Allis-Chalmers was a U.S. manufacturer of machinery for various industries. Its business lines included agricultural equipment, construction equipment, power generation and power transmission equipment, and machinery for use in industrial settings such as factories, flour mills, sawmills, textile mills, steel mills, refineries, mines, and ore mills.

The first Allis-Chalmers Company was formed in 1901 as an amalgamation of the Edward P. Allis Company (steam engines and mill equipment), Fraser & Chalmers (mining and ore milling equipment), the Gates Iron Works (rock and cement milling equipment), and the industrial business line of the Dickson Manufacturing Company (engines and compressors). It was reorganized in 1912 as the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company. During the next 70 years, its industrial machinery filled countless mills, mines, and factories around the world, and its brand gained fame among consumers mostly from its farm equipment business's orange tractors and silver combine harvesters.

In the 1980s-1990s, a series of divestitures transformed the firm and eventually dissolved it. Its successors are Allis-Chalmers Energy and AGCO.

History

Overview

Author-photographer Randy Leffingwell (1993) aptly summarized the firm's origins and character. He observed that it "grew by acquiring and consolidating the innovations" of various smaller firms and building upon them; and he continued that "Metal work and machinery were the common background. Financial successes and failures brought them together." Whether or not it is literally true, that Allis-Chalmers predated the sense of "conglomerate" meaning a widely diversified parent corporation, Buescher's point is valid: Allis-Chalmers, despite its common theme of machinery, was an amalgamation of disparate business lines, each with a unique marketplace, beginning in an era when consolidations within industries were fashionable but those across industries were not yet common.

1800s to 1901

Edward P. Allis was an entrepreneur who in 1860 bought a bankrupt firm at a sheriff's auction,

thumb|[[Gates Iron Works, Interior, 1896]]

Thomas Chalmers was a Scottish immigrant to America who came to the U.S. about 1842. By 1844 he was at Chicago, Illinois and had found work with P.W. Gates, whose foundry and blacksmithing shops produced plows, wagons, and flour-milling equipment. The Gates firm "built the first steam-operated sawmill in the country at a time when Chicago was the leading producer of milled lumber in the country." By 1880 steam engines were part of the product line and by 1890, the firm had become one of the world's largest manufacturers of mining equipment. ore milling equipment, various kinds of crushers and pulverizers, including stamp mills, roller mills, ball mills, conical mills, rod mills, and jigging mills; cyanidation mills and other concentration mills; hoisting engines; cars, including skip cars, slag cars, and general mine cars; briquetting plants; and the pumps, tanks, boilers, compressors, hydraulic accumulators, pipes, valves, sieves, and conveyors needed within these products. Like other firms that build capital equipment for industrial corporations, it also supplied consulting, erecting, and training services, such as helping a mining company to design a plant, to build its buildings and set up its machinery, and to teach the employees how to use and maintain it.

In 1903, Allis-Chalmers acquired the Bullock Electric Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, which added steam turbines to Allis-Chalmers's powerplant equipment business line.

1912-1919

thumb|An Allis-Chalmers Corliss type [[stationary engine.]]

By 1912, the Allis-Chalmers Company was in financial trouble, so it was reorganized. It was renamed the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, and Otto Falk, a former Brigadier General of the Wisconsin National Guard, was appointed to turn it around. the Model 6-12, and the Model 15-30, were developed and marketed between 1914 and 1919, and the farm implement line was expanded.

1920s

thumb|Allis-Chalmers 10-18 (1912-1918)

thumb|An Allis-Chalmers tractor advertisement in Farm Mechanics, 1921, showing the models 6-12, 12-20, and 18-30

thumb|Allis-Chalmers 20-30 (1918-1930)

thumb|Allis-Chalmers Monarch „50“

thumb|United tractor on display at Heidrick Ag History Center, Woodland, California, U.S.

thumb|1939 A-C Model U, the successor to the United Tractor

As had also been true of the 1900–1920 period, the Roaring Twenties were a favorable time for consolidation and even conglomeration throughout the business world. It was also a time of strongly continuing mechanization on North American farms. At Allis-Chalmers, the 1920s brought yet more tractors, such as the 18-30, the 12-20, the 15-25, and the United tractor/Model U.

Famed inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla spent the period 1919-1922 working in Milwaukee for Allis-Chalmers.

In 1926 Falk hired Harry Merritt, who would be a senior executive in Allis-Chalmers's tractor business for many years. Merritt had worked in the sales and marketing of various brands of farm and construction equipment, most recently Holt, when Falk hired him away. Walter M. Buescher, In 1929, it acquired the La Crosse Plow Works of La Crosse, Wisconsin. The La Crosse Plow Works had a good-quality plow and various desirable implements, which now expanded the Allis-Chalmers implement line. Also in 1929, Harry Merritt was in California when the bright orange California poppy blossoms inspired him to think about the use of bright colors in marketing. Brightly colored things that can be seen from far away had potential in farm equipment marketing. He soon changed the paint color of Allis-Chalmers's tractors to Persian Orange, the available paint color that he felt most closely resembled the California poppy's color. Thus began the tradition of orange Allis-Chalmers tractors. Various competitors would follow suit over the next decade, as International Harvester switched to all-red (1936), Minneapolis-Moline switched to Prairie Gold (late 1930s), and Case switched to Flambeau Red (late 1930s). John Deere already had a distinctive color scheme with its bright green and yellow.

In 1928, Henry Ford canceled U.S. production of the Fordson tractor. This disrupted the business of many firms: farm equipment dealers who sold Fordsons and aftermarket equipment builders whose attachments were designed to mount on Fordsons (for example, the Gleaner combines of the 1920s mounted on Fordsons, and many Fordson industrial tractors used aftermarket attachments). Many of these firms formed a conglomerate in 1928 called the United Tractor & Equipment corporation. United arranged a deal with Allis-Chalmers to build a tractor to substitute for the now-missing Fordson. Around 1930, the United conglomerate collapsed. The reasons that various authors have given have been disagreements between its investors, the onset of the Great Depression, and the fact that Ford Motor Company Ltd of England, which was continuing the Fordson line independently of the U.S. Ford company, began exporting new Fordsons to America. The United tractor became the Allis-Chalmers Model U.

1930s

thumb|A two-row [[corn picker]]The 1930s were a pivotal decade. Despite the Great Depression, Allis-Chalmers succeeded as demand for its machinery continued.

In 1931, it acquired Advance-Rumely of La Porte, Indiana, Also in 1931, the corporation's electrical equipment business expanded via acquisition when Brown, Boveri & Cie, in a financial pinch because of the Depression, sold its U.S. electrical operations to Allis-Chalmers. After 1931 Allis-Chalmers was the licensee for U.S. sales of European products of Brown, Boveri & Cie. The innovation quickly spread industry-wide, as (to many farmers' surprise) it improved tractive force and fuel economy in the range of 10% to 20%. Within only 5 years, pneumatic rubber tires had displaced cleated steel wheels across roughly half of all tractors sold industry-wide. Cleated steel remained optional equipment into the 1940s. Also in 1932, Allis-Chalmers acquired the Ryan Manufacturing Company, which added various grader models to its construction equipment line.

In 1933, Allis-Chalmers introduced its Model WC, its first-generation row-crop tractor, which would become its highest-selling tractor ever. In 1937, its lighter and more affordable second-generation row-crop, the Model B, arrived, and also became a top seller. Its All-Crop Harvester was the market leader in pull-type (tractor-drawn) combine harvesters.

In October 1937, Allis-Chalmers was one of fourteen major electrical manufacturing companies that went to court to change the way labor unions excluded contractors and products in the building trades through the union use of the "Men and Means Clause". The action of Allis-Chalmers and others eventually resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court decision of June 18, 1945, that ended certain union practices that violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.

1940s

World War II caused Allis-Chalmers, like most other manufacturing companies, to become extremely busy. As happened with many firms, its civilian product lines experienced a period of being "on hold", with emphasis on parts and service to keep existing machines running, but its war materiel production was pushed to the maximum of productivity and output. In the late 1930s through mid-1940s, Allis-Chalmers made machinery for naval ships, such as Liberty ship steam engines, steam turbines, generators, and electric motors; artillery tractors and tractors for other army use; electrical switches and controls; and other products. Allis-Chalmers was also one of many firms contracted to build equipment for the Manhattan Project. Its experience in mining and milling machinery made it a logical choice for uranium mining and processing equipment. Allis-Chalmers ranked 45th among United States corporations in the value of wartime military production contracts.

Immediately at the war's end, in 1945–1946, Allis-Chalmers endured a crippling 11-month labor strike. Buescher was convinced that the corporation never entirely recovered from the effects of this strike. This seems debatable given the various successes that Allis-Chalmers did have during the next 30 years, including prosperity in the farm equipment business in the 1950s and 1960s. It also included power adjust rear wheels, which became an industry standard. Production of this model continued into 1953, with nearly 150,000 tractors produced.

1950s

The 1950s were a time of great demand for more power in farm tractors, as well as greater capability from their hydraulic and electrical systems. It was also a decade of extensive dieselization, from railroad locomotives to farm tractors and construction equipment. In 1953, Allis-Chalmers acquired the Buda Engine Company of Harvey, Illinois. Allis wanted Buda for its line of diesel engines, because its previous supplier, Detroit Diesel, was a division of General Motors, whose recent acquisition of the Euclid heavy equipment company now made it a competitor of Allis-Chalmers for construction equipment business. which added various models of scrapers to its construction equipment line.

In 1953, the WD-45 was introduced, replacing the WD. The motor was increased to 226 cubic inches, giving it 30 horsepower on the drawbar at the Nebraska Tests. This was almost double the horsepower of the WD. A new Allis chalmers designed Snap- Coupler hitch was used. Gleaners continued to be manufactured at the same factory, in Independence, Missouri, after the acquisition.

In 1957, the Allis-Chalmers D Series of tractors was introduced. It enjoyed great success over the next decade.

In 1959, Allis-Chalmers acquired the French company Vendeuvre. Also in 1959, it acquired Tractomotive Corporation of Deerfield, Illinois, which it had been partnering with as an auxiliary equipment supplier for at least a decade. Buescher presents a viewpoint in which investing in research and product development is an expensive move that often does not pay off for the innovator and mostly benefits competitor clones. Most feigned innocence, but Allis-Chalmers pleaded guilty. Although one motive for the forming of cartels is so that amply profitable firms can try to become obscenely profitable, it did not apply in this instance, according to Buescher; rather, his view of the attempt at a heavy-electrical cartel was that it was a desperate (and foolish) attempt to turn red ink to black ink among fierce competition.

The D series continued to be successful in the 1960s. The factory-installed turbocharger on the D19 was the first in the industry. It was soon followed by the 190 and the 190 XT, which was a direct competitor for the John Deere Model 4020 with 98 horsepower (factory rating).

In 1965, Allis-Chalmers acquired Simplicity for its line of lawn and garden equipment. Also in that year, the nuclear reactor SAFARI-1, a research reactor built by Allis-Chalmers, went into operation.

In the 1960s, the farm equipment, construction equipment, and heavy electrical industries were not as profitable for Allis-Chalmers as they had been in the 1930s through 1950s. Reasonable prosperity continued in the farm equipment line, but the economics of all the industries shifted toward greater uncertainty and brittler success for firms that didn't become number one or two in a field. Allis-Chalmers was often number three or four, as Deere and International Harvester led in farm machinery, Caterpillar and Case led in construction, and Westinghouse and General Electric led in heavy electric markets. In the late 1960s, a trend of conglomeration flared, as mega-conglomerates like Ling-Temco-Vought, Gulf+Western, and White Consolidated Industries went on buying sprees. Several takeover attempts by those firms were made on Allis-Chalmers. It was during the same era and business climate that Tenneco acquired Case.

In 1960, Allis-Chalmers built the first grate-kiln ore pellet plant at the Humboldt mine in Michigan. The company eventually built about 50 such plants.

In 1974, Allis-Chalmers's construction equipment business was reorganized into a joint venture with Fiat, which bought a 65% majority stake at the outset.

In 1977, to compete in the recently expanding market segment of compact diesel utility tractors (such as the Kubota line and the Ford 1000 and 1600 built by Shibaura), Allis-Chalmers began importing Hinomoto tractors with Toyosha diesel engines from Japan. They were rebadged with the Allis-Chalmers brand for U.S. sales.

In 1978, a joint venture with Siemens, Siemens-Allis, was formed, supplying electrical control equipment.

1980s and 1990s

The company began to struggle in the 1980s in a climate of rapid economic change. It was forced amid financial struggles to sell major business lines.

In 1983, Allis-Chalmers sold Simplicity, the lawn and garden equipment division, to the division's management.

1985 was a year of great dissolution for Allis-Chalmers—the year when it folded three of its main business lines:

  • The Fiat-Allis joint venture in construction equipment, over which the firms' managements had long since had a falling-out, ended when Fiat bought out Allis's remaining minority stake. It renamed the company Fiatallis.
  • The Allis-Chalmers farm equipment business line ended when Allis sold it to K-H-D (Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz, Deutz AG) of Germany, at the time the owner of Deutz-Fahr. K-H-D renamed the business as Deutz-Allis

In 1998, what remained of the Allis-Chalmers manufacturing businesses were divested, and in January 1999, the company officially closed its Milwaukee offices. The remaining service businesses became Allis-Chalmers Energy in Houston, Texas.

Former sites

thumb|Bricks from West Allis, WI Factory

thumb|Allis-Chalmers Engine Block

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Location

!Purpose

!Other Facts

|-

|Milwaukee, Wisconsin

|Corporate offices

|

|-

|West Allis, Wisconsin

|Wheeled Tractor Plant, Power and Industrial Equipment

|

|-

|Appleton, Wisconsin

|Paper Making Machinery Plant

|

|-

|Independence, Missouri

|Gleaner Combine Plant

|Site inherited from Gleaner Manufacturing Company

|-

|La Porte, Indiana

|Harvest Equipment and Mower Plant

|Site inherited from Advance-Rumely

|-

|La Crosse, Wisconsin

|Farm Implement Plant

|Site inherited from La Crosse Plow Works

|-

|Terre Haute, Indiana

|Switchgear Assembly, Transformer Tanks, Transformers

|

|-

|Gadsden, Alabama

|Rear Engine Tractor and Electrical Transformer Plant

|

|-

|Springfield, Illinois

|Crawler Tractor, Motor Grader, Bulldozer, and Snow plow Plant

|Site inherited from the Monarch Tractor Company acquisition

|-

|Deerfield, Illinois

|Wheeled Loader and Tractor Shovel Plant

|Site inherited from the Tractomotive Corporation acquisition

|-

|Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

|Wheeled Loader and Tractor Shovel Plant, Fuel Cell R&D Center

|

|-

|Cedar Rapids, Iowa

|Motor Scraper, Pull-Type Scraper, Motor Wagon Plant

|

|-

|Norwood, Ohio

|Pumps and Motors

|Purchased by Siemens Corporation in 1985 and still presently operating

|-

|York, Pennsylvania

|Hydraulic Turbines and Valves

|Now owned by Voith and still operating

|-

|Oxnard, California

|Special Deep Tillage Tools

|

|-

|Harvey, Illinois

|Fork Lift Truck, Diesel, Natural Gas, Butane, and Gasoline Engine Plant

|Site inherited from the Buda Engine acquisition

|-

|St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada

|Electric Motor and Diesel Locomotive Controls

|

|-

|Lachine, Quebec, Canada

|Industrial Equipment

|

|-

|Boston, Massachusetts

|Circuit Breakers

|

|-

|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

|Electrical Transformers

|

|-

|Lexington, South Carolina

|Lawn and Garden Equipment, Terra Tiger plant

|

|}

Agricultural machinery

Allis-Chalmers offered a complete line of agricultural machinery, from tillage and harvesting to tractors.

Tractor models

In 1959, a team led by Harry Ihrig built a 15 kW fuel cell tractor for Allis-Chalmers which was demonstrated across the US at state fairs. This was the first fuel-cell-powered vehicle. Potassium hydroxide served as the electrolyte. The original AC fuel cell tractor is currently on display at the Smithsonian. Allis Chalmers also built many small square baler models.

Combine Harvesters

Allis-Chalmers originally developed their pull-type "all-crop harvester" as their solution for growers to harvest their crops beginning in 1933. In 1955, Allis-Chalmers acquired the Gleaner Baldwin/Gleaner Manufacturing Company and its line of self-propelled combine harvesters.<gallery mode="nolines">

File:1958 Allis-Chelmers Model 60 Combine (27764405700).jpg|1958 A-C Model "60" All-Crop Harvester

File:1965 Gleaner E harvester.JPG|1965 Gleaner Model "E" Combine

File:GLEANER L2.JPG|Gleaner Model "L2"

</gallery>

Industrial Construction Equipment

The company produced several lines of earth-moving and construction equipment ranging from:

  • Road graders
  • Tracked bulldozers
  • Tracked loaders
  • Forklifts
  • Others

<gallery mode="nolines" widths="240">

File:Allis-Chalmers bulldozer.JPG|A-C model HD20 with Hydraulic bulldozer blade

File:Allis Chalmers Speed Patrol W in het Museum voor Nostalgie en Techniek.JPG|A-C model W road grader

File:Bulldozer P1340395.jpg|A-C model HD20 crawler tractor with cable-actuated bulldozer blade

File:Orange Allis-Chalmers greader with Tractoloader pic2.JPG|A-C road grader

</gallery>

Industrial and power house equipment

Allis Chalmers marketed a full line of Industrial and Power House equipment, including turbo generators and medium voltage switchgear. In the 1920s through the 1960s AC Power House and Industrial equipment was competitive with industry giants like General Electric and Westinghouse. As early as the 1920s AC was manufacturing multi MVA hydro-electric generators and turbines, many of which remain in service (Louisville Gas & Electric Ohio Falls units 1–8, 8MW low head turbines and Kentucky Utilities Dix Dam units 1–3, 11MVA 300 RPM generators).

Allis Chalmers manufactured several lines of medium voltage switchgear, such as the HF and MA lines. The HF line competed with the General Electric "AM" Magneblast line of vertical-lift medium-voltage switchgear. The MA line was a competitor of the ITE "HK" line of horizontal-racking medium-voltage switchgear.

Allis-Chalmers produced a line of substation transformers, voltage regulators, and distribution transformers.

Allis Chalmers, during the period 1930–1965 and beyond, manufactured and marketed an extensive line of ore crushing equipment for the mining industry

In 1965, Allis-Chalmers built "Big Allis", or Ravenswood No. 3, the biggest generator in New York. It is located in Queens, has an output of 1000 MW, and remains operational.<gallery mode="nolines" widths="240">

File:Allis-Chalmers electric generator DCAPC August 2008 show.jpg|An earlier version of Allis-Chalmers electric generator

File:Allis Chalmers inserting steam turbine blades.jpg|A-C Made Steam Generator Turbines being assembled

File:Close up view of 1929 Allis-Chalmers steam turbine with engine housing removed. - Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron, First Avenue North Viaduct at Thirty-second Street, Birmingham, HAER ALA,37-BIRM,4-121.tif|A-C Steam Turbine with engine housing removed, 1929

File:Interior of powerhouse with fourth generating unit installed, February 26, 1925 (SPWS 79).jpg|A-C power generator at White River Power Plant, Washington State, 1925

</gallery>

Lawn and outdoor machinery

thumb|Allis-Chalmers Model SP Lawn Mower|225x225pxthumb|Side view of A-C Terra TigerIn the late 1960s and early 1970s AC expanded into lawn and out-door equipment.

All-terrain vehicles

AC made a line of 6-wheeled Amphibious ATV's called the "Terra Tiger".

Fuel cell golf carts

In 1965, Allis-Chalmers built hydrogen fueled fuel cell golf carts.

Military machinery

  • J36 jet engine, licensed version of the de Havilland Goblin, not produced
  • M1 tractor medium model HD7W
  • M1 tractor heavy model HD10W
  • M4 tractor high-speed 18-ton artillery tractor manufactured from 1943
  • M6 tractor high-speed 38-ton (artillery tractor)
  • M7 snow tractor
  • M19 snow trailer, 1-ton
  • M50 Ontos – a light anti-tank vehicle, 297 units produced from 1955 to 1957
  • Steam turbines, Allis Chalmers built the steam turbines which powered the USS Coontz DLG-9 (Later DDG-40) and some other ships of the same class used by the United States Navy.<gallery mode="nolines" widths="240">

File:Allis-Chalmers M4 high speed tracktor at Maaldrift pic2.JPG|Allis-Chalmers M4 High Speed

File:Allis Chalmers M 6 High Speed Tractor from Wo-II.jpg|Allis-Chalmers M6 High-Speed Tractor

File:Allis Chalmers HD - 15A produced since 1945.jpg|A-C Model HD-15A Bulldozer

</gallery>

Allis-Chalmers Energy

Allis-Chalmers Energy was a Houston-based multi-faceted oilfield services company. The company provided services and equipment to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, both domestically and internationally. It became Archer in 2011 after it merged with Seawell, another oil services/energy company.

See also

  • List of Allis-Chalmers tractors
  • List of Allis-Chalmers engines
  • AGCO (holder of former Deutz-Allis assets)
  • CNH Global (holder of former FIAT-Allis assets)
  • Siemens AG (holder of former Siemens-Allis assets)
  • Timeline of hydrogen technologies
  • Gleaner (harvester)
  • Serial number locations
  • Allis-Chalmers J36

References

Cited sources

  • A memoir by a man who worked for Allis-Chalmers for over 30 years as a mining engineer. Published posthumously.
  • A memoir by a man who worked for Allis-Chalmers for over 30 years as a sales representative and sales manager.
  • Published and republished by MBI (2000) and Voyageur Press (2001).
  • Published and republished by Crestline Publications (1988), Motorbooks International (1993), and Krause Publications (2004).

Further reading

  • Allis-Chalmers Lawn & Garden Tractors
  • Allis-Chalmers tractor models
  • Technical specifications of Allis-Chalmers tractors