John Froelich wasn’t an engineer; he wasn’t even a mechanic but one day in 1892 he had a better idea. John was a businessman who owned a grain elevator and ran a contract threshing business during the harvest season. Apparently the steam engine that he used to power his threshing machine lacked a spark arrester or a sufficiently long stack pipe. After one especially hectic afternoon of frantically trying to put out a fire that his engine had started, John decided that there had to be a better way to power his rig.
With the help of an assistant named William Mann , Froelich set out to adapt a gasoline engine to power a traction engine. It was a long trial and error process but it resulted in a self propelled machine that powered production of 72,000 bushels of grain that season. John declared his effort a success and started looking for investors to back his venture.
The Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Co. was created to build the Froelich tractor and a factory was constructed in Waterloo, Iowa. Pulling a belt is one thing, and pulling a plow is quite another. Froelich’s tractor just wasn’t up to it. Only two copies were sold and both were quickly returned to the factory.
Froelich’s financial backers were not pleased and a falling out ensued. In 1895 the company was reorganized as the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. Tractor development was put on the back burner while the firm concentrated on producing stationary engines and John Froelich went his separate way. Manufacturing engines proved to be a more lucrative endeavor. Within a few years they became one of the largest engine builders in the United States, with a line of engines ranging from 1 ½ to 12 horsepower.
It took until 1912 to develop a functional tractor design that went into production designated the model LA. Only twenty of these were sold, but it was a prototype for the Model R that followed in 1914. This was the first of the Waterloo Boy tractors. Over eight thousand copies were sold between 1914 and 1919. In 1917 an improved version was developed that incorporated a two speed transmission, ½” larger pistons in the two cylinder engine and an improved steering system. This version was designated the Model N. The Model N was produced from 1917 to 1924 with 20,000 units sold.
During this period Deere & Co. had been trying to develop a tractor of their own design but were having little success. In March of 1918 they arranged to buy out Waterloo for $ 2,100,000 and were in the tractor business overnight. The deal brought them the rights to the Waterloo Boy tractor and a factory that was producing 100 engines and 20 tractors per day. Deere built Waterloo Boy tractors until 1924 when it was replaced by the Model D.
In 1919 the Nebraska State Legislature passed the Nebraska Tractor Test Act that required all tractors sold in the state to be tested to verify the performance claims made by the manufacturers. Deere & Co. was quick to get in line and their Waterloo Boy had the distinction of being the first tractor evaluated at the new tractor test laboratory at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
Tractor Test #1 was conducted from March 31 to April 9, 1920 on the Model N 12 - 25 . Rated brake horsepower was reported as 25.51, Drawbar: 12.10 hp. Rated speeds listed as: low gear, 2.34 mph. High gear, 3.02 mph. Total weight of the tractor as tested was recorded as 6183 pounds.
The tractor shown here is part of the Berry Collection that was displayed at the 2019 Richland Creek Antique Fall Festival. For information about the 2020 show, visit: www.richlandcreekantiques.com .
Sources:
https://history.nebraska.gov/publications/tractor-testing-nebraska
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tractormuseumlit/38/
