The Rural Voice, 1995-10, Page 49Book Review
Remembering the put -puts
REVIEWED BY KEITH
.ROULSTON
In a day when the Canadian farm
equipment scene is dominated by few
colours, it's hard to remember when
someone travelling down a rural
concession•would see a rainbow
colour of farm machinery working in
the fields. Vintage
John Deere helps
explain how green
became one of the
dominant colours of
today while so
many other tractor
companies fell by
the wayside.
Writer -photo-
grapher Dave
Arnold, who has previously produced
Case Tractors: Steam to Diesel;
Classic American Farm Gas Engines
and The Iron Workhorse, combines
dozens of photographs with just
enough text to explain the history of
the company to produce the kind of
book people may want to give the
antique tractor enthusiast.
The 112 pages trace the history of
John Deere from a blacksmith's shop
in Illinois in 1837 to the change from
the two -cylinder engines with their
familiar put -put sound to multi -
cylinder engines in 1960. His photo
history, features restored tractors
from the collection of Mike Bellen.
The big green empire began when
Vermont blacksmith John Deere
joined the trek west. He set up shop
in Grand Detour in Illinois in the
Mississipi watershed. The westward
migration of farmers bogged down at
the Mississippi, literally, because the
prairie soils were like nothing
experienced in the east. The sticky
soil tended to compact into clods and
adhere to plow surfaces. The plows,
which had worked well back east,
became heavy and it was hard to
plow straight, even furrows. Farmers
had to stop every few yards to clean
the plow and try to get it back into
the furrow. Horses and oxen were
worn out by the extra effort required.
As a blacksmith in the
community, Deere heard the
complaints of farmers and began
exploring solutions. One day he saw
the gleaming polished surface of a
broken sawmill blade and had an
idea. He created a plow using high-
grade steel with good polishing
characteristics: the first self -scouring
plow. Thz, empire was born.
Deere expanded into other horse-
drawn equip-
ment, then in
1912 began
exploring a
"tractor plow" a
self-propelled
one -furrow unit.
In 1918 the
company bought
Waterloo
Gasoline Engine
Company, a leading maker of
stationary engines and tractors.
Over the next few years the
company developed and sold several
rudimentary tractors, always with the
emphasis on practicality, not looks: a
full range of tractors from the tiny
Model L to the powerful models A
and B. In 1939 the company hired a
New York industrial design firm to
give the tractor line a bold, stream-
lined look, known as "styled"
tractors to collectors.
In 1949 the company introduced
diesel tractors and continued to
increase the available power through
larger capacity engines. In 1952 they
changed the old letter designations to
number designations, replacing the
Model A with Model 60 and Model
B with Model 50. The last two -
cylinder John Deere was the 830 and
it was phased out in 1960 (except
that two -cylinder machines continued
to be manufactured in Argentina
through 1970).
Combining vibrant photos and
short notes on history, Vintage John
Deere is of interest to anyone who
grew up in the country in the days
when these machines looked and
sounded unique. For collectors, the
book is a specia! treasure. It's likely
to find its way under many a
Christmas tree.0
Vintage John Deere by Dave Arnold,
Voyageur Press Inc., districuted in
Canada by Raincoast Books. 112
pages. $33.95.
HAUGHOLM BOOKS
Available from Haugholm:
AMERICAN LEGENDS
VINTAGE JOHN DEERE
by Dave Arnold 1837 -1960 ...'32.00
• Classic Tractor, Car and
Gas Engine Books & Manuals
• Decal Sets for Older Tractors and
Gas Engines
HAUGHOLM BOOKS
is located one mile east of Brucefield on
Huron Cry. Rd. #3
519-522-0138
Books
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and study
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HANOVER
262 10th St.
519 364 7743
The Rural Voice
welcomes letters and
will publish as many
as space permits.
Write:
The Rural Voice
Box 429,
Blyth, ON NOM 1H0
OCTOBER 1995 45