Case IH is beginning a year of celebrations to commemorate its 175th anniversary in 2017. Source: AFDJ eNews
It was in Racine, Wisconsin in the US, that founder Jerome Increase Case established the Racine Threshing Machine Works to produce a machine to speed up the separation of grain after harvest.
“I find it amazing to see just how far the farming industry and our company have come during the last 175 years especially given the fact that we are stronger than ever before today,” Case IH Brand President, Andreas Klauser said.
Mr Case had worked extensively with farm equipment before he started his own business and it became his lifelong passion. He believed that every piece of equipment manufactured by his company must deliver on the brand promise and saw to that personally.
The company’s beginnings were closely linked with those of the American economy, as American pioneers moved west and new farms were established there to feed the growing population centers in the East.
In 1869, Case went on to manufacture the first steam engine tractor, which was drawn by horses and its power was used only to power other machines, then in 1876 he built the first self-propelled traction steam engine.
As steam engines quickly replaced horses for threshing, the JI Case Threshing Machine Company became the world’s largest producer of steam engines by 1886.
In 1902, five companies merged to form the International Harvester Company in Chicago, the deal being brokered personally by J.P. Morgan.
The company produced its first combine harvester in 1915 and in 1923 introduced the Farmall, the world’s first row-crop tractor.
International Harvester sold more than five million Farmall tractors and in 1977 launched the unique single-rotor Axial-Flow rotary combine.
Case IH was formed in 1985 when JI Case acquired the agricultural division of International Harvester, uniting the legacies of Case and IH in a single brand.
Its first product, the Magnum tractor from 160hp to 240hp, was introduced in 1987 and became the first tractor to win the Industrial Design Excellence Award.
In 2014, the Magnum 380 CVX was voted ‘Tractor of the Year 2015’ at the EIMA International Exhibition in Bologna, Italy. That year, Case IH also launched the Rowtrac CVX, which combines the individual benefits of tracked and wheeled tractors
Case IH’s award-winning performance continued during 2015 when the new Optum CVX tractor was named ‘Machine of the Year 2016’ at Agritechnica.
The Optum 300 CVX achieved the accolade of ‘Tractor of the Year 2017’ at the 2016 EIMA, the international farm machinery show in Italy.
“The Case IH 175th Anniversary is a testament to many years of quality, perseverance and progress. It’s also an occasion to reflect on our guiding principles of innovative engineering, efficient power and agronomic design, a philosophy that will continue into the future,” Mr Klauser said.
“When I look at the enormous transformation which has taken place in agriculture over the last 175 years, it is very exciting to think about what might be achieved during the next 175 years.”
