Waterloo Motor Work (Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company)

The Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company is a former US manufacturer of agricultural machinery , internal combustion engines , tractors and automobiles. The company produced the precursor to the John Deere tractors. The brand name was Waterloo Boy , but many products were sold through retail chains, which they sold under their own brand names, such as Majestic .

The company was founded by John Froelich , the eldest of nine siblings of Iowa- based, German-born farmersfrom Kurhessen . John Froelich ran a steam-powered threshing machine and grain subsidy in Langford (South Dakota) in the fall . From 1890 he experimented with a combustion engine of the Van Duzen Gas and Gasoline Engine Works from Cincinnati ( Ohio ) as a replacement for the steam engine and from 1892 with a tractor. For this he put a Van Duzen single-cylinder engine in theChassis of a Robinson car . 

The first attempt to market the tractor was a failure. In 1893, Froelich and local investors around George W. Miller founded the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company based in Waterloo, Iowa . Only four tractors were built, two had to be taken back. Then the company was reorganized and re-registered in 1895 as Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company .Waterloo Boy Engines Now agricultural equipment and stationary engines were built. John Froelich left the company in 1895. George B. Miller, a son of the co-founder, invested in 1899 and Waterloo Gasoline 1903 was its chief financial officer. 

In 1904, the company had a new, self-developed petrol engine called Waterloo Boy ready. This was further developed for a mobile application and manufactured from 1906 to March 1918 in numerous variants. The company controlled with the Hedford Foundry an iron foundry, which also supplied competitors such as Associated Manufacturing or Galloway Engine . Now the construction of stationary engines was abandoned. In 1918 John Deere took over the company and re-installed it as John Deere Tractor Company . Furthermore, the Waterloo Boy Model N was produced, of which only 1918 5,634 units were built. The market leader was Ford with the Fordson of which 34,000 units were sold during this time.  Tractors quickly became the main business of the farm equipment manufacturer. Only with the introduction of the successor model D the name John Deere appeared on a tractor.

Waterloo Automobiles

In the summer of 1902, Charles E. Duryea , the first automobile manufacturer in the United States, came to Waterloo. Thjs was on a promotional tour with which he wanted to win licensees for the reproduction of the automobiles of his Duryea Motor Wagon Company . This was in November 1902 the catalyst for a partnership with the Davis Gasolene Engine Company , which in turn is a subsidiary of Cascade Manufacturing Company was in Waterloo.  The company, founded jointly called Waterloo Motor Works. The product, an automobile calledWaterloo Anvil 2-passenger Phaeton , was one such Duryea replica license . 1903, a factory fire caused damage of US $ 25,000. The production could be continued. In 1905, a slightly larger version was added, also derived from a Duryea . After that the cooperation ended. 

In 1909, George B. Miller became president of the company. In 1912 he introduced the Waterloo Boy tractor, which was available from 1913 in the LA version. These tractors need petrol to start the engine.Until the successor model R 1914 was ready, 20 units were sold. This was much better sell; until 1918 8,000 copies were made. 

With the Waterloo Boy Model N you had a larger model ready that proved to be very successful. The engine was a petroleum-powered, top-controlled two-cylinder, which in turn needed gasoline to start.This made 25 hp ^.at a speed of 750 / min. The small petrol tank sat in front, the much larger petroleum at the rear.