hardened surface with far greater wearability than competing plow bottoms.Another problem common to cast iron plow bottoms was the lack of soundness and uniformity in the metal's molecular structure, which meant that some cast iron bottoms would have soft spots in the hardened surface, reducing the wearability of the plow bottom. Improvements made by James Oliver to his casting process also overcame this problem. Consequently, on June 30, 1857, James Oliver obtained his first patent from the United States government for his chilled plow shares and in February 1869, he obtained another patent for his process. What Oliver accomplished by this invention is sometimes referred to as chill hardening, or simply chilling. The purpose of chilling is to produce an extremely hard and durable exterior of the object. This is done by including "chills", pieces of metal, into the sand mold, such that when the molten iron is poured into the mould, the portion next to the chill cools rapidly, hardening in a way akin to quenching. This chilled area forms the exterior of the plowpoint. This metal cools more quickly than the metal which forms the other portion of the plowshare, and effectively becomes case hardened. Also, the vapors which arise as the molten metal comes in contact with the mould are expelled through a spout. Had these vapors been trapped in the mould, they would have caused impurities and would have weakened the plowpoint at the place where it should have been the hardest. To harden the plowpoints, Oliver arranged his moulding apparatus in such manner that the surface of the chill was in a position so that the melted metal first came into contact with the chill at the edge of the plowshare. This insured a hard plow cutting point.
Thus, James Oliver's chilled plow bottom became a practical success and on July 22, 1868, the Oliver's business was incorporated as the South Bend Iron Works. In 1871, the company sold 1,500 plows per year. By 1874 this figure had increased to 17,000 plows a year. At the time of death of James Oliver in 1908, the company had again changed names to the Oliver Chilled Plow Works, and their factory site in South Bend, Indiana covered with 25 of those acres under roof. In January 1885, the plant's mostly Polish workers went on strike in protest of cuts to wages and hours in response to a glut of stock. Veterans of the Civil War with fixed bayonets finally ejected the strikers from the premises. The ownership considered leaving South Bend in the wake of the destruction of parts of the plant, with newspapers stating that they feared "the Socialistic influences operating among the foreign elements at South Bend...probably emanating from Chicago." Many workers employed in plow factories died from grindstone consumption. This is the result of the dust from emery wheels and grindstone in the grinding and polishing rooms. "In South Bend, the 'grinder' is either a Pole or a Belgian; so when he dies, society knows nothing about it." Upon the death of his father in 1908, Joseph D. Oliver, the only son of James and Susan Oliver took over the management of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works. By 1910, the company was manufacturing a wide variety of farm tillage implements in addition to the chilled plow. Production had reached the point that, in 1910, the company purchased over 40,000 tons of pig iron alone.
Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company
was born at Charles City, Iowa, in 1872. At the age of twenty, he transferred from Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It was here that he met Charles H. Parr, and the two young men quickly became friends. Together they worked on their Special Honours Thesis and from that thesis they built three working internal combustion engines right there on the campus at Madison.Following their graduation from the University of Wisconsin in 1897, Hart and Parr gathered $3000 in capital and formed the Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company. Towards the end of 1899, Charles Hart paid a visit to his parents in Charles City, Iowa. He complained to his father that development funds could not be found for his tractor project. "There's money around here that might be interested," replied the elder Hart, admitting for the first time that his son's ambition was not folly. They then found another investor in Charles D. Ellis, a local attorney, who invested $50,000 in additional capital.
In 1900, as the engine business expanded, Hart and Parr decided to move their company from Madison to Charles City. Hart-Parr Company was organized on June 12, 1901, in Charles City, Iowa. Ground was broken for the new factory on July 5 that year. By the following December, the Hart-Parr Company was now ready to do business and had an authorized capitalization of $100,000.
Hart-Parr No. 1 was completed in 1902 and is recognized as one of the first practical tractors built. However, customers did not immediately beat the proverbial path. However, Hart-Parr was able to field one salesman to run demonstrations at county fairs and other events. Hart was patient. "We can't force it," he said. "We have to let it simmer into the market." Hart-Parr No. 1 featured a unique oil-cooled system that used expansion bulbs on oil-cooling radiators. It used two horizontal cylinders with a bore of 9 inches and a stroke of 13 inches. The tractor was rated at 30 belt and 17 draw-bar horsepower. The single example of the Hart-Parr No. 1 operated around Clear Lake until 1916, when it was scrapped.
Hart Par No. 2 was a prototype machine with only one being built.
The Hart Par Model 3 was released in 1903 and is recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as the first successful farm tractor in the world powered by an internal combustion engine. Fifteen tractors were produced in total. The two horizontal cylinders use a hit-and-miss governor along with an oil-cooled engine. It ran on either gasoline or kerosene. It is 14,000 pounds, and a copy at the Smithsonian is the oldest surviving internal combustion engine tractor in the United States and is held by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. It produced 18 horsepower at the draw-bar and 30 at the belt. The tractor at the Smithsonian was used at the George Mitchell farm near Charles City, Iowa, for twenty-three years. Following this, the Oliver Tractor Corporation bought it back and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1960. It was fully restored in 2003, with funding provided by the Hart-Parr/Oliver Collectors Association.
Little by little, the Hart-Parrs began to gather defenders. Some of the first tractors delivered were gaining a reputation of usefulness that far surpassed that of the steamers.
Later Hart-Parrs were denoted with a two-number name, where the first number stood for horsepower at the draw bar and the pulley, respectively.
The Hart-Parr 20-40, also called the "Steel King", is a tricycle tractor produced by the Hart-Parr company at their facility in Charles Cit, Iowa, starting in 1911 and going till 1914. Approximately 197 were produced: 99 in 1912, 49 in 1913, and 49 in 1914. The 20-40 has a two-cylinder vertically mounted engine operating at 400 RPMs. Each cylinder has an 8-inch bore and a 12-inch stroke. The centerline of the crankshaft is offset from the cylinder by 2-3/4 inches to increase torque on the power stroke. The engine is oil-cooled rather than water-cooled. The engine runs either gasoline or a mixture of kerosene and water as the water helps eliminate the knock that occurs when burning kerosene. The tractor had two forward speeds, either 2.2 or 4 MPH. The 20-40 was considered a road-building and maintenance tractor as well as a farm tractor. To help reduce shock, the front and rear axles were spring-mounted, a rarity for the time. The name "Steel King" derives from the fact that most of the parts were made from steel or semi-steel, except for some engine parts. It used a Centrifugal governor rather than the older hit-and-miss governors.
The Hart-Parr 30-60 "Old Reliable" is a 2-cylinder kerosene-burning burning that weighed 10 tons and was built from at least 1913. The engine displaces 2,356 cubic inches The tractor is a dual front-wheel style. The 30-60 is so named as it generates 30 horsepower at 300 RPM at the drawbar and 60 at the pulley. The tractor produces over a thousand foot-pounds of torque. It employs a unique elliptical reverser to allow it to reverse. Ignition impulse is provided by a battery during start-up and a dynamo once the flywheel gains speed. It contains 200 quarts of light oil for coolant, so it never freezes.
By 1915, the sod-busting or "Prairie" style tractors were becoming obsolete as they were far too big and clumsy for the average farmer of the time. The need for smaller tractors led to the two-cylinder two-stroke "Little Red Devil". It was powered by a thermosyphon water-cooled engine rated at 15–22 horsepower and operating at 600 rpm. The minimilisty tractor lacked valves, a transmission, and a differential; features omitted through the use of cylinder-wall ports actuated by piston movement and a single driven rear wheel with an offset operator's seat. Directional change was achieved by reversing engine rotation at idle, and the tractor offered speeds of approximately 3⅓ and 2¼ mph. It was a complete failure, and the tractors were recalled.
In 1918, Hart-Parr released the "New Hart Parr" 12-25 model. This tractor was significantly smaller than the old "Prairie" style tractor. The 12-25 model formed the basis for all subsequent Hart-Parr tractors and was equipped with a two-cylinder, slow-speed, unpressurized water-cooled engine. It used forced feed lubrication and open gears used to drive the rear wheels. As required by law in the state of Nebraska, it was tested at the University of Nebraska and re-rated at 15–30. The 15-30 design was upgraded in 1924 to become the 16-30. The design was again upgraded in 1926 to become the 18-36.
Hart Parr built the 18-36 from 1926 to 1930. The 18-36 was the company's most popular tractor during this time period and was rated at 18.10 HP and the draw bar and 36.53 HP at the pulley.
W.H. Williams, Sales Manager in 1907, decided the words "traction engine" were vague and too long to be used in press releases, so he coined the word "Tractor", a combination of the words "traction" and "power", instead. For this reason, and because the Charles City plant was the first to be continuously and exclusively used for tractor production, Hart-Parr often used the slogan "Founders of the Tractor Industry" in their advertising.