Mr. and
Mrs. John Heider from central Illinois stopped by recently and asked
if we happened to have a Heider tractor in our museum. They
previously had thee Heider tractors, along with a number of other
brands in their personal collection. John was very knowledgeable
about Heider, and was impressed that the one in our collection had
the fringe around the canopy and appears to have the original canopy
roof. They happened to have the same last name as the founders of
Heider Manufacturing, but were not related.
The
Heider Manufacturing Company was formed by Henry J. Heider and his
brother, John, after Henry's business of manufacturing four-horse
eveners outgrew his ability to manufacture eveners and run his farm.
They moved from Albert Lea, Minnesota to Caroll, Iowa as the business
expanded, and incorporated the company to finance the new concrete
block factory in Caroll in 1904. They continued to manufacture four
and six-horse eveners, yokes, double and single trees.
Henry
became interested in tractors around 1907, and developed a prototype
similar to the Moline Universal Tractor. In 1910 they decided to go
with a four-wheel design for tractor with a friction drive.
Twenty-five Heider model A's were made between March, 1911 and 1912.
The Heider B was introduced in 1912, switching to the model C in
1915.
The
model B was rated at 10 hp on the drawbar, and 20 on the belt.
The
early model C 12-20 was produced from 1916 to 1924, and was rated at
9 hp drawbar and 16 belt. It was powered by a 429 ci (7.0L) Waukesha
4-cylinder engine, with a 4.5 inch bore and 6.75 inch stroke.
The
Heider C 15-27 was manufactured from 1924-1927, and had 15 drawbar
and 27 belt horsepower. It was powered by a Waukesha 4-cylinder
engine with a 4.75 inch bore and 6.75 inch stroke.
The
Heider tractors used a friction drive system with a wood fiber drive
surface on the engine flywheel which drove one of two cast discs set
at a right angle to the flywheel. Engaging the flywheel with one
side drove the tractor forward, and moving the cast discs to the
other direction engaged the opposite side disc and drove the tractor
in reverse. The system gave seven speeds of both forward or reverse
by sliding the entire engine forward or backward with a notched lever
to engage different portions of the cast drive discs.
Henry
Heider was also given patents for a mechanical plow lift in 1917.
The lift consisted of a ratchet gear assembly driven from the rear
tractor wheels. Pressing a pedal engaged a clutch on the rear axle
drive to cause a lift arm to lift the tractor mounted plow out of the
ground. Pressing the pedal a second time dropped the plow back into
plowing position.
The
Heiders sold the tractor portion of the manufacturing business to The
Rock Island Plow Company in 1916 because the popularity of the Heider
C required a manufacturing facility with more capacity. Tractor
manufacturing was moved to Rock Island Illinois. Henry Heider's
engineering services were retained by Rock Island until 1922.
Heider
manufacturing continued to make wooden products of its pre-tractor
business and later made wagons and auger wagons. Henry also held a
patent for a coaster wagon. In 1983 the business was sold to the
Welllbuilt Company of Scranton, Iowa.
For more information on the Heider company, visit: http://heidertractors.com/