Cockshutt Plow Company

Restored Cockshutt 50 tractor

Cockshutt was a large tractor and machinery manufacturer based in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

Originally founded as the Brantford Plow Works by James G. Cockshutt in 1877, the name was changed to the Cockshutt Plow Company when it was incorporated in 1882. After James died shortly thereafter, his brother William Foster Cockshutt took over as president. He remained until 1888, when another brother Frank Cockshutt became president of the company. In 1910, Henry Cockshutt, the youngest of the brothers, took over the leadership of the company. Under his direction, the company was able to obtain financing for acquisitions and expansion.

Known for quality designs, the company became the leader in the tillage tools sector by the 1920s.

History

A Cockshutt combine harvester

Since Cockshutt did not have a tractor design of its own yet, in 1929 an arrangement was made to distribute Allis-Chalmers model 20-35 and United tractors. In 1935 Cockshutt took on the Oliver tractor line.

During the war years (because of Canada was part of the British Empire the "war years" extended from 1939 through 1945}, Cockshutt's Brantford, Ontario factory manufactured undercarriages for several types of British bombers and built plywood fuselages and wings for the Avro Anson training aircraft and for Britain's famous de Havilland Mosquito bomber.^[1] The Brantford plant also manufactured artillery trailers and artillery shells of variety of sizes.^[1] The work force at Brantford grew to nearly 6,000 people. A great number of the work force were women.^[1] Meanwhile, Cockshutt's other Brantford factory, called the Brantford Coach and Body plant manufactured mechanical transport bodies, ambulances, and specialty trailers for the war effort.^[1]

Still during the war years Cockshutt was able to design its own tractor. This tractor was the Cockshutt Model 30 tractor. However, because the raw materials needed for industrial production was were restricted only for use in the war effort, production of the Model 30 had to be postponed until the end of the war. The Model 30 finally went into production in 1946. Only 441 Model 30s were manufactured that first year.^[2] In 1947, production of the Model 30 hit its full stride when 6,263 were built. Thus, the Model 30 was the first modern production tractor built in Canada. The high water mark of production of the Model 30 was reached in 1948 when 10,665 tractors were made and marketed across Canada.^[2] The Cockshutt Model 30 was painted red in color with cream white wheel rims front and rear and with cream white lettering on the tractor. The Model 30 was powered by a 153 cubic inch engine made by the Buda Engine Company of Harvey, Illinois.

A Cockshutt 411 forage harvester

The Cockshutt Farm Equipment Company had always intended to sell its new Model 30 beyond the borders of Canada. The company especially wanted to enter the large farm tractor market south of the border in the United States. However, Cockshutt had no sales network in the United States. Consequently in 1945, Cockshutt signed two marketing agreements with United States organizations. The first agreement was signed with the National Farm Machinery Co-operative (NFMC) in the midwestern United States.^[3] Under the terms of this agreement the Model 30 tractors sold in the United States would be sold under the "Co-op" name. The tractors would be painted entirely "pumpkin orange" with black lettering and would be re-designated as the Co-op Model E-3 tractor. The NFMC would wholesale the Model E-3 tractors to various local farmer-owned co-operatives. These local farmer-owned co-operatives, spread over 10 states in the midwestern part of the United States, would then retail the Model E-3 tractors to the consuming farming public.Cockshutt: The Complete Story, p. 17. Some of these locally owned farmer-owned co-operatives, especially those located in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, were affiliated with the American Farm Bureau. By October of 1946 the new orange Model E-3 tractors were rolling off the assembly line at the Brantford factory and were beginning to show up at local farmer-owned co-operatives all across the Midwest of the United States.

Co-op Model E-3 tractors were also marketed to local farmer-owned co-operatives located in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and Montana. These tractors were wholesaled by the Farmers Union Grain Exchange located in St. Paul, Minnesota. In order to promote the sales of the Model E-3 tractor in the United States, Cockshutt sent one of the Model 30/Co-op E-3 tractors to Lincoln, Nebraska to be tested by the staff at the University of Nebraska from May 21, through June 3, 1947.^[4] Testing of the Model 30/Co-op E-3 tractor revealed that the tractor delivered 28.10 horsepower (hp) to the belt pulley and 21.68 hp to the drawbar.^[4]

Following introduction of the Model 30, Cockshutt added the larger Model 40 in 1949 and added the smaller Model 20 in 1952 and finally in l953 the Company added the still larger Model 50 to the emerging line of Cockshutt farm tractors.

In 1958, Cockshutt introduced a complete new line of tractors at the same time: the 540, 550, 560, and 570. The sheet metal of the 500 series was designed by Raymond Loewy, an automobile designer of the era. The design set a new standard in modern styling.

Also in 1958, the company was taken over by outside interests and the farm equipment division was sold to White Motor Company in 1962. White had previously acquired Oliver in 1960 and subsequently bought Minneapolis-Moline in 1963.

Starting in 1962, White opted to rebrand the Oliver tractors as Cockshutts. Thus, a Cockshutt 1650 was the same tractor as the Oliver 1650, but painted red instead of green.

In 1971, White sold two diesel imports made by Fiat as Cockshutts: the 1265 (41 PTO horsepower, 3-cylinder) and the 1355 (54 PTO horsepower, 4-cylinder). The same tractors were also sold as Minneapolis-Moline and Oliver.

White continued to use the popular Cockshutt brand name until the mid-1970s, when it was phased out. By 1977 the Cockshutt name was no longer used.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Cockshutt: The Complete Story (American Society of Agricultural Engineers [ASAE]: St. Joseph, Michigan, 1999) p. 14.
2. ^ ^{a b} Kurt Aumann Serial Number Index (Belt Pulley Publishing: Nokomos, Illinois, 1993) p. 13.
3. ^ Cockshutt: The Complete Story p. 90.
4. ^ ^{a b} C.H. Wendel, Nebraska Tractor Tests Since 1920 (Crestline books: Osceola, Wisconsin, 1993), p. 138.

External links

• Yesterday's Tractors A Cockshutt Tractor History
• Canadian Industrial Heritage Centre Collection of Cockshutt artifacts and archival material
• Memoirs of Ignatius Cockshutt