View source for Allis-Chalmers Model WC

{{Short description|Tractor made by Allis-Chalmers}}
[[File:Allis-Chalmers WC 1939.jpg|thumb|A 1939 Model WC.]]
[[File:17 09 111 jarrell.jpg|thumb|1942 Model WC at [[Jarrell Plantation]]]]
[[File:1947 Allis-Chalmers Model WC.jpg|thumb|A 1947 Model WC.]]
[[File:Allis Chalmers WC (1948) at a US tractor show.jpg|thumb|A 1948 Model WC.]]

The '''Model WC''' was a [[tractor]] made by [[Allis-Chalmers]] from 1933 to 1948. The WC was designed from its start as a nimble, low-cost, but well-powered [[tractor#Row-crop tractor|row-crop tractor]] that would make the best use of pneumatic rubber [[tire]]s, which Allis-Chalmers had just introduced to agriculture in 1932.<ref name="Buescher1991pp38-39">{{Harvnb|Buescher|1991|pp=38–39}}.</ref><ref name="Sanders1996pp37-39">{{Harvnb|Sanders|1996}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=naldQDSyGRQC&pg=PA38 pp. 37–39].</ref> A successful model at the historical height of row-crop tractor demand, the WC was the best-selling tractor model that Allis-Chalmers ever built.

The WC was the Model W variant tailored to [[cultivator|cultivating]], thus the '''W''' + '''C''' (for "cultivating") name. Other W variants, such as the WD and WF, followed later (in lower numbers).

The WC was popular in the [[Great Depression]] for its good value, affordable price, and frugal design elements. Two factors that lowered its cost of manufacture, and thus its sales price,<ref name="Sanders1996pp37-39"/> were that it was made partially from off-the-shelf components, and that its steel [[channel iron]] frame eliminated the need for large, heavy [[casting]]s for the transmission and rear end (as were often used in tractors of the era). Its power was ample for the time and class, allowing it to pull a two-bottom [[plough|plow]].

==Production and pricing==
With its minimalist design and low price, about 178,000 WCs were made from 1934 to 1948.<ref name="Sanders1996pp37-39"/> The WC was assembled at the [[West Allis, Wisconsin]], plant,<ref name="tractordata_AC_WC">{{Citation |author=TractorData.com |title=Allis-Chalmers Model WC data |url=http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/000/0/0/9-allis-chalmers-wc.html |accessdate=2013-01-27 |postscript=.}}</ref> near [[Milwaukee]]. In 1934, the WC was [[suggested retail price|listed]] at [[United States dollar|USD]] $825 on rubber (standard), $675 on steel (optional).<ref name="Sanders1996pp37-39"/> By 1936, the prices were $960 and $785, respectively.<ref name="Buescher1991pp27-30">{{Harvnb|Buescher|1991|pp=27–30}}.</ref> The tractor could also be ordered as "air front", meaning rubber tires in front and steel wheels in back.<ref name="Buescher1991pp27-30"/>

==Features and configurations==

===Engine===
The WC had a [[engine displacement|{{convert|201|cuin|cc}}]], [[inline-four engine]]. Like most tractors of the era, the WC offered [[multifuel]] capability, running on [[gasoline]], [[kerosene]], or [[ethanol fuel|alcohol]], and featured a small auxiliary fuel tank in addition to the larger main fuel tank, so that the tractor could be started on gasoline when cold and, once warmed up, switched to kerosene or alcohol.

The engine's {{convert|4|in|abbr=on}} [[bore (engine)|bore]] and {{convert|4|in|abbr=on}} [[stroke (engine)|stroke]] made it one of the first tractor engines (to Buescher's knowledge, the first<ref name="Buescher1991p97">{{Harvnb|Buescher|1991|p=97}}.</ref>) to be square or oversquare, that is, to have an equal or shorter stroke than bore. The WC engine tested at 22 [[horsepower]] at the [[drawbar (haulage)|drawbar]] and 30 at the [[belt (mechanical)#Flat belts|belt]].<ref name="tractordata_AC_WC"/> Its "snappy [[governor (device)|governor]] […] seemed to sense a heavy load, even before the load arrived."<ref name="Buescher1991p97"/>

Ignition was by [[ignition magneto|magneto]].

===Rubber tires===
The WC was the first farm tractor to have rubber tires as standard equipment,<ref name="Sanders1996pp37-39"/> and the first tractor tested on rubber in the [[Tractor#Nebraska tractor tests|Nebraska tractor tests]].<ref name="tractordata_AC_WC"/> The pneumatic-rubber-tire-on-steel-wheel combination was more expensive to make than a steel wheel with [[grouser|cleats]]. To make rubber tires standard equipment while also keeping the cost of the tractor low, the WC's designers, C.E. Frudden and Walter Strehlow, gave the WC drop gearing at the rear (bull-gear-with-pinion final drives), which allowed row-crop [[ride height|ground clearance]] while having smaller-diameter drive wheels.<ref name="Buescher1991p97"/> Drop gearing had appeared many times before on earlier tractors, but never yet for this new reason—to minimize the amount of rubber needed for the tires.

===Front axle options===
Like other row-crop tractors from various makers, the WC could be ordered in both tricycle (narrow tread) and wide tread (that is, wide front [[axle track|track]]) versions, with the tricycle configuration by far the most popular.<ref name="Buescher1991pp27-30"/> The tractor could be ordered as "air front", meaning rubber tires in front and steel wheels in back.<ref name="Buescher1991pp27-30"/>

===Electric starter and lights===
In 1939 Harry Merritt, an Allis-Chalmers executive, decided that, with over 90 percent of WCs selling with the optional electric [[starter (engine)|starter]] and [[headlamp|lights]], these features would henceforth be standard equipment. Thus the WC became one of the earliest farm tractors (to Buescher's knowledge, the first<ref name="Buescher1991p94">{{Harvnb|Buescher|1991|p=94}}.</ref>) to have starter and lights as standard equipment.

===Other options===
A belt pulley was standard equipment on the WC, while a [[power take-off]] (PTO) and a mechanical power lift for the cultivator were optional.<ref name="Buescher1991pp27-30"/> In 1936 the PTO option's list price was [[United States dollar|USD]] $50, the power lift option's, $35.<ref name="Buescher1991pp27-30"/>

The PTO was necessary if the buyer was planning to use the WC to pull the Allis-Chalmers [[All-Crop Harvester]], a pull-type [[combine harvester|combine]]. The combination of a WC tractor pulling an All-Crop Harvester combine was a huge commercial success for Allis from the mid-1930s through mid-1940s.

===Design changes===
Various design changes occurred over the model's lifespan: 
* The prototypes were built with [[Waukesha Engine|Waukesha engines]]. Mass production began with the WC's own in-house 4"x4" engine design. 
* As in the rest of the farm tractor industry, the mid through late 1930s was the time when Allis-Chalmers's tractors went from "unstyled" to "styled". The major manufacturers hired [[industrial design]]ers (in Allis's case, [[Brooks Stevens]]) to style their tractors with [[streamliner|streamlined]] sheet metal (and in some cases revised operator controls with better [[usability]]). In 1938, the WC was styled and was given a larger [[radiator (engine cooling)|radiator]] and tires.
* In 1939, electric starter and lights went from optional to standard.

==Drawbacks==
The WC, with many good features and various first-to-market attributes, had at least a few drawbacks. Its [[clutch]] was not particularly well designed,<ref name="Buescher1991p98">{{Harvnb|Buescher|1991|p=98}}.</ref> and, like other tractors of the 1920s through mid-1930s, it lacked usability in the design of its [[brake]] controls,<ref name="Buescher1991p98"/> with a hand lever on each side of the tractor, which meant that applying the brakes took the operator's hands away from other controls. Other tractors had foot pedals on both sides, but that meant that the clutch and left brake could not be operated simultaneously. The solution came in the late 30s, when  various brands moved both brake pedals to the right foot.

==See also==
* [[List of Allis-Chalmers tractors]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Citation |last=Buescher |first=Walter M. |year=1991 |title=Plow Peddler |publisher=Glenbridge Publishing |location=Macomb, Illinois, USA |isbn=978-0-944435-18-2 |postscript=. ''A memoir by a man who worked for Allis-Chalmers company for over 30 years as a sales representative and sales manager.''}}
* {{Citation |last=Sanders |first=Ralph W. |title=Vintage farm tractors: the ultimate tribute to classic tractors |year=1996 |publisher=Town Square Books |location=Stillwater, Minnesota, USA |isbn=978-0896582804 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=twt3arApXLMC&pg=PP1 |postscript=.}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}
{{Allis-Chalmers}}

[[Category:Allis-Chalmers tractors]]
[[Category:Vehicles introduced in 1933]]