953 nut 51,762 #1 Posted March 7 One Wheel is enough In addition to the Choremaster and Kinkade one wheel garden tractors dozens of others were offered to people who were tired of hoeing by hand or pushing human powered cultivators. Some were so outlandish that it is obvious they would not be successful yet others were the beginnings of successful garden tractor companies. There are so many I will present them in two instalments. Victor Tractor The largest and probably the least practical one wheeled tractor was the Victor Tractor built in 1919 with a Climax four cylinder engine. This may have been a prototype attempting to attract investors or perhaps it was just someone’s dream come true. No other information could be found on it. Spry Wheel Very little coverage could be found concerning the Spry Wheel walking tractor. I did find out it had no clutch and battery ignition. This review appeared in the June 22, 1922 The Florists, Review #23 A light power cultivator is made by H. C. Dodge, Inc., Boston, Mass., and is known as the Sprywheel. This one- wheel tractor is found to work well in cultivating plants set out in narrow rows. An eastern nurseryman finds it particularly useful for cultivating young evergreens and azaleas, which are bedded out, five rows to a bed, with ten inches between the rows, in a heavy clay soil that packs hard, but has no stones in it. In this soil the machine goes from two and one-half to three inches deep; in light soil it will cultivate five inches deep. This nursery- man says: "In previous years this work has always been done by hand hoeing, as the rows are too close together and the stock too valuable to permit the horse cultivator. The trouble with the machine is to find a man who will keep up with it all day. By paying a little extra, however, we are able to save more than the cost of the machine in one week, over the expense of hand work, as it will do more and better work than ten men with hoes. Bolins Handi-Ho The Handi-Ho came with an air cooled single cylinder one and a half or a two and three quarter horsepower model of single wheeled walk behind garden tractor. Attachments included cultivators, lawn mowers, sickle bar mowers snow plows and tillers. Gravely Model “D” Benjamin Franklin Gravely Dunbar, West Virginia, devised a hand-pushed plow fitted with an auxiliary Indian motorcycle engine and driven by belts in 1916. His goal was to build a tractor which would revolutionize gardening and lawn maintenance for the homeowner. This innovative approach to garden cultivation became the Model “D” all-gear single wheeled walk-behind units were powered by a single-cylinder four-stroke engine built from 1916 to 1952. Unitractor The Unitractor manufactured by R.D. Eaglesfield Manufacturing in Indianapolis, Indiana. It has Briggs Model N engine mounted inside the drive wheel and a sickle bar mower attachment. R. D. Eaglesfield of Indianapolis, Indiana, made the "Unitractor" which sold for $98.50 in 1939. The Unitractor weighed 105 pounds and was powered by a 1.5 horse Briggs and Stratton model NR-6. Colwood Motor Hoe The Colwood Motor Hoe was made by Dashwood Engineering of London who produced these machines from 1945 to 1949 The first cultivator was the Model A which first appeared in 1945 with a JAP 2A engine, later models were the model B with a JAP or Villiers power, also the model RA with a Villiers engine. Perhaps @ranger, @meadowfield or @Mickwhitt can tell us more about this one wheeled tractor Endless Tread Garden Tractor The story behind the inspiration for the Endless Tread Garden Tractor is priceless. Sam Beachy, the inweave gentleman who started building the Endless Tread in 1953 recalls that as a young boy his mother would hitch him to the front of a hand pushed cultivator and he would pull it through the family’s rather large garden. His first experimental powered cultivator was a single wheeled unit with a Maytag engine. The gearing was not proper and on the first test he could barely hang on. It was built while Beachy was employed at a machine shop. The first Endless Tread Garden Tractor was built in 1942 powered by a AU7R Continental engine. At some point in the 1950s the engine of choice was changed to Briggs and Stratton. Great Lakes Junior Chief walk behind cultivator The Junior Chief tractor was a single wheel walk behind built by the Great Lakes company in Rock Creek Ohio. It was powered by a 6R6 Briggs and Stratton Engine and was made between 1949 & 1961. Will-Burt Little Farmer The Will-Burt Little Farmer Power Cultivator came to market in 1949 along with several optional accessory implements. This self-propelled cultivator was powered by a Briggs & Stratton engine and sold via catalog for $89.95 George Garden Tractor The George Garden Tractor has a story unlike any you are likely to come acrost. Members the Church of Jesus Christ in Sullivan were conscientious objectors and had a difficult time finding work during World War II, they founded Community Industries to provide employment for church members. The George Division of Community Industries used the phrase “Let George Do It.” The company started out designing and manufacturing a two-wheel garden tractor, then progressed to a one-wheel model. The tractor division continued to thrive. An ad in Popular Mechanics in April 1951 advertised a George Tractor for $107.50: “All equipment for little cost.” 4 7 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horseoholic 143 #2 Posted March 8 Got one of those Endless tread Garden Tractors some years ago and Restored it , It's a 1953 with the Continental AU7R engine . 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
