CHOICE OF READING METHOD
Readers have a choice in their method of perusing
this article; the text is presented on the right columns,
while the Decisions, photographs, and captions
are presented on the left columns. This pattern follows
through to page 29, where Decisions and photographs
then continue on to the end of the article. This
was done to allow the text to flow continuously for easier
reading and comprehension.
DECISIONS
When available for the various tractor models, the
initiating Decision has been presented in brief form,
showing the date of and reasons for the Decision. Each
Decision is then followed by photos and expanded captions
to help describe the tractor. In many instances, a
Decision was not available. With those models, photos
and captions will have to suffice.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
In almost all instances, the Decision Copy information
provided in this article has not been corrected for
punctuation or terminology. Consequently, there are
frequent entries that do not exactly correlate with the
marketing department punctuation and terminology
with which readers have become familiar over the years. |
Before John Deere got into the row-crop tractor business, the
company successfully built and sold the Waterloo Boy (acquired by
purchasing the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. in 1918) and Model
“D” (1926 tractor shown here). The low front (and rear) clearance of
these tractors precluded the opportunity to use them for row-crop
cultivating. In 1925, Deere began a mission to develop a tractor that
could till the soil, plant and cultivated a variety of crops grown in
rows, and participate in the harvesting of them.
This Model “D” was a product of Decision D-1, the first listed on
page 3, although many followup Decisions were responsible for a host
of changes in the tractor from March 1, 1923, to September 11, 1927. |
In 1955, someone at the John Deere Waterloo Tractor
Works had the foresight to make a list of key Decisions
related to tractor production. The manager of the
specifications department was quite possibly the person who
had this done, or the manager of production control. To
whomever it was, we express our gratitude.
Decision Copies, as they were called, were almost tissuethin
sheets of paper on which the substance and details of
Decisions were recorded. They are a wealth of knowledge,
but there’s a problem. Nothing was done to change anything
on a tractor unless it went through the Decision process.
Therefore, there were countless thousands of these documents
created, and a huge number of them amounted to
several pages. The Decision files grew, and eventually outgrew
dozens of four-drawer filing cabinets. That’s when a
project to put great numbers of them on microfilm began.
Attempting to retrieve this information today is a tedious
task and the results are less than satisfactory. Because of the
thin paper, the writing on the back side of the sheets shows
through. If the Decision can be found, the next step is to try
to read it.
Thankfully, not all of the vintage Decisions were put on
film, and are now stored for posterity at Deere & Company.
They are not accessible to persons outside of the company.
For 99-plus percent of them, this doesn’t matter. Great
numbers of Decisions are about little things, such as a
change in material specifications for a bolt. Only a very few
are those lengthy, multi-page documents that initiate or
terminate a tractor. Here’s where we run into that list of
key Decisions mentioned in the first sentence of this article;
the list published on page 3. And now for the second bit of
good news…
In the early 1980s, Bob McDermott, manager of specifications,
did the digging through the Decisions for all of us. On
the following pages, interspersed with comments about and
photos of John Deere “Lettered” model two-cylinder rowcrop
tractors, are the prime comments from these Decisions.
Prior to lifting these comments off of the Decisions,
we thought it best to show readers what one of these historic
documents looks like. That can be done by turning to
page 5. But before you do that, keep this in mind…
McDermott photocopied the Decisions on the best
machines available at Waterloo at the time. Even so, the
copies of these old documents are far less than perfect.
Shown on page 5 is one of the best examples available; others
are in fair to poor condition. We’re pleased to have them
in any useable condition, and are happy to be able to pass
this information along to you. Now it’s time to begin discussing
the most popular of all John Deere Two-Cylinder
Tractors, the row-crop models.
The farm tractor evolved from a gargantuan machine built
primarily to pull large plows in prairie sod, and to provide |
