John Deere Vintage Tractor Timeline
| 1892 John Froelich builds the first
gasoline-engine tractor that
could propel itself both forward and
backward.The single-cylinder Van
Duzen engine has a 14-inch bore and
stroke, displacing 2155 cubic inches
and developing 16 horsepower. |
1895 The Waterloo Gasoline
Traction Engine Company is
replaced by the Waterloo Gasoline
Engine Company. Froelich leaves. |
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| 1912 With Waterloo Boy Stationary
Engines doing well, the
Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company
takes another look at building tractors.
The first are fitted with a four-cylinder
engine and did not find customers
lined up. |
1914 The Waterloo Gasoline
Engine Company introduces
the Waterloo Boy Model “R”, equipped
with a kerosene-burning horizontal
two-cylinder engine.The basic engine
configuration would stay until 1960. |
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| 1917 The single-forward-speed
Waterloo Boy “R” is replaced
by the two-speed Model “N”. Sales of
the Waterloo Boy are excellent. |
1919 Design and development
work is ongoing with an
improved Waterloo Boy Tractor with
enclosed final drives.
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1924 The beloved spoke-flywheel
Model “D is an immediate
success, and authorization is given to
build increasing numbers of them. |
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1893 The Waterloo Gasoline
Traction Engine Company is
formed, with Froelich as president. |
1894 The Froelich Tractor fails to
sell, so the company begins
to concentrate on stationary gasoline
engines. |
1896—1897 While building
gasoline engines,
the company tries mounting the larger
size on a tractor chassis.Not a success. |
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| 1913 The first ancestors of twocylinder
tractors, the Waterloo
Boy Models “L” and “LA” (no relation
to the later John Deere models of
the same designation) are built, a
recorded 26 in all.The engine has
“opposed” cylinders. |
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| 1915 Since 1912, Deere & Company
at Moline, Illinois, had
been working on tractor designs. It
appears that the design by Joseph
Dain, an all-wheel-drive unit with
three wheels (one rear) has merit.
Development continues. |
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| 1918 Deere & Company purchases
the Waterloo Gasoline
Engine Company.The Dain-designed
tractor, too far along to kill, is scheduled
for a build of 100 units. |
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| 1923 The final prototype of the
proposed successor to the
Model “N”Waterloo Boy Tractor is
approved. Fifty of the units are built,
and they are designated as the John
Deere Model “D”. |
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| 1925 Deere engineers begin work
on a “general-purpose” tractor,
designated the “All-Crop.” |
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