TRACTOR TRIVIA and other interesting stuff 1/24/2024

[953 nut 55,297]

The ACME Power Cultivator

 

In the early part of the twentieth century many small tractor manufacturing firms began meeting the need for small garden tractors. Some as a part of existing manufacturing companies and many were in backyard garages or barns. One of the latter was the Acme Cultivator Company which produced a small, walk-behind motorized garden tractor in the days when only a few companies were offering such machines.

The Acme power cultivator seems to have been the brainchild of Albert G. Byerley. On Feb. 17, 1921, Byerley filed for a patent for a ‘power tractor’ that, according to the patent, comprised “a wheeled frame adapted to support suitable agricultural implements, an engine mounted on the frame, a drive shaft connected to said engine, a driven shaft with a worm that meshes with a worm gear that connects to the axle by a clutch.”

Byerley also included an optional tank and engine driven pump on the tractor as “it is frequently necessary to spray growing plants with various compositions to keep them free from insects.”

The origins of the company and of the men who were involved in it are obscure.

The Acme-Jr. had a 1HP Briggs & Stratton engine, weighed 235 pounds, and had a speed of a little over 2 MPH. A 1922 advertisement pitches the Acme to “The Gardner, Florist and Suburban Estate Owner,” and listed the available implements to be a “4-inch single plow; 4-inch double moldboard plow; rakes, hoes, cultivators of all types, discs and covering plows, and row crop harvesters.”

The owner’s manual tells the new owner: “The extreme simplicity of the Acme-Jr. together with its high-class material and workmanship, and the ease and flexibility with which it operates, renders an extensive mechanical knowledge unnecessary.”

The Acme was made by the Acme Cultivator Company in Salem, Ohio. They show 2 different 2 wheeled walk be-hind models until 1949 when a rider called the Motor Cultivator was made using a Clinton engine. Also, in 1949 the manufacturing company was listed as Smathers Manufacturing Co. of Brevard, NC

More on the Smathers Manufacturing Company later.

 

 

[Sailman 1,291]

Looks like the forerunner to the Troy Bilt Horse (from the 70's or 80's) that I lucked upon a few years ago. It is the deluxe version with electric start and PTO and was built before the modern Troy Bilt turned into Chinese crap. It has a variety of implements available including plow, blade, generator and wood splitter as well as the tiller. Interesting how the basic design has stayed much the same over all these years.

[953 nut 55,297]

10 hours ago, Sailman said:

Interesting how the basic design has stayed much the same over all these years.

I have no idea how many two wheeled garden tractors were produced but I have come across several that have enough information to do a short essay on. The innovative methods used for clutch/drive systems is all over the board.