Wheel Horse
 |
|
| Industry | Power equipment |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | The Toro Company |
| Founded | 1947 |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Headquarters | South Bend, Indiana, USA |
|
Key people
|
Cecil Pond |
| Products | lawn and garden tractors |
| Parent | American Motors (AMC) |
Wheel Horse was a manufacturer of outdoor and garden power equipment, including lawn and garden tractors. The company's headquarters were in South Bend, Indiana.
The business was started in the two-car garage of Cecil Pond in 1946. Pond began building two-wheel, self-propelled "Walk-Away" garden tractors that were sold under the Pond name. Due to a naming conflict with another company, the company's name was changed to Wheel Horse. The name not only evokes tractors generally (doing tractive work with wheels) but also the connotation of . Pond's son Cecil Elwood Pond continued to develop and market the company's products. The framework was typically simple angle or channel iron and various surplus motorcycle and automotive parts were used. In 1947, a four-wheel tractor, the "Ride-Away" model was introduced for garden use. It was also made from crude parts and without a hood for easy service access.
The demand for garden tractors was rapidly increasing as households with small gardens found them rather inexpensive, practical to use for a variety of chores, and they were economical to maintain. By 1956, the business had become very successful. The company began to build a range of small to large lawn and garden tractors, in addition to a line of riding lawn mowers. A characteristic of the products was their standardization through the years. The most popular model and year was the R-J58 Wheel Horse 1958, it came without a mowing deck, but one could be added.
A new model was produced in 1958, which included a three-speed transmission. This transmission is called the Uni-Drive transmission that Elmer Pond designed in 60 days. One tractor model was named Rj-58 and included a Clinton B-1290 or a Kohler k-90 engine. The Rj-35 used a Clinton B-1200 engine with a belt driven transmission. When equipped with a Briggs & Stratton 2.5 horsepower (1.9 kW) engine, the model of the tractor became RJ-25.
The attachments remained the same for the RJ series. From 1956-1957 wheel horse changed the color of the wheels from black into an almond color.
The demand for these little tractors grew so much by the end of 1959 that they could not keep up with production. Sales were over US$4.5 million.
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Wikipedia