Jump to content

Period images to relieve some of the stress

Walt G

By Walt G
in Period Photos - Pre WWII

 Share

Recommended Posts

keiser31 25,000+ Points

keiser31

Posted
Posted
49 minutes ago, nzcarnerd said:

Auckland, New Zealand, late 1940s. No post 1939 cars because we didn't get any new cars between 1939 and 1946.

 

Any guess what the circa 1929 convertible parked behind the '39 Ford might be?

 

May be a black-and-white image of 1 person, car and outdoors

I would say it is a Model A Ford behind the other Ford.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Terry Harper 10,000+ Points

Terry Harper

Posted
Posted (edited)

0305011143-l.jpg.ca47ef8a6548371cda4cfd68e6782913.jpg   Bear-Leveling-Blade-jpg-1.jpg.af8d2ace71c3f8dce1046ac7fbca3a9e.jpg

 

The Trials and Tribulations bringing a product on the market  in the early 20's

 

The Bear/Mead-Morrison tractor had an interesting history and in many ways that history reflects the difficulties experienced by the many startup automobile companies in the immediate post Word War 1 era. 

 

Lacking manufacturing capabilities of it's own, In 1920, Bear Tractor Incorporated contracted with the American & British Manufacturing Co. of Bridgeport, CT to assemble Bear tractors which at that time used an OHV Stearn's engine. However, like many firms of that period American & British, who had produced ordinance for the war, and a line of marine engines, found themselves over extended with canceled war contracts. To pick-up idle plant capacity and generate revenue, in 1919 they had taken up the production of the Porter automobile which was a continuation of the FRP produced by Findlay Robertson Porter pre-war. In fact Porter's son oversaw Porter production at American & British. During 1921, the struggling American & British manufactured a total of two model "B" Bear Tractors before the company failed - its assets auctioned off in May of 1923. Both of these tractors were retained by Bear Tractor and used as test vehicles and demonstrators.

Following the failure of the American & British Manufacturing Co. Walter Greacen - President of Bear Tractor Incorporated of New York, entered into an agreement with Mead-Morrison Manufacturing (a Maine licensed corporation based in Boston) where by Mead-Morrison would produce and sell over a three year period, 500 Bear Tractor Model B's to Bear Tractor Incorporated using Bear Tractor's plans and specifications. In return Bear Tractor would pay Mead-Morrison $2,000.00 (F.O.B. Boston, Mass.) per tractor. Later, it was agreed that Mead-Morrison could charge an additional $130.00 per tractor. Interestingly, through court documents, we know that the design of the Bear tractor as of Sept 9, 1922 required the manufacture by Mead-Morrison of 283 parts and an additional 160 "commercial" parts purchased from various suppliers. Bear Tractor supplied a complete set of design documents including 443 drawings of parts and 56 assembly drawings.

As can be expected, from experience gained from testing of the two tractors built by the defunct American & British, the inventor of the Bear tractor - Thomas Leake developed improvements such as the replacement of the pressed steel disk rollers with cast steel versions, a heavier crankcase and improved clutch and of course Mead-Morrison had to develop means of manufacture  - all of which took time. Most of these changes were incorporated starting in a batch of 25 tractors scheduled for delivery in March 1923. The first 15 tractors scheduled for January 1923 being retrofitted. There were also delays in Bear Tractor getting updated drawings and specifications to Mead-Morrison.

 

Another issue was the engine. Leake had selected an engine manufactured by the Stearns Engine Company of Ludington, Mi. His expectation being that they were rated at 70 hp. which the Stearn's representative had assured him was so. However, when the first forty engines were tested by Stearn's before shipment in October/November 1922 they only delivered 50 hp. This was a major problem since Bear Tractor was claiming 70 hp in their advertisements and sales literature. To meet the 70 hp requirement, Leake suggested changes to the cylinder head, intake manifolds and piston rods which Stearn's implemented under duress sending a mechanic to Boston to retrofit the 40 engines that had been delivered to Mead-Morrison. Later, Mead-Morrison would advertise their continuation of the Bear tractor (under the Mead-Morrison name) as 55 hp. One has to wonder if they reverted to the standard version of the Stearns engine or where being modest (or more truthful) in regards to Leakes modified version? Stearn's slogan was "Extra reserve" so maybe using the more modest horsepower figure was an effort to support that. Regardless, those first 15 tractors were not completed until February and the batch of 25 were not completed until June - all of which played havoc with Bear Tractor's advertising campaign and promises of delivery to dealers etc. and caused considerable strain between the two companies.

Between February 1923 and May 1924 Mead-Morrison built and delivered 238 tractor to Bear Tractor Incorporated With Bear tractor managing to sell and collect payment on 91 of them totaling $286,080.00 in sales. or $3,143.74 each). In addition sales of parts brought in an additional $27,751.67.

Bear Tractor Incorporated entered bankruptcy in 1925 with Mead-Morrison as one of three partitioners. The contract was not continued upon the bankruptcy and the trustee for Bear Tractor demanded that Mead-Morrison hand over tools, jigs, fixtures etc. with Mead-Morrison refusing and claiming right to them. In return the trustee filed for breach of contract claiming that delays in manufacturing by Mead-Morrison had caused the "ruination" of the company and a loss of invested capital of $1,542,159.52. This lead to a rather complex series of court proceedings. However, in spite of the manufacturing delays, records showed, and the court agreed that Bear Tractor, in spite of having negotiated nearly 20 contracts for distributors, had more than enough tractors to meet demand. In fact, between November 1st 1922 and July 1st 1923 they had sold only 40 tractors. Though they claimed at that time their distributor contracts amounted to an estimated 200 tractors though no firm orders were on the books. leading up to the bankruptcy, Bear Tractor was falling further and further behind in its financial obligations to Mead-Morrison to the tune of $376,461.47 In the end Mead-Morrison was not found in breach of contract or causing the "ruination" of Bear Tractor Incorporated.

 

By all accounts and as noted by the court, that was tasked with determining if Mead-Morrison was the "ruination" of the company, the Bear tractor was a well designed and built machine and thought highly of by those few who owned them. However, high price, under capitalization and a highly competitive market relegated it to a foot note in history. That we have so detailed information on such an obscure make is pretty amazing. Most of the information above came from documents associated with the court proceedings which contained a ton of information and insight into Bear Tractor and their association with Mead-Morrison. Information on American & British Manufacturing was sourced from various period trade journals.

 

Anyway that is a very long, long story just for a couple of photos. However, it was just one photo that inspired me to do the research of a long defunct tractor manufacturer that tried and failed to bring an apparently good product to market.
 

 

 

 

Edited by Terry Harper (see edit history)
  • Like 2
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...