During the early 20th century, the agricultural tractor was finding its feet. From early beginnings, with motor ploughs and then often rather bizarre designs, things were settling down by the Twenties. The effect on the market of machines such as the Wallis Cub and Fordson, which made use of a new unitary construction design, began a final consolidation of ideas about what the basic construction of the farm tractor should constitute.
Force
The birthplace of the farm tractor was without doubt North America, and one of the most successful early manufacturers there was International Harvester. It was formed from a mega-merger of five different farm machinery firms and became the market leader in farm tractors by the Twenties. The dominant force behind this new company was the incredibly successful farm machinery manufacturers McCormick and Deering. They came together in 1902 along with Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Company, the Milwaukee Harvester Company and the Plano Manufacturing Company to form the new International Harvester Company, a major force in farm machinery and harvesters in particular.
Threshing and harvesting machinery would remain a crucial part of the business of the new IHC. Soon tractors would join them, and after many initial designs, the firm
