Successor | Minneapolis-Moline |
---|---|
Founded | 1847 |
Founder(s) | Benjamin Franklin Avery |
Defunct | 1951 |
Headquarters | Louisville, Kentucky, USA |
Products | agriculture machinery tractor |
'B.F. Avery & Sons Co. of Louisville, Kentucky, USA built agricultural implements and tractors from 1847 until 1951.
Company history[]
Benjamin Franklin Avery was born in 1801 in Aurora, New York. He first began a plow company in 1825 in Clarksville, Pennsylvania, selling the company to a brother after returning to Aurora after the death of his father. Along with a nephew, Daniel Humphrey Avery, he moved to Louisville, KY and began his new plow business in 1847. When Daniel moved on in 1850, the company was organized as B.F. Avery Plows. Operation was suspended during the Civil War, but reopened after the war as B.F. Avery & Sons, and now included his three sons.[1][2]
Benjamin Franklin Avery died in 1865, leaving the company to his sons and later family members. The first motorized machine for the company was the Louisville Motor Plow, a 20hp engine on a chassis with two plows mounted underneath, and was built from 1914-1917. In 1930, Avery began marketing tractors built for them by Huber Manufacturing of Marion, Ohio. Records indicate that 355 Huber tractors were delivered to Avery, mostly the Huber 20-36, and two Huber Light Four tractors. IN 1936, B.F. Avery developed a new tractor and approached Cleveland Tractor Co., or Cletrac, to manufacture it. Cletrac built the General GG three-wheeled tractor for B.F. Avery, and they were also sold by Massey-Harris and Montgomery Wards (Wards Twin-Row). Cletrac ceased building the General GG during World War II, and B.F. Avery acquired the equipment and began manufacturing it as the B.F. Avery A.[3]
During some lean years, B.F. Avery agreed to sell out to Minneapolis-Moline on January 8, 1951. Some of the B.F. Avery models continued in MM's lineup for a number of years, before the manufacturing facility in Louisville was closed for good in 1955. The factory was one of the largest factories in Louisville, and is on the National Register of Historic Places (Kentucky).
Models[]
Model | Year(s) Produced | Horsepower | Engine Type | Misc Notes | Photo |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
B.F. Avery A | 1943-1950 | 19 hp (14 kW) | Hercules | (1st built by Cletrac (General GG) w/Avery's designs), also sold as Wards Twin-Row and as Massey-Harris The General |
|
B.F. Avery BF | 1950-1953 | 27 hp (20 kW) | Hercules | also sold as Minneapolis-Moline BF | |
B.F. Avery BFD | 1953 | ||||
B.F. Avery BFH | 1953 | ||||
B.F. Avery BFS | 1953 | ||||
B.F. Avery BFW | 1953 | ||||
B.F. Avery BG | 1953-1956 | 27 hp (20 kW) | Hercules | also sold as Minneapolis-Moline BG | |
B.F. Avery crawler | |||||
B.F. Avery GG | 1939-1942 | 19 hp (14 kW) | Hercules | Cletrac General GG, renamed to B.F. Avery A |
|
B.F. Avery R | 1950-1951 | 25 hp (19 kW) | Hercules | most powerful B.F. Avery tractor | |
B.F. Avery V | 1946-1955 | 27 hp (20 kW) | Hercules | 7,500 models built | |
Louisville Motor Plow | 1914-1917 | 20 hp (15 kW) |
Model | Year(s) Produced | Horsepower | Engine Type | Misc Notes | Photo |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cletrac The General | 1939-1942 | 19 hp (14 kW) | Hercules | ||
Massey-Harris The General | 19 hp (14 kW) | Hercules | |||
Wards Twin-Row | 19 hp (14 kW) | Hercules |
See also[]
References / sources[]
- ↑ http://www.bfavery.com/j1_5/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=37&Itemid=143
- ↑ Toy Farmer, No.v 2009, pgs 46-50
- ↑ Toy Farmer, No.v 2009, pgs 46-50
External links[]
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