The Rural Voice, 1986-04, Page 20AGRICULTURAL FLASHBACK
HART -PARR TRACTORS
by Alice Gibb
They spooked the horses, were
so tricky to start that some farmers
left them running all night, and
were so darn contrary that their
detractors nicknamed them "infer-
nal combustion engines." But
while the first farm tractors were
far from universally popular, to-
day it's hard to imagine life
without them.
Charles Hart and Charles Parr,
"fathers" of the tractor, were two
bright engineering students at the
University of Wisconsin in the late
1890s when they designed their
first gasoline -powered engine.
They immediately formed the
Hart -Parr Gasoline Engine Com-
pany and got ready to make their
fortunes. Unfortunately, Madison,
Wisconsin businessmen, their in-
tended investors, didn't share
Hart's and Parr's conviction that
their new engine would be the
salvation of the farmer.
In 1900, following the hunch
that their fortunes would improve
in a city that shared their first
name, the men moved to Charles
City, Iowa. In 1901, they produced
Hart -Parr No. 1, a tractor with a
flywheel weighing 1,000 pounds, a
two -cylinder engine, and a 17-30
horsepower rating. While the
men's rather ungainly creation
wasn't the first "tractor" produc-
ed in the U.S., it was the first suc-
cessful production model. In 1903,
15 Hart -Parr engines were sold to
adventurous farmers who wanted
an alternative either to steam -
powered equipment or to the chore
of having to feed and house some
expensive horseflesh. One farm
historian, writing about this
period, estimates that it took five
acres of productive land to feed
every horse, while a tractor could
— in theory — simply be turned
off at the end of the day.
While the early traction engines
offered the promise of saving
farmers both time and money, it
took a special kind of courage to
actually use the first machines. The
early models backfired badly,
snapping like gatling guns so that
horsemen often took long detours
rather than have their prize team
spooked by the "infernal"
machines. And ignition problems
with the new invention were so
troublesome that some farmers
hated to shut their new machines
off.
This Hart -Parr 28-50, owned by Clifford Dale of Maple and displayed at
the recent International Plowing Match, was purchased from John
Goodison's firm in Sarnia in 1927 for $.3300. Photo by Alice Gibb.
18 THE RURAL VOICE
But the Hart -Parr Company, in
a 1903 advertisement, chose to
overlook these initial deficiencies.
Hart -Parr No. 2 model offered
"Perfect traction control, forward
or backward, with a single lever.
No shifting of gears, no water, no
steam, no gauges. No fuels, no
grate bars, no coal, wood or straw.
No fires, no fireman." The in-
ference was that compared to the
old-fashioned steam -powered
engines, the new gasoline tractors
were simply a joy to operate.
By 1907, there were 600
gasoline -powered tractors on
North American farms; one-third
of these were manufactured by the
Hart -Parr Company. These early
machines, in addition to
mechanical problems, were huge,
awkward, and difficult to steer.
For example, the 17-30 Hart Parr,
manufactured from 1903 to 1906,
weighed seven and a quarter tons
and because it was so heavy, was
used more for belt -work than ac-
tually working the land.
This same year, W.H. Williams,
a Hart -Parr salesman, decided
"gasoline traction engines" wasn't
a catchy enough title for the
farmers' best friend. He shortened
the phrase to tractor, although the
dictionary would have shown him
that tractor was already the name
for a surgical instrument. But the
new term caught the public's im-
agination, and Hart -Parr Com-
pany is today credited with pro-
ducing the first tractors in any
quantity and with naming this new
piece of farm machinery.
While American ingenuity pro-
duced the first tractors, Canadians
were the ones who pushed for the
first experimental testing of trac-
t9rs. In 1908, organizers of the
Winnipeg Industrial Exhibition in-
stituted a Light Agricultural Motor
Exhibition to pit one company's
tractor against another's line. A
Kincaid -Haines tractor from Min-
neapolis took first prize, Interna-
tional Harvester won second, and
an English firm, Marshall and
Sons Company, placed third. But
reporters covering the event gave
honourable mention to a
22 -horsepower Hart -Parr model
which pulled a seven -furrow plow
but was disqualified from the com-
petition for being overweight.
The Manitoba Free Press noted.
"Although rated low, this enginL
drew the heaviest load on the field
and did deep breaking that left
very little to be desired. The com-