15090 State Route BB St. James, Missouri 65559
I have noticed at shows that there are often a few collectors
who have one or two wheel tractors that get paraded or put on
static display. I have also noticed that collector interest in
these machines is less frantic than that surrounding stationary
engines (which is good for me, with engine prices where they are),
but I wonder if many collectors are aware of some of these facts.
For example, in 1925, while 169, 196 internal combustion engines
were made for farm use (about 145,000 of them under 5 horsepower),
just 3,456 motor cultivators and garden tractors were made and
sold.* Production of garden tractors grew in later years, but look
at the collect ability of any one or two wheel machine sold prior
to 1925. Some of these birds are rare indeed.
By understanding the times in which these machines were
produced, it is easy (now) to see that the garden tractor (or
walking-tractor) was a natural for replacement of Dobbin, and not
on just the smallest of farms. Consider this: in 1919, truck farms,
some in excess of 100 acres, largely used hand labor to plant and
cultivate due to the sensitive nature of their crops. Development
and application of the garden tractor was, for them, directly
translated into a huge reduction in production overhead.
I have developed a warm spot for these tired old one and two
wheelers. Show me one resting in the weeds and my pulse beats just
a little faster. Recently, while on a photo expedition, I was
casually examining a pile of rust surrounded by tall grass and car
parts when my wife came over and started asking embarrassing
questions about the state of our finances. Her intuition is
uncanny.
At any rate, of particular interest to me are the machines
manufactured in Minneapolis. Several walking-tractor companies
flourished in this city. One of the pioneers of the walking-tractor
industry, the Beeman Garden Tractor Company, was getting things
rolling here as far back as 1917. While Mr. E. R. Beeman only
controlled the company up until 1925, his tractor continued on well
beyond that into the late Thirties. By the end of his tenure, Mr.
Beeman had placed over 25,000 of his machines around the world.
Consider another pioneer, Harold L. Downing of Minneapolis. Mr.
Downing was the father of four production companies, all making
garden tractors: the American Farm Machinery Co. (AFM), the
Standard Engine Co., the Allied Motors Corporation, and maybe the
Walsh Tractor Co. (Mr. Downing may not have been the father of
Walsh Tractor, but he was surely the rich uncle). I think of these
four companies as a syndicate, and together they churned out
machines by the thousands. It is a pretty impressive record
considering that AFM was founded with a meager $60,000 worth of
stock for capital.
In my mind, there are two major distinctions in these old
walking tractors: those which used pre-built engines and those
which didn’t. My interest runs largely to the latter. All of
the syndicate machines used syndicate-built engines. The first
syndicate-built machine was a one wheeler called the Kinkade. This
machine, and the patent that guarded it, was built in no less than
10 different variations. Syndicate two wheelers included the Walsh
(2.5 HP), the Standard (later transformed into the Monarch 3.5 HP),
the Viking Twins (the B, F, and CF series, all 5 HP) the Viking
single (3.5 HP), the Standard Twin (5 HP), and the Edgeton (est.
1.5 HP). Production of one or another of these machines ran nearly
continuously from before 1920 (before the Kinkade was made under
the umbrella of the American Farm Machinery Co.) until 1952, when
the syndicate companies changed hands and production of most of
these machines was discontinued.
Mr. Downing seems to have had an incredible sense of timing. A
short history of the syndicate looks like this: In 1920, just one
year before a depression began which would put more than 100
companies into receivership (including the Beeman company), AFM
appeared and began selling the Kinkade. For reference, in 1921,
Deere & Co. sold just 79 tractors, down from over 5,000 the
previous year.
In 1924 Standard Engine Co. was rolling out its first
experimental machines, the predecessor to the soon-to-be popular
Standard. By 1929, Mr. Downing was going for market expansion, and
the first two cylinder machine for the syndicate, the Viking Twin,
was in development.
In 1934, just as the Great Depression was getting up a head of
steam, Mr. Downing produced a restructuring of the syndicate with a
new model of tractor, and with this model year the Walsh, the
Monarch, and the new Standard Twin were all offered by Standard.
Most likely as a cost-saving measure, the Walsh Tractor Company was
absorbed into Standard Engine, and the three surviving companies
settled down to a new lifestyle. AFM furiously sold the Kinkade in
one version or another, and Allied was in a nearly continuous state
of change as they reengineered and redeveloped their machines. No
less than three major redesigns of the Viking Twin occurred between
1931 and 1937. However, the Allied line seems to have always been
the Cadillac (Lexus?) of the syndicate lines. Engineering finesse?
Maybe not. Built like a tank? Definitely.
In fact, all of the syndicate machines from this period were
very carefully designed; designed to be used, maintained, and
repaired. Sure, sometimes they made mistakes, like the ‘B’
model Viking Twin where you could put it in both forward and
reverse at the same time, but reverse was an option after all. A
forgivable mistake, and one they cured with a simple reverse
lock-out mechanism.
Always the innovator, work was done at the Standard works in
1939 to develop a serious riding attachment for the Standard Twin,
and this was placed into the market in 1940 as the Standard Twin
Convertible. However, in 1941, events in the Pacific had a
significant impact on the syndicate’s operations.
The beginning of World War II spelled the end for Allied. All
Allied Motors production ceased during the war, and it would never
again flourish as it once had. The other syndicate companies had a
hard couple of years as well, and at least one Standard Twin rolled
out with an interesting mix of Viking and Standard parts in
place.
Post-war production saw the entire Standard line and the final
pre-war Kinkade design in full production, and for a couple of
years things were rosy, but the farming paradigm, indeed the whole
American culture was changing rapidly, and the small farm’s
needs were changing too. The era of the unit-construction
walking-tractor was coming to an end. The syndicate made a token
struggle with the two-cycle Suburbanite and Edgeton, but the
writing was on the wall.
The new breed, the modern Briggs-powered belt-drive
light-cultivation machines such as the Bolens Power Ho Deluxe
(Model 12BB), had been perfected. Though long in production, by
this time these machines were cheaper, easier to make, and could
and would dominate the new market. Heavy cultivation ended up going
to the riding tractors, such as the small Farmalls. Such was the
tale of some of the early walking tractors.
While production estimates vary, my estimates for the 32 year
production run, and I stress these are just estimates, are that
more than 25,000 Kinkades were produced, more than 30,000 Standards
and Monarchs, roughly 12,000 Standard Twins, 5,000 Vikings, and an
indeterminate number of Walshes, probably in excess of 10,000
units. Low production compared to, say, the Fordson, whose 1923
production of almost 102,000 units would eclipse the total
(estimated) 32 year syndicate output on machine count alone.
Still, everybody needs to collect something. I think I’ll
stick with the old rusty walk behinds. They’re cute. As I told
my wife on the way into the bank, we could do a lot worse,
especially if I was into something expensive, like le femmes.
(Mr. Bookout and his tolerant wife-and-best-friend are in the
process of researching, photographing, and writing a
collector’s documentary on the Minneapolis manufacturing
syndicate formed and run by Harold L. Downing. He requests that
anyone willing to share information about one of these companies or
their owners, the machines, advertising, operator’s manuals, or
other pertinent information contact him directly.)
