953 nut 55,184 #1 Posted January 5 The first John Deere Tractor was a failure The John Deere Joe Dain tractor has a long and complicated history. Experimental work on this tractor dates to 1914. The inventor was Joseph Dain Sr. There were a few experimental machines put out each year until 1918 when 100 were built. The entire 100 machines were sold to the John Deere Company as they wanted to get into the tractor business. These machines were built in a factory located on in East Moline, Illinois. This is where the John Deere Harvester Works began its existence. Elmer McCormick, who later became Chief Engineer at Deere’s Waterloo Plant, supervised the manufacturing. John Deere had narrowed their field down to two options: Go with the four cylinder, all-wheel-drive Dain design and make it themselves or purchase the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company of Waterloo, Iowa and use the already proven two cylinder Waterloo Boy Tractor. Deere chose the two cylinder Waterloo Boy partly because it believed the two cylinder design was simple and less expensive and that the Waterloo boy had already established itself as a successful tractor. The Dain Tractor project was dropped upon purchase of the Waterloo plant. There are only two complete examples of this tractor known to exist. The Dain that was built by John Deere was a failure due to the high price tag and Deere ordered them to be destroyed. Some were parked on a frozen river and sank when the ice melted. 11 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SylvanLakeWH 25,533 #2 Posted January 5 9 hours ago, 953 nut said: Some were parked on a frozen river and sank when the ice melted. Good plan... 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike'sHorseBarn 2,998 #3 Posted January 6 14 hours ago, 953 nut said: I saw one of these back in the late 90's. A family had one and took it to shows. Now that same tractor is in the john deere museum in waterloo iowa. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
