Labor shortages are a reality in agriculture these days. Although the latest shortages of human labor resources are to the extreme, there has been a movement toward replacing human power on the farm for decades.
Finding harvest help and a threshing crew years ago, even in the 1930s and ’40s, was not easy, although neighbors worked together on these big tasks quite often.
Looking through the March 8, 1941, issue of Nebraska Farmer, we find articles on the benefits of rubber tires in the field, the unbelievable underground resources of groundwater in Nebraska, and varied articles on the potential for irrigation development.
But on Page 27, we found a half-page, color ad with the headline, “Thrashin’ Experts Not Needed.” The advertising was for the Model 40 and 60 Allis-Chalmers All-Crop Harvester, which the company billed as the “successor to the binder.”
Pull-type
This early combine was tractor-drawn and powered by PTO. Produced by Allis-Chalmers beginning in 1935, the All-Crop equipment series was manufactured through the 1950s. The ad said that the All-Crop meant getting harvest accomplished without the need for a crew.
It boasted that the All-Crop could harvest 102 grains, legumes, grasses or sorghums — even those that were weedy or lodged. It had a wide bar cylinder that was variable speed from 450 to 1,650 rpm, along with adjustable cylinder clearance and sieves.
The All-Crop 60 was made first, beginning in 1935 through 1949, with a 60-inch sickle cutting bar. About 100,000 of the Model 60 were produced, making it the most popular piece in the series. In 1941, the Model 60 retailed for $545.
ALL-CROP: The Model 40 and Model 60 Allis-Chalmers All-Crop Harvester was advertised in the March 1941 issue of Nebraska Farmer.
The successor to the 60 was the Model 66, with a widened cutting bar to 66 inches, along with a larger 25-bushel bin. The Model 66 was produced from 1953 to 1959, with nearly 73,000 manufactured.
The Model 40 from the ad was made specifically for the Allis-Chalmers Model B and C tractors. It had a 38-inch cutting bar and could harvest about an acre per hour. Made from 1938 until 1940, only about 15,000 were manufactured.
The last of the series of harvesters called All-Crop was the All-Crop Super SP100, with about 1,000 units produced only in 1958. It was at this time that Allis-Chalmers, already a leader in pull-type, tractor-drawn harvesters, acquired the Gleaner Harvester Corp., so the company began producing Gleaners after that.
Adding Gleaner
The Gleaner was first invented and manufactured by the Baldwin brothers of Nickerson, Kan., beginning in 1923. At first, their combines were mounted on a Fordson Model F tractor and retailed around $950.
As a pioneer in self-propulsion combines, the Gleaner design as it evolved was billed as one of the first commercially successful and reliable self-propelled combine harvesters. In 1979, Gleaner released its first rotary combine, the N6, followed by the N5 and N7 — with the N7, produced from 1978 to 1985, considered the largest combine of its time, with headers going as wide as 30 feet.
Today, Gleaner is owned by Agco, but it is important to note that although the Gleaner was a revolutionary design and continues to be manufactured today, the legacy of the old Allis-Chalmers harvesters, which included the All-Crop tractor-drawn series of harvesters, was quite successful, even before Gleaner was acquired by the company.
When it was first manufactured, just like the development of robotic and autonomous equipment today, the All-Crop was touted as a way to make a task in the field that once took lots of labor into a one-person job, and to alleviate the need for as many laborers in the field.
Then and Now: Even before acquiring Gleaner in the 1950s, Allis-Chalmers was producing the tractor-drawn All-Crop Harvester series.
