The Genealogy of Two Tractor Makers They’re b-a-c-k!
McCormick and Versatile brands are new power options, with rich histories.
McCormick The genealogy of the new McCormick tractors circles the globe. The brand name was born with the invention of the first mechanical reaper on a Virginia farm in 1831. The machine Cyrus McCormick paid $20 to patent in 1834 changed agriculture and launched a household name for farm homes. President Andrew Jackson signed the patent.
In 1902, International Harvester (IH) was formed by McCormick and several other manufacturers. Four years later, IH entered the tractor market with a 20-hp Type “A” and Type “B”. Within two years, hundreds of tractors were being sold.
The well-known McCormick Farmall was introduced in 1919. McCormick tractors continued to be produced until 1969 in the U.S. and the mid-70s in England.
The brand came back to life when Landini bought the name along with the Case IH tractor lines and factory. The first new McCormick tractors made their debut at the SIMA show in February 2001. That was the same farm show where the Vermeer and McCormick connection was made.
In addition to reaching into the U.S., McCormick now has a distribution network in Europe and Australia.
Versatile The Versatile brand name first appeared on grain augers, sprayers and swathers when Manitoba inventor Peter Pakosh built a farm equipment business. In 1963, Versatile Manufacturing Ltd. was formed. Three years later, the company became the first to mass produce four-wheel-drive tractors, selling them for about the same price that competitors were selling two-wheel-drives.
The company sold to Cornat Industries Ltd. of Vancouver in 1976 and to Ford New Holland in 1991. The new owner kept the brand alive, although the tractors were dressed in blue.
History courtesy of Farm Journal Media; as published in the January 2002 edition of Farm Journal magazine.
