First tractor with electric start?

Okay, just to make it clear that I really couldn't care less which tractor was the first with electric start, I'd just like to know.
ANYWAY, I had read at one time that a '39 Massey Harris was the first tractor that had the availability of electric start when they used a Chrysler engine for their power. The Chrysler engine had electric start and using it in a tractor was a no-brainer. I left it at that. Well, the tractor calendar that I have had a '49 Allis RC tractor for the July photo and it clearly has electric start. TractorData says that the Allis Chalmers RC was made from '38-'41. So my question is this: Did Allis have the electric start in '38 or did that start in '40? Or, did somebody drop a later engine in this '40 Allis RC calendar tractor?
Or did somebody else have electric start before the '39 Massey? If the Massey truly was the first tractor with electric start, who were some manufacturers that had it shortly after? Was Allis obviously one of them?

not sure ,others will have to chime in ,,. but i do believe electric start was available a whole lot earlier than 1939 on tractors,. i owned a 1937 oliver 70 that had electric start . a lot of the molenes had electric start in the 30s .some case cc and rc had electric start,and i think the case l could have electric start . those models saw their last build yr in 1938,,

I believe it was Allis Chalmers. Not positive, but I think it might.

Moline plow company Universal , 1919 had electric start and lights.

The Thieman tractor was first built sometime in the mid-thirties and it had an electric starter. Thieman wasn't a major player in the tractor market by any means but it was a tractor and it had electric start.

The Moline I think was first. It had 2 large drive wheels in front and 2 little wheels on the back. A 2cyl first & then a 4cyl . This was a Moline not a Minneapolis Moline. Maybe early 1920's. We have a man here in Central IL. that has a 2cyl & a 4 cyl.

I will agree with the Moline Plow Company having the starter and lights. They were an odd contraption and prone to tip over. The later ones had a counter weight on the right? side wheel.

The Thieman was more of a kit tractor and would be fitted with any option the builder would fit it with. Similar to a Model T conversion in that regard. Thieman entered the market in 1936 and was offered with a Ford Model A engine which would of had electric start

I think Case L and C models were available with electric start as an option from sometime in 1938 so they only had it for a year or so before the LA and D models respectively were introduced.

In the pre 1938 L and C tractors the engine castings had no provision for a starter (except maybe industrial versions?). After the change in engine casting it became an option.

I have a 1938 C without the change in the casting and a slightly later 1938 L with provision for a starter. The build card says it had a starter fitted, and on rubber tires, but by the time it was exported and sold here in Australia the starter and tires were removed. That was probably done in the packing for export.

Don't know who was first but Ford offered the 9N in 1939 with electric start, so IF (and that's a big IF) the first electric start tractor came out in 1939 then it was more than one manufacturer.

Kinda makes me laugh, all this first stuff. A lot of clamed firsts are just not true.

Claim: first diesel tractor: IH. Not true, was Cat in 1933. Yes a crawler but it was sold as a farm tractor and for construction.

First turbo: AC: not true, Cat beat them by about 6 years. No, it wasn't on rubber but again on a crawler offered both in AG and earth moving models.

But here is the kicker. It doesn't matter who was first. It matters that it was done. Heck when Cat turboed a coupled of models the turbo was far from being new and no, Cat did not invent it. It, the turbo was over 50 years old when Cat used it.

Kinda funny but on another board someone posted about JD copying CaseIH with a quad track. The quad track concept was developed by Cat 4 decades before the Quadtrak was released. Cat was messing with it for loaders because of tire problems with loaders in quarry/mining applications. By the time it was ready to release tire tech had solved the problem making a steel tracked quadtrak obsolete before it could enter production. So CaseIH wasn't innovative, they just were coptCATS.

But here is the whole ting in a nutshell. When I get on a tractor to actually work it I like the turbo diesel engines, AC and heat. Doesn't matter who was first putting them on a tractor.......matters that they did.

Rick

Rick

Another one is the "first" small aircooled industrial diesel. I notice in a Hatz ad in the 1985 Power Farming Annual (Oz) the claim

"1953 First Air Cooled Diesel Engine"

Completely ignoring that Armstrong Siddeley (England) had been producing them for some time previously (1930 - 1955 quoted in link below). Makes sense as Armstrong Siddeley were pioneers in air cooled radial aircraft engines from about 1919.

http://tractors.wikia.com/wiki/Armstrong-Siddeley

No idea if others are in that claims area

I don't think the 1938 massey claimed to be the first tractor with electric start, but I think it claimed to
Be the first tractor to offer electric start as standard equipment, instead of an option!!!

(quoted from post at 19:32:41 08/05/17) Moline plow company Universal , 1919 had electric start and lights.

Click to expand...

Yes! That IS the one.

1939 John Deere Model B was available with electric start as an option.

1935 on the Oliver Hart Parr 70.

I know dad has talked about their 1939 Allis Chalmers RC having electric start, but they couldn't afford to buy a new battery for it, so they crank started it whenever they needed it until money was available to buy a battery. They put a pan of hot coals from the stove under it in the winter and covered it with old blankets to heat the engine up, making it easier to crank and start when hauling out firewood for heating the farmhouse. The RC was the only tractor they had for several years.

You could not buy a 18-19 Moline Universal without electric start.

I think it was either 18 or 19. And yes were an odd tractor but actually made sence. For plowing you took the back sreering axle out from under and walked the tractor over to the plow using only 2 wheels and set it on to the plow and you had a intregated unit, for disk you did the same and even the grain binder, not sure how many implements were made for that. What proved the downfall of that style of tractor was that the rear axle was light and with them pivioting in the middle if you hooked them to a horse drawn disk you could not make a turn with them, the tractor would go into turn mode but the light back end would just slide making the tractor wanting to keep on going straight. That is what my Grandpa found out when his about dumped him into a creek. He traded that Moline Universal on a Mogal then followed up trading that on a 35 B John Deere and when it was time for him to get anouther tractor traded that B on a 37 G and in 41 bought anouthe B for a second tractor and it was his last tractor as he passed away when I was one month old in 1943. And I do have the orignal owners manual around here someplace for that Moline Universal. The tipping problem was taken care of by filling the spoke area of the wheel with concrete for weight. It pulled a 2 bottom plow.

The 1917 Twin City 16/30 was first farm tractor with electric start and lights.

For what it's worth, we once had a '38 RC Case that was hand crank, but the block had a round spot, maybe 4" in diameter, cast into it where a starter could have been added. As I recall, the hole for the starter had a steel plug pressed into it.

IT WUZ FIRST...BE BLESSED, GRATEFUL, PREPARED...

Case LI units had electric start by 1930 as some apps they were used in you could not crank it, the CI may have had it as well but some of the early Cros motors had a starting system on them that used a black powder charge to start them, that would have been in the teens or very early twenties
cnt

Up until 2 yrs ago I only saw 4cyl engines. My friend has a 2 cyl. which is older.

I have a 37 RC Case and it looks like a wooden plug.