Moline Plow Company
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The Moline Plow Company was an American manufacturer of
plows A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...
and other farm implements, headquartered in
Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in the 2020 census, it is the largest city in Rock Island County and the List of municipalities in Illinois, ninth-most populous in Illinois outside ...
, USA. Moline Plow was formed in the 1870s when the firm of Candee & Swan, a competitor of
Deere and Company Deere & Company, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, transmissions, gearboxes) used in heavy equipment an ...
(also of Moline), won a lawsuit against Deere allowing it to use the "Moline Plow" name.. Reorganized under the new name, it built a line of
horse-drawn A horse-drawn vehicle is a piece of equipment pulled by one or more horses. These vehicles typically have two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers or a load. They were once common worldwide, but they have mostly been replaced by auto ...
plows and other implements to serve the large American agricultural market. The implement line included
wagon A wagon (or waggon) is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by Working animal#Draft animals, draft animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are i ...
s and
carriage A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...
s. The company absorbed various smaller wagon and carriage building companies. In 1915, Moline Plow purchased the Universal Tractor Company of
Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
, manufacturer of the ''Universal Tractor'' for its patents. Moline redesigned the tractor, and from about 1916 until 1923, the company sold the Moline Universal Tractor, which was an early attempt to serve unmet market demand for a small, light, affordable, general-purpose tractor. It was a
two-wheel tractor Two-wheel tractor or walking tractor (, , ) are generic terms understood in the US and in parts of Europe to represent a single-axle tractor, which is a tractor with one axle, self-powered and self-propelled, which can pull and power various f ...
whose trailing implement provided the rear wheels to form a four-wheel articulated unit. Its nimble design was more suitable for
cultivating Tillage is the agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools include shoveling, picking, mattock work, hoeing ...
row crops than were most contemporary tractors and its front powered design was familiar to farmers using horses. The Moline Models B and C used a 2-cylinder opposed engine, while the model D used a 4-cylinder engine. The model D was the first production tractor to come standard with a starter and lights. The model D also utilized the Remy Governor Generator system, which used a rheostat linked to the generator as both governor and throttle. In various advertisements the name was sometimes hyphenated as "Moline-Universal". An overview of Moline Universal design and operation, written by the company as a contributing corporate author to a 1920 how-to guide for farmers, is available in Harry W. Adams' 1920 book ''Adams' Common Sense Instruction On Gas Tractor Operation''. Moline Plow considered the Allis-Chalmers Model 6-12, a very similar tractor, to be a patent-infringing copy.
pp. 32–33
Also around 1916, Moline Plow entered the automobile business with the Stephens brand, named after one of the founders of Moline Plow. Around 1918 or 1919, the Willys-Overland Company purchased a majority interest in the Moline Plow Company. The company continued to function without a
brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...
ing change. The Moline Universal was a commercial success, but the unfavorable economic climate of the early 1920s, including the
post–World War I recession The post–World War I recession was an economic recession that hit much of the world in the aftermath of World War I. In many nations, especially in North America, economic growth continued and even accelerated during World War I as nations mo ...
, the
depression of 1920–21 Depression may refer to: Mental health * Depression (mood), a state of low mood and aversion to activity * Mood disorders characterized by depression are commonly referred to as simply ''depression'', including: ** Major depressive disorder, al ...
, and the tractor wars, forced it out of production in 1923. The Stephens brand of automobiles ended in 1924. With the end of these two business lines, Moline Plow had divested itself from the tractor and automobile businesses, and it chose the implement line for its future focus. It changed its name to the Moline Implement Company to reflect this. Several famous people served as executives or engineers at Moline Plow, including Frank Gates Allen, William P. Bettendorf,
George Peek George Nelson Peek (November 19, 1873 – December 17, 1943) was an American agricultural economist, business executive, and civil servant. He was the first administrator of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) and the first presid ...
, and Hugh S. Johnson. In 1929, the Moline Implement Company was merged with two other companies, the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company and the
Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 census, it is the state's most populous city. Located in the state's center near the eastern border, it o ...
(both of
Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
), to form the Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company.


References

5. http://MolinePlowCo.Com


Bibliography

* * {{Authority control Tractor manufacturers of the United States Ploughs