This Big Bull tractor (serial #6887) was manufactured by the Bull Tractor Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It could be run on kerosene or distillate, and it was reportedly used on a farm near Inman, Kansas, a town in McPherson County.
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| Bull Tractor ad from a 1917 Implement & Tractor Trade Journal |
The Bull Tractor Company was in existence from 1913 to 1920, producing the Little Bull 5-12 predominately in 1914 and the Big Bull 12-20 from 1915 to 1918. The company got its start when two men, Patrick J. Lyons and D. Maurice Hartsough, decided to develop a smaller tractor for farmers who did not need the large steam engines and gas tractors that dominated the market. Lyons was the financier of Bull; Hartsough was the engineer who would design the unique three wheel tractors. The two men had previously been the driving force behind the Gas Traction Company of Minneapolis, the makers of the very large Big 4 Tractor, before Lyons sold the company to Emerson-Brantingham in 1912.
Not long after selling the Gas Traction Company and forming the Bull Tractor Company in 1913, Lyons and Hartsough started taking orders for their new creation. They had found a ready market for smaller tractors even before they started manufacturing. On December 30, 1913, before Bull had its own factory, Lyons contracted with the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company to build at least fifty tractors per day. When Minneapolis could not produce enough engines for Bull, Lyons decided to found another company to meet this need: the Toro Motor Company. Minneapolis Steel furnished the tractor bodies and Toro furnished the engines. The Bull Tractor Company hit the market running.
In 1914, the Little Bull became the country's best-selling tractor, revealing the need for smaller gas tractors on North American farms. The Little Bull, however, was underpowered, unable to consistently pull the advertised number of plows. Bull responded by developing the Big Bull, a more powerful version of the Little Bull. Although they addressed a need as a smaller tractor, the Bull met with some stiff competition. Its exposed gearing and its three wheels caused issues for many farmers, especially farmers who needed to plow a lot of uneven ground. When Henry Ford developed the Fordson and started mass-producing it for the small tractor market, Bull and other companies were in trouble. The company produced the last Bull in 1918. Despite attempts to reorganize the company, all efforts came to an end with the death of Patrick J. Lyons in 1920.
Even though the Bull Tractor Company has a brief history, its subsidiary, the Toro Motor Company would go on to become a big success in the lawn and garden business, producing lawn mowers and other items over the years. Frank Donaldson, an employee of the Bull Tractor Company, would go on to found his own shop to produce air cleaners. Donaldson's company would also become a big success, employing several thousand people today. A few of the tractors here at Stuhr Museum, including the 1920 Emerson, have Donaldson air cleaners.
For those interested in patents, the patent for this Bull tractor, invented by D. Maurice Hartsough, was filed on September 29, 1913. The patent, #1128246, was published on February 9, 1915. You can view it as a pdf by clicking or touching here. After further testing of his tractor design, Hartsough realized that he needed to make adjustments to the drawbar connection. On January 28, 1914, he filed for a patent on these adjustments. This patent, #1138611, was published on May 4, 1915, and can be seen as a pdf here. On June 3, 1915, another engineer for the Bull Tractor Company, John S. Clapper, applied for a patent on changes he developed to the "gear shifting and reversing mechanism" on the Bull tractor. Published on April 11, 1916, Clapper's patent, #1178993, can be viewed as a pdf here.
Notes
Much of the company's narrative history comes from the Mecum Auctions website, http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=GF0414-178185, accessed on April 6, 2014. If you would like to see photos of other Bull tractors located in the U.S. and Europe, visit the Steel Wheels page by clicking or touching here.
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