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Please enjoy this article about The Gray Tractor. The horses were just not getting enough work done. Too much upkeep and to much work. This was the problem of W. Chandler Knapp of Rochester, New York. Mr. Knapp was a large fruit grower and he needed a more reliable and more powerful means of tending his immense orchards. Mr. Knapp being the ingenious soul that he was, turned to the drawing board. In the fall of 1908 the first of what was to become the "Gray" was born. It was a low slung, light weight tractor with a single drive wheel in the back and powered by a two cylinder motor. This was quite a step out of the ordinary. The tractors of the day were the gigantic several ton monsters that opened up the western prairies. That is what a tractor was in 1908. Of course Mr. Knapp's tractor was suited to his particular needs. it could maneuver underneath the low branches of his orchards. So there you go, the first true orchard tractor is born. The machine was so successful Mr. Knapp built a second, improved model in 1909 making the rear drive wheel wider by mounting two together. Again in 1910, an even more improved model was created and Mr. Knapp noticed that his fruit was not the only thing that was marketable. He began manufacturing the Knapp Farm Locomotive. As with many tractor of the day, when it arrived on the farm, there were a few problems. The engine proved to be weak and mud packed up between the wheel spokes. The new 1912 model was altered to hold a four cylinder motor crossways and the spoked wheels were replaced with a new drum. A new motor sat crossways so direct spur gears could be used and the whole transmission was enclosed in an oil tight case, except for the chains. This model was a winner! Now there was no where for the mud to pack up and with the new motor combination, it was positive drive. No power was lost because there was no differential. As things started to roll, Mr. Knapp had to decide between his already successful fruit growing business or the "risky" tractor business. In 1912 Mr. Knapp relinquished most of the control over his company and the Gray Tractor Manufacturing Company was organized, with Joseph Gray at the helm as president. The tractor would not be called a "Gray" though for another two years. In 1914 a move from Rochester, New York to Minneapolis, Minnesota was made. The reason being that the Gray management figured that Minneapolis was the center of the territory which called for a tractor of this size and capabilities. This could have been the mistake that was to become the demise of the Gray. They had now turned the Gray into a powerful plowing tractor that could do many tasks at the same time. The only problem with this was they moved themselves into a highly competitive and crowded plowing tractor market. What they left was an already successful niche in the orchards of new York. At that time there were a small handful of makers that were catering directly to the fruit grower. Who knows, the Gray may have blossomed beyond belief if the lure of the bigger market hadn't drawn them away. The Gray made it's first big splash at the Power Farming Demonstration in Fremont, Nebraska in August of 1914. It made for a real show. The 8,500 pound Gray lined up next to the larger 20,000 pound and up Hart-Parrs and Rumelys and pulled six bottoms while the bigger tractor pulled just eight. You can imagine how this may have looked. In todays standards, it would look like a lawn mower doing a tractor's work. As the sales literature touted "The Gray was in a class by itself." By 1916 the six plow model was discontinued and the four plow model was given a slightly bigger engine. In 1917 the firm was reorganized. The Grays life was on it's way down. Many farmers feared of the compaction the "wide drive drum" was too harmful to the land. From 1917 to 1924, one model the 18-36 was sold. In 1925 the company reorganized again and only sold one tractor, the 22-40 Canadian Special so named to attract business from north of the border as sales in the U.S. had dwindled down. Due to the hard times of the thirties the Gray Tractor Company closed it's doors for good in 1933. The Gray was truly a quality tractor with many advantages over the competition. However, due the improvements from the more "conventional" tractor makers and the poor management of the company, it was another lost chapter in the evolution of power farming. The Gray management was much better at promoting than managing. Some of their claims may seem silly today (although they were all supposedly true) but rang strong in the hearts of farmers of the day. - The "Wide Drive Drum" would not leave ruts in the field as standard two drive wheel machines. - Government "investigations" concluded that four plow tractors gave the most returns. - The wide Drive Drum mashed down weeds and cornstalks in front of the plow making a "cleaner" field. - The wide board above the drawbar gave you easy access to all implements. (You also needed to walk across it to see where the left side of the tractor was!) In the present era of one pass farming the Gray utilized a different approach to the method. On the Gray are mounting holes and pads to attach the Side Arm Hitches. As the Gray literature quoted, "They are heavy, extra strong black iron pipe, 5 foot long that may be attached to either side of the frame." No other tractor at the time had such an idea. One particular instance they pointed out was that each arm could be pulling an eight foot packer with the Gray tractor taking the place of the middle packer and then pull a twenty six harrow. This rig could cover 20 acres in a ten hour day. The Gray had two forward gears and one in reverse. You could also purchase larger drive sprockets to increase the speed of the tractor for discing or other light work. Later Gray advertising literature states that the Gray could do the work of twenty horses and five men part of the time. For owners George and Jon Sutton of Litchfield, IL the giant four cylinder Waukesha engine was the main obstacle to over come. Thanks to a lot of homework, telephone calls and hard work George and Jon found all of the parts they needed to restore this machine back to like new. Due to the amount of research that went into the project some parts that came out of the original Gray factory were even found! |