Oliver Super 55

Back in the early years of the 20th Century tractors were the “Crypto” that would make you rich and everyone wanted in on the action. The Oliver Chilled Plow works of South Bend, Indiana was no exception, and sometime in the mid 1920’s they decided that the world needed an Oliver Chilled Plow Tractor. Developing a functional machine proved to be more difficult than they anticipated and only one copy of the tractor is known to exist today.

Oliver’s lack of tractor expertise was soon overcome by the 1929 merger with the Hart-Parr , Nichols and Shepard and American Seeding companies that resulted in the formation of the Oliver Farm Equipment Co.  that was positioned to provide nearly everything a farmer needed except rain. Hart-Parr had been building tractors since 1902 and is generally credited with inventing the term “tractor”. The Oliver Corporation, as it became known in 1944, was on its way to a long career of building innovative farm machinery.

The Hart-Parr tractors evolved under the new corporation. By 1930 the two cylinder horizontal engines had been replaced with vertical four or six cylinder inline motors. By 1935 they had gone “streamlined”. It made them look spiffy, but they didn’t go any faster. A more practical innovation was the gradual replacement of steel wheels with rubber tires. A new Fleetline series was introduced in 1948. This series emphasized interchangeability of parts between the various models. Then, from 1954 to 1958 Oliver produced the “Super” series that included the model classes: 55, 66, 77, 88 and 99. 

The Super series tractors were available in both gasoline and diesel versions and the diesel version proved to be the best sellers. Innovative improvements like independent disc brakes, their “Hydra-Lectric” hydraulic system and an independent PTO were well received by Oliver buyers. A three point hitch system was offered as an option.

Oliver shipped a model 55 to the University of Nebraska where it was evaluated in Test Number 524 from September 27 to October 12, 1954 with the following results reported for the gasoline powered version. Maximum observed horsepower; drawbar, 29.6, belt, 34.39. Wheelbase: 73 inches, front and rear tread width:48 to 76 inches. Advertised speeds: first gear, 1.69 miles per hour, 2nd, 2.58, 3rd, 3.46, 4th, 5.33, 5th, 6.39, 6th, 13.18 mph. 

Oliver manufactured its own gasoline engine, a four cylinder vertical in line with the crankshaft mounted lengthwise to the tractor. The four cylinders had a bore of three and one half inches and a stroke of three and three quarters inches. Total displacement added up to 144 cubic inches. 

I photographed this 55 at the WNC Fall Harvest Days Antique Engine and Tractor Show in 2018. It was parked in an area away from most of the exhibits that is usually where items for sale are traded. There was no for sale sign or any information about it displayed. Maybe it had already been sold. It caught my eye because I can’t recall having seen a Super 55 before. 

Sources: 

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu

www.tractordata.com 

https://oliverheritage.com 

Encyclopedia of American Farm Tractors by C.H. Wendel 

Fairbanks-Morse Type Y-VA Engine

I missed the 2018 Foothills Antique Power Association of NC show. Rain was forecast so I opted for a show that was closer to home and scheduled for the same day. The club members put 2018 to good use and by the time the 2019 show rolled around, two Fairbanks Morse engines had been installed at the American Legion Fairgrounds site. No flies on those boys, no siree Bob. 

The engine that’s now being used to power their demonstration sawmill was built at the Fairbanks Morse factory at St. Paul Mn. in 1925 and shipped to a customer in Gaithersburg, Md. in May of that year. In 1928 it headed south to Orangeburg, South Carolina where it provided the motive power for a cotton gin for an unspecified number of years. In use or not it stayed there until 1987 when it changed owners again and was moved to Dacusville, SC where it was used to power a demonstration sawmill during their annual tractor and engine show. The current owners acquired it in December 2017 and moved it to the Legion Fairgrounds site at Newton, North Carolina.

To give you some idea of the effort that went into this project, consider these numbers. The type Y engine weighs a hefty 17,420 pounds. Add to that: flywheel, 2600 pounds, exhaust system, 1,500 lbs, platform and ladder, 500 lbs, clutch, 3500 lbs. Add those together for a nice round total of 25,520 pounds of antique engine.

Thaddeus Fairbanks could have told you exactly what each of those parts weighed because he designed and patented a platform scale in 1832 that became the industry standard and the best selling product of the company that he and his brother Erastus operated. In the years that followed, the E & T Fairbanks Company would sell thousands of those scales in countries around the globe. 

As the years passed, the Fairbanks Co. prospered and continued to add new products to their line. During the 1870’s, one of their dealers by the name of Charles Morse added Eclipse Windmills and pumps to their product line. They sold well and before long Mr. Morse became a partner and the name was changed to Fairbanks Morse & Co. 

During the 1890’s production expanded again with the addition of stationary engines.  Gas burning engines came first. These were typically used by oil field operations. Small engines that burned kerosene followed around 1893.  Coal gas was the next fuel in 1905, followed by a semi diesel that was ready for market in 1913. Rudolf Diesel’s American patents expired in 1912, opening the door for companies like Fairbanks Morse to sell their own versions.

The model Y was a semi-diesel that entered production in 1914. F-M offered it in a variety of power options that ranged from a one cylinder engine at thirty horsepower to a six gang engine rated at nearly 200 hp. The model Y-VA replaced the Y in 1924 and became a mainstay for applications  that required  long periods of non stop operation, like generating electricity. 

The key to this engine’s long life was the simplicity of it’s design. A two cycle, airless injection design, with few moving parts to wear out or break kept down time for repairs and maintenance to a minimum. Oldmachinepress.com has posted a sectional view of the model 32 engine that replaced the Y-VA, that gives you a better understanding of the working parts of this engine than any description that I could provide here. The Model 32 version was produced into the 1940’s and some were still in daily use into the 1970’s. 

The tag on this engine identifies it as a Y-VA rated at 120 HP running at 257 RPM when it left the factory in 1925. According to the FAPA It underwent extensive modifications in 1941 that boosted its output to 150 hp. 

The other engine in this display ( the red one ) is a 60 horsepower Fairbanks - Morse Diesel that was also moved to Hickory during 2018 - 2019. Unfortunately, that’s about all the information that they have provided about this engine. Watching these big engines run is a lot of fun and they provide an extra incentive to visit this show. For information about the 2020 event visit: www.foothillsantique,com .

Sources: 

oldmachinepress.com/2012/08/31/fairbanks-morse-model-32-stationary-engine/

www.asme.org #208 Fairbanks-Morse Y-VA engine 1924