Many inventors are famous, but the man who invented the first gasoline-powered “tractor” is not a household word – although he should be. The Burlingame family did their best to try to change this by bringing attention to the village of Froelich, Iowa, where John Froelich designed the first gas-powered traction engine to move back and forth. An early Burlingame, who owned the general store in front of the building where Froelich is believed to have developed the tractor, dedicated a bronze plaque in his honor. Inside the store is the story of Froelich and how the first tractor came about. Froelich was born on Nov. 24, 1849, and died in St. Paul, Minn., on May 23, 1933. After college, he ran a grain elevator and a mobile threshing service. Each year he traveled to Langford, S.D., to work the fields. Trying to minimize the problems associated with steam engines, like maneuverability and fear of fire, Froelich decided there was a better way – and that gasoline was it. He and William Mann, a blacksmith, designed a vertical one-cylinder engine mounted on the running gear of a steam traction engine and took this new invention to the fields of South Dakota, along with the a new threshing machine. That fall they threshed 72,000 bushels of small grains and the new “tractor” was a success. Riding on this success, Froelich, along with a group of investors in 1895, formed the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. When the traction engines didn’t sell, the company moved into building stationary engines, at which it was quite successful. However, Froelich’s love and interest was not in engines, but in tractors, so he left the company. Waterloo did go on to develop the Waterloo Boy and model “R” and “N” tractors that caught the eye of John Deere, which purchased the company in 1918 when it wanted to add a tractor to its growing product line. Froelich continued inventing. He is listed in the Iowa Inventors Hall of Fame. He is credited with many things: a washing machine, dishwasher and dryer, a mechanical corn picker and the mounting of a gasoline engine on his well-drilling outfit. It is this latter invention that led him to modify the gasoline engine for a tractor for threshing. Froelich also invented the first air conditioner, which went on to become the Carrier Air Conditioning Co. In Froelich, visitors can enjoy touring the general store and several other buildings. Behind the store was a mill where historians think John Froelich built his tractor. That is now gone and, in 1920, was replaced with a freight warehouse. The village includes a school, blacksmith shop, dairy barn, depot and other wonderful things to see, in addition to the story of Froelich himself. Go and learn more about the man credited with creating the first gas traction engine that propelled itself backward and forward. For more information, log onto www.froelichtractor.com Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com |
