1916 Eagle F 12-22

1916 Eagle F 12-22 right side view

The Eagle Manufacturing Company of Appleton, Wisconsin

Like many companies that built tractors, Eagle Manufacturing Company was no different. They started as the Eagle Fork Company in 1881, in Appleton, Wisconsin, along the Fox River. The company would be the brain child of three men, Richard Miller who would head up the management with John Kanouse and William Polifka. In the beginning they would employ 6 people and the products they would produce were hay tools, horse powers and saw mill frames.

The Eagle Fork company was growing and the owners decided they needed to incorporate so in December of 1888 they changed their name to the Eagle Manufacturing Company and became incorporated. The reason the company incorporated was so they could manufacture products plus they could buy, sell, repairing and deal in farm implements and hardware. They would also employ 11 more employees  and by doing this they would be able to increase production.

As the company progressed they would see several share buy outs take place. Richard Miller decided he wanted to move on and he would sell all of his shares to the Sailberlich brothers, Edward, Frank, and Oscar in January, 1894. The Sailberlich brothers decided the company needed to go in a different direction so they began by manufacturing silage cutters and their new design would include interchangeable cutter plates and this new venture proved to be a success.

Times were changing and the brother decided to once again go in another direction. So In 1899, they would enter into what was the new rage and began experimenting with gasoline engines. They would soon outgrow their Fox River facility and decided to build a new and more modern plant so in 1904 they move to their new plant. With work progressing on their gasoline engines and production of their other products going well they would introduce a new line of silage cutter/filler and began experimenting with a gasoline tractor. They would come out with their first tractor in early 1905, it would use two of their 16 hp. engine blocks mounted on an opposed configuration crankcase. That tractor would be the only model that would use the opposed set-up. The tractor was rated at 20-32 hp, and it weighed in at 12,000 lbs. The two side shaft engines used the hit and miss governor. It had a 9.5 in. bore and 13 in. stroke. They did not build many of these models and after 1906 the model was virtually nonexistent.

The Eagle Manufacturing Company was becoming a true diversified company and they were manufacturing many different products. In their 1908 sales catalog they talked about their extensive line of equipment which included their single cylinder gas engines, engine/saw combinations, silage cutter/blowers, sweep type horse-powers, power jacks, saw rigs, burr mills and grain grinders.

From 1910-1916 Eagle Manufacturing Company would come out with their 4 cylinder series. They built the 16-30 tractor, 25-45 tractor, and 40-60 tractor. The 40-60 models weighed in at 19,000 lbs., rear wheels were 72 in. in diameter. The larger tractor would sell fairly well and it was used mainly in the wheat growing areas of the US.

The company was feeling growing pains in 1913, with production of their gasoline engines and the new line of tractors and the other line of new equipment they had been producing the need for more operating capital was needed.

With the production of the Model D, which was in production from 1913 to 1916, they decided to build it also in three sizes, 8-16, 12-22, and 16-30. The tractor featured a 2 cylinder headless engine with removable valve cages, both pistons would go forward at the same time this gave the tractor a very distinctive sound. They would keep this configuration with the 2 cylinder tractors till they ended this series. The grease cups would provide lubrication to the engine bearings.

1916 Eagle F 12-22 left side view

1916 Eagle F 12-22

 They would produce the Model F from 1916 to 1922 and they only built two sizes, 12-22, and 16-30. The large shroud that was around the radiator on their earlier tractors was done away with. The engine on this tractor would feature an in house built governor and they would use the Madison Kipp oiler and it would provide lube to all the pistons.

World War I began to put a strain on the company like so many other US manufacturing companies. So the board of directors decided that they needed to authorize an increase in capital stock. This would give them enough money to build a new facility and would allow them to take advantage of the wartime growth. Of course with new growth there would also need to bring on new personnel into the company. A decision was made in 1918, by two of the three brothers, Oscar and Frank Sailberlichs they would sell off their share of the holdings then would go on to founded the Fox River Tractor Co. in Appleton, Wisconsin. Their new tractors did not do as well as they expected, but the Fox forage harvesters did better than expected and had a long life and they went on to produce exceptional silage making equipment.

Eagle Manufacturing Company would put all their efforts into building tractors throughout the 20's and 30's. The first tractors to roll off the assembly line from 1922-1928 was the Model H, this tractor was built in four sizes the 13-25, 16-30, 20-40, and 22-45. The early “transitional” models would still use the old style flywheel governor and chain steering, then later models would use the Pickering governor and this would feature an automotive type steering.

The Model E was only built one year 1928-1929 they only made one size, the 20-35. It would feature a Madison Kipp oiler which would lubricated all regions inside the engine, the radiator would set at the conventional position, the transmission would be enclosed, and it was said that this tractor was the ultimate Eagle two cylinder tractor.

These 2 cylinder tractors that the Eagle Manufacturing Company made would become famous for was the "Eagle Beat" and they ended production in 1930. The tractors were built for 17 years and had very few changes during production.

The 1930 would see a change in production with the move to a 6 cylinder tractor. Instead of building components in house they would use mostly out sourced components. This was done in a last ditch effort to keep up with the competition. The first tractor they would build using out sourced components was the Model 6A and it would feature the big Hercules 6 cylinder engine and then again in 1932 they would switch to the Waukesha engine. The Eagle tractors would go from the 2 cylinder engine, to a 6 cylinder starting with this model. One of the options available for this tractor was steel wheels or rubber. This model would be built from 1930 to 1937.

Production of the Model 6B or Universal began in 1936 and would end production in 1938 and this tractor used the Hercules 6 cylinder engine it would also come with Rubber tires as standard equipment. What made this tractor unique was that this little row crop tractor had an adjustable rear tread with a four speed transmission, and could reach speeds up to 13 mph.

But like all small companies the great depression of the 30's made it hard for many small companies, and the Eagle Manufacturing company was no exception. Like so many they were plagued by declining sales and higher operating expenses. They built a good quality 6 cylinder tractor, that could be use as a standard or row crop tractor and 1938 would see the end of production for the company.

The Model 6C or Utility tractor would be the last tractor to roll off the floors and it would shared most of the same specs the 6B had. This little tractor had a very practical design and many considered it a handy little rig. Production of the tractor started in 1937 and ended in 1938.

The company was sold in 1941 to the Four Wheel Drive Auto Company of Clintonville, Wisconsin; they would use many of the parts that Eagle had acquired throughout the years in their production, but it would still end the 50 year run that the Eagle Manufacturing Company enjoyed.

1917 International Cultivator, 1916 International 8-16, 1920 IHC Titan 10-20 and 1916 IHC Mogul 8-16

1917 International Cultivator, 1916 International 8-16, 1920 IHC Titan 10-20 and the 1916 IHC Mogul 8-16

As you are walking down the first Quonset at the Schwanke Museum there is a row of International Harvester tractors toward the end of the line of the tractors you will see a trailer with three mogul engines ( I will write about them later) a 1917 International Cultivator, two 1916 IHC Mogul 8-16 and a 1920 IHC 10-20. The first is the 1917 International Cultivator next to that is the first of the Moguls the International 8-16 four cylinder which has a cover that encloses the engine. Next is the 1920 IHC Titan 10-20, then the 1916 Mogul 8-16. If you haven’t been to the museum or if you walk to fast you will these missed these four tractors and then you will have missed out. All four tractors have been restored to their original state. Like everything I have written about on this blog I will give you the history of the manufacturer. Lately I have been a little long winded so I will give you the history up to the point of the manufacturing of the tractors because the International Harvester Company is still manufacturing tractors still today under the name of Case IH.

International Harvester Company

The roots of International Harvester go back to the 1830s, when inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick from Virginia created his own version of a horse-drawn reaper. He would take his reaper and field-demonstrated throughout 1831. He received a patent for his design in 1834. Together with his brother Leander J. McCormick (1819–1900), they decide on together to move to Chicago in 1847 and there they would start the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. The McCormick reaper sold well, mainly because McCormick developed a marketing and sales technique. The company developed a vast network of trained salesmen who were able to demonstrate how to operate the machines in the field. What also help sales of their products was that the development of railroad and its expansion offered wide distribution to distant market areas. Business was booming as a result of McCormick’s savvy and innovative business practices.

1916 International Mogul 8-16

1920 International Harvester Titan 10-20

McCormick passed away in 1884, and his company was passed to his son, Cyrus McCormick, Jr. The success of the company caught the eye of J.P. Morgan so in 1902, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three other small agricultural equipment firms (Milwaukee; Plano; and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner who were the manufacturers of Champion brand) would merge and this would create the International Harvester Company. Even after the merger of these companies, they pretty much operated as before as separate divisions with competition high between both divisions. One division would work on designing the Mogul while the other worked on the Titan design. The first tractor produced was the friction drive and it was a combination of a chassis designed by the Ohio Manufacturing Company and the International Harvesters horizontal stationary engine. This proved to be a successful which prompted them to continue developing tractors. Many of these tractors were large and cumbersome of course the primary purpose was to break large plots of ground and to power equipment with the tractors belt pulley. By 1910 the company’s management pushed the two divisions to build smaller, cheaper and to make the tractors more efficient. The group that built the Mogul produced the Mogul 12-25 and the 8-16 and the failure prone International 8-16 but it proved to be a revolution in the tractor world.   

1916 Mogul 8-16

The group that worked on the Titan produced the ever reliable 10-20 and their own 12-25. These tractors would spearhead the model lines and dominate the market until the introduction of the Fordson. It was decided in 1917 to move the two divisions together effectively ending the competition between the two staffs. The Fordson was now providing the real competition, so it was time for the designers to come up with either a cheaper tractor or a tractor that was better than the competitions. With the two departments together they would come up with another legendary tractor and it was marketed as a motorized cultivator tractor, but it was expensive to make, so it was back to the drawing board. Only a few hundred of the cultivator tractors were made and were marketed from 1917 to 1918. You can also find this cultivator tractor here at the museum.        

1917 International Cultivator

In 1919, International Harvester purchased the Parlin and Orendorff factory in Canton, Illinois at the time they were one of leading plow manufacturing companies in the industry. After International Harvester purchased the factory they would call it the Canton Works; production there would continue for many decades.
The tractors that the International Harvester Company built would be add to their line agriculture equipment. The Mogul and Titan brands would be sold by McCormick dealers; the first of their many tractors was the Type C Mogul which was little more than a stationary engine on a tractor chassis, fitted with friction drive (one speed forward, one reverse). This first tractor was built between 1911 and 1914, around 862 Moguls were built.  

In 1914 the dealer would see the new International Harvester tractor the 8-16 h. p. single cylinder hopper cooled tractor. They called this tractor a two plow it had a planetary gear it featured a single speed with a single final chain drive with the differential mounted on the back axle. The front wheels were steered by a rack and worm gear. It also featured a Wico oscillating low tension magneto. The belt pulley was mounted on the flywheel and was operated by a hand wheel clutch. Its speed was 400 r. p. m. and weight 5,000 lbs.; it had a sale price of $675, f. o. b. from Chicago. The 8-16 were manufactured from 1914 to 1917.

Single final chain drive with the differential mounted on the back axle.

The many consider the first important tractors to come from International Harvester were the model 10-20 and 15-30. They were introduced in 1915 when the tractors went into production international purposely made them smaller than their predecessors. The tractors primary use was as traction engines to pull 2 bottom plows and they were also used for belt work on threshing machines. Even though the 10-20 and 15-30 were different tractors they had similar qualities to their predecessor the Mogul.

 The 10-20 were a hopper-cooled single cylinder, it also featured a two speed sliding gear transmission, a single chain drive, and just like its predecessor the Moguls, it featured two hand clutches one for the transmission and one for the hand wheel type for the belt pulley.

Both the Mogul and the Titan are truly International tractors several of these tractors were shipped to Europe with many of them going to Great Britain just before the start of World War 1. The average prices for the tractors were 580 pounds sterling or around 2,400 dollars American. These tractors were instrumental as sodbusters in the tough English countryside. They were also instrumental in coal and iron production as work horses. One tractor could do the work of 10 men in one day and this would allow for more men on the battle field during the war. Many of these tractors according to a friend of mine in England are featured pieces in a few museums in England.      

As you walk along the row of Farmall, International Harvester, and McCormick-Deering, toward the back of the museum you will see the 1917 International cultivator and right next to the first of the two Mogul is the revolutionary International 8-16, even thought tractor was prone to problem it was one of the first tractors to feature a 4 cylinder kerosene engine it had a ball bearing crank shaft, effective air filter and sleeved engines the tractor was only produced for two year before it was pulled from the market. Even thought the tractor carries the International name it was built by the Mogul team, next to the International sit the 1920 International Harvester 10-20 Titan and finally the 1916 Mogul 8-16. So you have to stop in and take a look at these revolutionary tractors.   

1918 11-22 Sawyer-Massy

1918 11-22 Sawyer-Massey

Sitting midway through the second building at the Schwanke Museum, right behind the 1924 John Deere Waterloo Boy and just before the 1943 Clark bulldozer sits the 1918 Sawyer-Massey 11-22, No. 4835. Earlier this year we had the pleasure of a visit from Kee W. Groshong of Columbia, MO. Mr. Groshong is rebuilding a 1919 11-22 Sawyer-Massey and want to see what kind of drive system our tractor employed. The Sawyer-Massey 11-22 we have in the museum features the gear drive Sawyer-Massey also used a chain drive system. The 11-22 means that the tractor has 11 hp on the draw bar and 22 hp on the belt. Sawyer-Massey made 4 models with the 11-22 being the smallest. The Sawyer-Massey we have in the museum also features the Kingston Carburetor. The Massey’s group were part owner in the company till 1910, both companies went their own way after the split and I have more about that in the history below.

Sawyer-Massey

THE SAWYER-MASSEY COMPANY
LIMITED, HAMILTON, ONTARIO

The Sawyer-Massey Company like many companies have their founding father and John Fisher was just one of the many fathers. John Fisher moved from New York State and founded a small company in Hamilton in 1835. John Fisher would produce the first threshing machine to be built in Canada he began his production of the threshing machine in 1836. He would soon realizing the possibility for the company but lacked the capital to move forward so he convinced one of his many cousins, Dr. Calvin McQuesten of Lockport, N.Y. to invest in the company and become a partner with him. The firm began to prosper and would ship most of their production to Western Canada. The company at that time was known as the Hamilton Agricultural Works. Hamilton is located on the western edge of Lake Ontario and in the 1840's, supplies of iron ore became short in supply during the winter season. The iron ore had to be ship in from upper New York State and also from Long Point in Ontario. This would make it hard if not difficult to produce equipment in the winter months.

veiw from the front

In the Early 1840's the two nephews of Dr. McQuesren, L.D. Sawyer and his two brothers Payson and Samuel would join the Hamilton Agriculture Works as machinists. The three brothers would gradually become members of the firm and assume control of the business. With the death of founder John Fisher in 1856 the Hamilton Agricultural Works would make a change in the company and become L.D. Sawyer & Co.
The L.D. Sawyer & Co, expanded their product line and by 1869 the company had included in their manufacturing produces like Separators, Tread Mills, Horse Powers, a combination grain drill with clover seeding attachment which they copied from the American made machine the Empire that was produced by their neighbours the Empire Grain Drill Works of Shortsville Ontario County New York, H. L. & C. P. Brown, proprietors. The L.D. Sawyer & Company also sold during this time the Ohio Reaper and Mowers, the Woods Mower, the Dodge Self Rake, the Pitts Threshing Machine, the Rochester Cutting Box along with the Birdsell Clover Huller as part of their product line. The company found the need to build a steam engine so in the early 1880's they began building the return flue portable steam engine. In 1887 they would produce horse drawn road machinery. At the same time they would become agents for British made Aveling and Porter stream road rollers.

side view

veiw of the rear of the Sawyer-Massey

In 1889 the L.D. Sawyer Co was approached by the president of Massey Harris Company of Toronto, Hart A. Massey where upon they would sell 40% interest in the L.D. Sawyer & Company. Hart Massey was elected President of the L.D. Sawyer Co. And he would begin his presidency by re-organization the company; the first of many changes was the name which he changed to Sawyer & Massey Co. Ltd. It was decided by the Massey Harris Company not to have a corporate relationship between the two companies. Things seem to be going good until 1910 when a difference of opinion arose over the future of the company the Hamilton group wanted to increase production of the steam traction engines, while Massey group favoured developing the gas tractor. The differences were so great that the Massey Harris group withdrew all of their interests in the Sawyer & Massey Co. and the Hamilton group re-organized the company thus the new name Sawyer-Massey Co. Ltd, the following year the new two words circular trade mark would begin to appear on all of their machines. In 1912 the two word circular trade mark would be change this time it would appear with bold letters on the smoke box door of the steam traction engine.

steering gear

 L.D. Sawyer & company had been building the LDS portable steam engine during mid 1880's it was decided at the time to name the steam engine after L.D. Sawyer. This engine featured a return flue type with steam dome and a full water front, the engine was mounted at the rear of the short broad boiler and would have the belt wheel on the right hand side, this same unit would later appear as a traction engine. Even though the LDS was a great engine the machine public preferred the locomotive style traction engine. With the mechanical public preferring that design the company would make changes to their design in the mid 1890's.

Kingston Carburetor

 They would begin producing an open bottom locomotive boiler without a steam dome. So the company produced hundreds of this little 13 H.P. single cylinder side mounted engines around the turn of the century. Later they would begin production on the self feeders and straw blowers when added to the separator more power would be needed so they began to produce a 17 H.P. engine and 20 H.P. engines of the same side mounted design, they would add steam domes and straight smoke stack which were changed to slightly tapered one. The new smoke stack would include a Diamond Spark Arrester with its cone top and spark arrester pipe. They would use the double eccentric link reverse gear on all single cylinder engines until 1908. They would later adopt the Woods Patent single eccentric valve gear, the tandem compound engines were all fitted with the Woolf reverse gear. Later the Waters governor would be added to all of their portable engines, traction engines and road rollers.

When it came to rating horse power Sawyer-Massey thought it was better idea to use brake horse power and in 1914 Sawyer-Massey became the only Canadian company to adopt the idea of rating steam traction engines and portable engines by their brake horse power. J.I. Case Threshing Machine Company of Racine, Wisconsin originally pioneered the idea. So now when rated with the brake horse power system the old 17 H.P. became 51 H.P. and the 20 H.P. became 60 H.P. The 22 H.P. simply became 68 H.P. and the 25 H.P. became 76 H.P. The 27 and 30 H.P. tandem compounds became 87 and 100 H.P. respectively. Steam pressure for all engines was now 175 P.S.I.

Sawyer-Massey would begin to produce and manufacture gasoline powered tractor just before the beginning of World War 1. The Sawyer-Massey 22-45 H.P. the chassis was fitted with steam traction engine, with wheels and gearing mounted with a four cylinder. It was slow speed engine that sat lengthwise well to the rear of the tractor and this would drive the pulley and transmission through a bevel gear. The size was intended for use in Western Canada.

side view of Sawyer-Massey

Sawyer-Massey would follow up that tractor with the 30-60 models. This tractor is considered a war time tractor since it was built during World War 1. Sawyer-Massey would continue building tractors after World War 1, the tractors they building were smaller in size like the 11-22 H.P. and the 17-34 H.P.,   gasoline tractors. They would also build a limited number of 17 H.P. and 20 H.P. steam traction engines. Sawyer-Massey would discontinue production of their gasoline tractor by the mid 1920's and became a distributor for the Wallis tractor. They would also discontinue building their steam traction engine at the same time.

With World War 1 over condition were changing and the threshing machinery line began to slow so Sawyer-Massey decided to concentrate their production on road construction equipment. So they began producing steam Road Rollers, Rock Crushers, Rock Screening Equipment, Dump Wagons, Tank Wagons, pull type Road Graders, this would include their light maintainers up to the heavy leaning wheel grader. Sawyer-Massey also built construction plows of all types, Tow type reversible scarifies, Tow type Rollers, Drag Scrapers, and Fresno Scrapers.

Sawyer-Massey was approached by Willys Overland President T.A. Russell about buying interest in the company. It was then that the three brothers it was time to move on so they sold Sawyer-Massey to the new interest. T.A. Russell who was the president of Willys Overland of Canada would take over and become the new president of Sawyer-Massey. As the stock market dropped in 1929 sale also began to slip then into the 1930 sales outlook seem to look poor so the Sawyer Massey Company began building Motor truck bodies and semi-trailers in an effort to stay solvent. Nothing seems to be working, it was then that Sawyer-Massey took on the distributorship for the Austin Western Road Machinery Co. of Aurora, Illinois. They would discontinue the manufacturing of construction machinery and soon the name Sawyer-Massey cease to exist on new equipment.  After World War 2 the company continued to struggle it was then the owners of Sawyer-Massey Company decided to close their doors. The building are now occupied by Stelco and General Steel Wares formerly the Sawyer-Massey buildings on Wellington Street North in Hamilton Ontario.

Sawyer-Massey name plate