Company History: A. B. Farquhar
(Page 5 of 8)
September/October 1992
Gail E. Knauer
The catalog also listed a 2 HP hand portable gas engine. This
engine had a 4' x 6 7/8' bore and
stroke, a 1/8' diameter crankshaft, and
came furnished with a 6' diameter, 4' face belt pulley. The
unit was recommended for driving pumps, corn shelters, light feed
grinders and cutters, small saws, pea hullers and other small farm
implements. Ignition was by battery and spark plug; the engine was
water-cooled.
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Gas tractors offered in 1916 were the 4-30 and 4-40 models.
Ignition was by Reamy heavy duty ball bearing magneto, carburetion
by the Kingston 2' carburetor. Both tractors were water-cooled,
the 4-30 having a pump with a capacity of 16 gallons per minute to
circulate water through the engine, the 4-40 equipped with a
tubular radiator and fan and a 16 gallon per minute pump. The belt
pulley was 32 inches in diameter, with a 9' face, and would
operate at 250-275 r.p.m. The tractors' drive wheels were 7
feet in diameter, with round spokes set into a cast iron hub. The
front wheels were 48 inches in diameter. The road speed listed in
the catalog was 2 3/10 miles per hour. The
4-30 had a 6' x 8' cylinder, the 4-40 a 7' x 8'
cylinder.
Most Farquhar gas tractors were sold locally. The tractor line
was eventually purchased by Oliver in 1925.
In late 1915, York industrialists began to express concern that
the city was not profiting from European war contracts as much as
it might. A.B. Farquhar was a declared pacifist, saying 'We do
not care to make things that kill people,' but as German
aggression in Europe began to take its toll, patriotism surged, and
even A. B. supported a flag-raising ceremony at his plant.
An article in the York Dispatch of February 3, 1917, inspired by
the cutoff of diplomatic relations between the United States and
Germany, outlined various York manufacturing enterprises and what
each could contribute to the war effort. Included was this
statement: 'Few cities could probably boast a plant such as
that of the A. B. Farquhar Company, which would be able to turn out
the huge armored tractor, the formidable 'land
dreadnought,' which has served European armies well, and upon
which the U. S. government is now experimenting.' The
company's actual wartime contribution consisted primarily of
hydraulic powder presses, boilers, sterilizers, shot trucks, and
machine tools.
The brief economic depression which followed World War I brought
about the first employee layoffs in the history of the Farquhar
company. The rise in popularity of the internal combustion engine
during this period, along with widespread electrification, caused a
decline in engine and boiler markets through the 1920s.
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