THE MEASURING STICK OF THE TRACTOR INDUSTRY©
PART II

Dan Whalen 2165 Berry Road, Amelia, OH 45102
As printed in the Wild Harvest 1999

It is now approaching 69 years since Massey-Harris purchased J.I. Case Plow Works and the Wallis Tractor. It is now approaching 85 years since the Wallis Tractor Company was formed. Certainly, much information as to the history of the Wallis and Massey-Harris tractor and the men behind them has been lost forever.

There were many men who contributed their talents and ideas, which made up the Wallis and Massey-Harris tractors, as we know them. A History of the Global Corporation says its men "were anti-intellectual and emphasized the superiority of the self-made man of practical experience and were enthusiastic, ambitious and optimistic". Maybe if they had been balanced with studied intellectual talent early on, they would have recognized the value of the row crop configuration and this made a larger impact on sales.

After 85 years, we only have information of the most outstanding personalities and some names, which is most unfortunate. Probably the most outstanding personalities who made Wallis a Wallis and laid down the features and fundamental principles that are still used in the modern tractor of today are Robert (Bob) O. Henderickson and his associate Oliver P. Conger. Bob Henderickson was knows as a farm boy who developed into a tractor genius. It would be difficult to point to any one individual engineer as the man responsible for the light weight high powered farm tractor. In the opinion of the pioneers and leaders of the tractor industry of that day, much of the credit goes to R.O. Henderickson.

R.O. Henderickson was born September 29, 1884 near Canastota SD. He grew up tinkering with farm implements and machinery working on the farm and was educated by country schools. In 1901, he apprenticed to a watchmaker and extended his activities to sewing machines and typewriters. In 1903, he found work as an engineer for a large steam threshing outfit near Oakes ND which he worked for off and on seasonally. He enrolled as a student at the Minneapolis School of Watchmaking, Engraving and Optics and in 1904 was engaged as an instructor. In 1906, he obtained employment with Haynes Auto Co. in Minneapolis MN as a repairman on White steam cars and later that year entered the employ of the Transit Thresher Co. of Minneapolis MN to get a chance to work on a 4 cyl heavy duty farm tractor which Transit was supposed to be building. In this way, Bob got in on the ground floor of the gasoline powered tractor. In January of 1907, The Transit Thresher Co. was reorganized into the Gas Traction Co., one of the first three manufacturers of gas tractors. R.O. Hendrickson continues with this organization actively engaged in field service and engineering for the Big Four Tractors made by Gas Traction Co. In 1909, Ajax Auto Traction Company was organized which Henderickson joined to specialize on experimental and development work. A number of tractors of his design were built and proved successful especially for the west coast market. The company was preparing to increase manufacturing when Mr. W.H. Corbet, president of the Willamate Iron Steel Works of Portland OR, who was the leading spirit of the organization, suddenly died. He was 32 years old. It was said "He was a young old veteran of the tractor business". In 1911, Ajax was dissolved and the patents, licenses and applications were turned back to Henderickson and Conger proceeded to Alliance OH where, at the Morgan Engineering Works, they built these tractors, designed an improved tractor and produced a special motor truck and ditching machine for the Geo. Shima Co. to be used in the Tulelands of the Sacramento River CA.

The spring and summer of 1912 were spent demonstrating and testing their new experimental tractor. This must be where the inspiration came to make a tractor frame of 3/16 thick boiler plate. This is when the Wallis Tractor Co. was organized in Olean NY to manufacture this machine. This obviously is the point in time H.M. Wallis and the J.I. Case Plow Works entered the picture. Also, C.M. Eason became involved with the newly designed tractor. In January of 1913, the Wallis Tractor Co. located to Cleveland OH. Henderickson and his assistant Eason built the tractor known as the Wallis Cub.

In C.M. Eason's first attempt he, with Ansel Wysong built their first tractor in 1905 at Topeka KS. This had a single rear drive wheel and two front steering wheels. Tests proved that the single drive wheel had inadequate traction so the job was rebuilt with 2 rear drive wheels and two front wheels, 4" wide mounted side by side, making in effect a single front steering wheel 8" wide - a forerunner of the so-called tricycle tractor which appeared many years later. This unit plowed with a 2 bottom 14-inch plow, disced, planted and harvested 80 acres of wheat on Wysong's farm in Meade County KS. Later a Brenen engine replaced the Cushman and their machine then christened "Autotractor" pulled 3 14-inch bottoms in buffalo sod. On a trial run on a cold November day, the crankshaft broke and they attempted to make a big tractor along the same general lines.

In 1912 Eason joined the Wallis Tractor Co. as assistant to P.O. Hendrickson, the chief engineer, and was one of the co-inventors of the frameless or "unit type" of construction which set the pattern for our modern tractors today. This was incorporated in the Wallis Cub, which was marketed a few years later. In 1913 he became manager of the Hyatt Roller Bearings Company's Tractor Division. In this capacity, his influence became apparent in the design of the Fordson tractor in 1917.

Hendrickson spent 18 months in Europe studying the experience of using tractors under war conditions. He came back in 1916, designed and produced the Wallis Cub.

R.O. Hendrickson is the first proponent of the unit type tractor construction, which eliminated the ordinary frame, and all of the mechanism between the engine and wheels is enclosed and runs in a bath of lubricant.

R.O. Hendrickson was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. And certainly we see the results of his life's work lives on in all tractors manufactured today.

H.M. Wallis was president of J.I. Case Plow Works and married to Jessie Fremont Case, one of J.I. Case's daughters, of which he promoted and capitalized on. In 1883, J.I. Case made H.M. Wallis a general manager of the J.I. Case Plow Works. In 1892, he was elected as president by the board of directors and continued as president until its sale to Massey Harris in 1928. H.M. Wallis died in February of 1931, believed to be caused by injuries sustained November 11, 1930 from an auto accident.

While it is true H.M. Wallis was a promoter and made a lot of noise, it is equally true he had the product to promote. He said, "Wallis tractor bears my name and I will guarantee that it is exactly as we represent it". One has to keep in mind that this was not the norm of the day, just the opposite. Tractor manufacturers were making all kinds of claims that were not true. This is why he made another statement calling other tractors "freak machines built to fit the particular ideas of enthusiastic inventors."

H.M. Wallis wanted to develop a farm tractor of a higher type of construction and efficiency, a machine that would prove to be a real asset instead of a liability. He did just that, he found R.O. Hendrickson and other personalities and was 15 to 20 years ahead of the competition.

John S. Rodgers developed and patented the vaporizer carburetion system of which we all are so fondly looking for cast iron part replacements. This vaporizer system is very unique in that it is said it is so efficient when using kerosene or distillate for fuel the tractor would idle indefinitely. When operating at ¾ load or more, water would be injected into the intake manifold by way of a valve in the carburetor eliminating pre-ignition knock. Wallis and Massey Harris were known for fuel economy.

John S. Rodgers served as chief of final inspection at Wallis: K. Earl Moree served as chief engineer; G.C. Wayland President; J.C. Campbell Wallis factory Superintendent; Robert Johnson, Chief Inspector. We know these names and positions (circa 1928) because they signed the famous certificate that "certified" Wallis was built so well each would give his personal endorsement of integrity. Each purchaser of a Wallis tractor would receive a certificate with serial number and personally signed.

Quality, innovative engineering made the Wallis and Massey-Harris superior to most tractor manufacturers. In time the innovative features could not be used in advertising because they became the standard of the industry thanks to these men.

The Measuring Stick Part III             Home