TRACTOR TRIVIA and other interesting stuff 5/16/2024

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Today’s letter is “N”       news articles and nonconforming design were numerous

 

Nelson four-wheel drive tractor

 

The Nelson Blower & Furnace Company decide to become a tractor manufacturer, why not, everyone else was doing it?

Company founder, Albert Hanson Nelson clearly hoped to take the nation by storm when he introduced his innovative tractor made in Boston, MA. Though design and development started in 1912 the Nelson tractor wasn’t presented to the market until 1919 in advertising and testimonials.

Nelson’s advertising agents knew how to fluff-up (or make up) the facts and a lazy reporter would print anything the publicist sent them. A flattering article on the company appeared in the October 1918 issue of Motorboating magazine. Company President A.H. Nelson was praised as “an example of what can be accomplished by a manufacturer who puts quality before quantity. Under Nelson’s leadership Nelson Blower & Furnace Co. of Boston expanded its workforce from eight men to 800 in just four years”.

May 1919 issue of Country Gentleman magazine article said “The Nelson tractor is recognized by engineers, dealers and users as the most advanced development of the tractor industry. The Nelson tractor embodies the sturdy construction, weight, power and flexibility to satisfactorily handle any kind of farm or commercial tractor work. No task is too hard for the Nelson.”

A January 4, 1919, ad in Country Gentleman informed the world. “The Nelson tractor, in actual test, has hauled heavy loads through swamps where, in places, the water stood over a foot deep,” the ad declared. “It has climbed a 3,200-foot New Hampshire mountain, breaking its own road through underbrush and over rocks and logs. It has worked steadily on the sandy plains of Arizona under the most trying operating conditions. It has been thoroughly tested, in actual work, in every part of the U.S.”

In the early years of the 20th century manufacturers were known to make outlandish, unsubstantiated, or overstated claims. There seems to be some doubt that Nelson ever took a tractor to the Arizona desert.

Advertising for the Nelson boasted that all mechanical components were bathed in oil for long service life. The chain drive to the axles was not done with roller chains, common link chain was used and each axle had a cogged cast pulley like the chain sprocket on a chain-fall for the chain drive. This probably wasn’t the best drive solution but it is what they chose to use.

“A 14-inch minimum ground clearance, low center of gravity and a 20-inch maximum wheel tilt makes the Nelson tractor practical for working rough land, side hills, orchards, cultivating, and any other work it may be called upon to perform,” ads stated.

Nelson never applied for a patent on any of their “innovative proprietary” features and didn’t participate in any field tests or send a tractor to the Nebraska Tractor Testing Laboratory leaving one to wonder if their tractors were ever built when the advertising was being done. None of the advertising featured a photograph of the tractor, only artist’s renderings.

In this ad from the January 1919 Country Gentleman three models are mentioned: a 15-25 3-plow tractor, 20-28 5-plow tractor, and a 35-50 8-plow tractor. The advertisement states that the “tractors are sold only through dealers, local service guaranteed, produced in our own plant, requires no costly repair or replacement” though they had no dealers or service facilities at the time.

 

 

An August 1919 ad in Tractor and Gas Engine Review, the company announced that, “The Nelson Four-Wheel-Drive tractor will be one of the really great features at the Northwest Tractor Demonstration, Aug. 19-21, at Aberdeen, South Dakota.”

 

 

News coverage in Tractor and Gas Engine Review had no mention of the Nelson participating in the Demonstration. However, the article said, “All tractors promised showed up, except for two: the Pullett and the Lauson. With the exception of these two disappointments every concern entered was present.”  Perhaps the Nelson tractor had never been entered in the demonstration.

According to a July 5, 1919, article in Implement & Tractor Trade Journal, “The business of the Nelson Corp., South Boston, Mass., has been placed in the hands of a receiver. This action also includes the associated firm, Nelson Blower & Furnace Co. The plant will continue in operation and a reorganization is expected.”

A couple of years later Nelson was back in business and advertising its tractor which apparently was actually going to be built.

A February 1, 1921, article in the Chilton Tractor Journal said that, “Nelson Mfg. Corp., Boston, has been organized by A.H. Nelson, former head of the Nelson Blower & Furnace Co., which made the Nelson tractor. Mr. Nelson is president of the new company, which will make tractors and other equipment. Offices have been opened in Boston.”

On March 10, 1921, Iron Age magazine stated that, “Nelson Mfg. Co., Boston … expects to begin production of the Nelson 4-wheel drive tractor soon. Plans call for initial production at a Taunton, Massachusetts, plant, but later at a point in or near Boston.”

 

The Nelson tractor was presented in a full-page ad in Argonaut magazine, May 14, 1921 including an opportunity for interested people to buy stock in the newly reorganized Nelson Tractor company. The offer to buy stock compared themselves to the Ford Motor Company and urged people to act promptly so they wouldn’t miss out.

“Where Were You Then, and Where Are You Now?” the ad’s headline asked. The ad noted that an initial investment of $1,000 in Ford & Co. stock would be worth $122,700 in 1921. The Nelson tractor was presented as the savior of the tractor industry, well suited for use on 2,669,391 U.S. farms of 100 acres or more, and another 1,438,069 of nearly 100 acres. “You are herewith invited to become a stockholder in the corporation manufacturing the Nelson tractor at $12.50 a share,” the ad proclaimed. “All stock must be purchased within 30 days.”

On June 14, 1922 Nelson passed away as a result of a fall so the stock offering never became a reality. We know that some Nelson Tractors were built but have no idea how many.