This very large tractor (serial #1739) was made by the Avery Company in Peoria, Illinois. The 40-80 was made from 1913 to 1920. It weighs about 22,000 pounds, has a 4 cylinder engine with a 7 3/4" x 8" bore and stroke, and was rated at 500 RPM. The 40-80's Nebraska Tractor Test was #44, performed July 26-August 3, 1920, which can be viewed as a pdf here.
The maker of this tractor, the Avery Company, was founded by Robert H. and Cyrus M. Avery, both born and raised in Galesburg, Illinois. Robert, the older of the two brothers, enlisted to fight for the Union during the American Civil War. In 1862, he joined Company A of the 77th Illinois Infantry, eventually becoming a sergeant. During his first couple years, he served in the Army of the Mississippi, participating in the siege of Vicksburg as well as the fighting at Arkansas Post, Jacksonville, and Shreveport. In August, 1864, Robert was captured by Confederates and was held prisoner for about eight-and-a-half months in a variety of places, including about five-and-a-half months in Andersonville. While waiting in prison, Robert developed ideas for farm implements, including a cultivator, and possibly a stalk cutter and a corn planter. When he was released after the war, Robert eventually made his way back to Illinois where he joined with his brother, Cyrus, to start a company and to make his ideas a reality.
By the early 1870s, they had established R. H. & C. M. Avery in Galesburg. They found a large and ready market for their implements and, after about a decade in Galesburg, they found they needed to move to larger and better facilities. In 1882, the Avery brothers relocated their business to Peoria and had a new factory built next to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad line. In 1883, they organized and renamed their venture the Avery Planter Company. During the next several years, the company continued to grow, employing about three hundred workers by 1890. Robert died in 1892, but Cyrus continued to lead the company into the twentieth century. In 1900, Cyrus reorganized the growing company as the Avery Manufacturing Company. After Cyrus’ death in 1905, J. B. Bartholomew took over the company, reorganizing it again as the Avery Company in 1907.
In 1912, the Avery Company plant covered about twenty-seven acres, including nearly six-and-a-half acres of floor space in the factory and warehouses. The company employed about 1,300 workers and made a wide variety of products, including steam traction engines (such as the one here in Stuhr Museum’s exhibit), gasoline tractors (this one and another one can be found in this exhibit), threshing machines, farm wagons, riding and walking cultivators, stalk cutters, corn planters (including one here in Stuhr's exhibit), and the “Self-Lift” gang plow (one can be found outside this building). The Avery Company sold their products across the United States, as well as to markets in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, Portugal, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Sweden, Egypt, China, the Philippines, and Cuba.
In 1912, the Avery Company plant covered about twenty-seven acres, including nearly six-and-a-half acres of floor space in the factory and warehouses. The company employed about 1,300 workers and made a wide variety of products, including steam traction engines (such as the one here in Stuhr Museum’s exhibit), gasoline tractors (this one and another one can be found in this exhibit), threshing machines, farm wagons, riding and walking cultivators, stalk cutters, corn planters (including one here in Stuhr's exhibit), and the “Self-Lift” gang plow (one can be found outside this building). The Avery Company sold their products across the United States, as well as to markets in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, Portugal, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Sweden, Egypt, China, the Philippines, and Cuba.
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