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All-Crop Iowa Shipment
Photo by Richardson from May 13, 1936

Story County farmers assembled at the Ames depot in May of 1936 to see the first trainload of Allis Chalmers All-Crop Harvesters to arrive in Iowa. The Allis-Chalmers All Crop Harvester series combines are an example of the PTO-driven tow-behind combines manufactured in great profusion between the mid-1930s and the early 1960s. These combines were a very effective tool for family-sized farms since they didn't require the investment or maintenance of a self-propelled unit. The Allis Chalmers model shipped to Ames in 1936 was particularly flexible, able to harvest both small grains and everything from flowers to various grass and legume crops for seed.

Because of their flexibility, the mid-sized Allis Chalmers All-Crop Harvesters were quite popular.  The first combines shipped under that name in 1936, with a 60 inch sickle-bar and cylinder, and a cross-wise separator behind the cylinder.  Later enhancements included a 66 inch cutting width, better grain handling, larger bins, etc. The All-Crop Harvesters had the cutter bar, reel and cylinder on  their right side, and the grain bin and unloading auger on  their left side.  The basic model was PTO-powered, but a 4-cylinder gas power unit could be mounted on the tongue.

Machines designed to pay a profit on the family farm.  These two basic ideas have made the Allis-Chalmers Tractor Division a consistent leader in better farm equipment.  Shown above are some of the outstanding "firsts" which have blazed the way to better living, better farming, and more profit on millions of American farms.  The first tractor on low-pressure rubber tires, the famous ALL-CROP Harvester, the WC Tractor, quick-hitch and drive-in mounted implements...each in its own time proved that the way to better performance was in lighter yet tougher machines with more work capacity per pound.  Today, as in the past, Allis-Chalmers is blazing the trail in farm mechanization - building better machines designed to pay a profit on your farm.

Introduced in 1935, the ALL-CROP Harvester is an Allis-Chalmers tradition.  It brought home ownership to the family farm and eliminated big crews of men to feed at harvest time.  In addition, it introduced direct combining of such crops as soybeans, grass and legume seeds.  No other machine has done so much for so many.

	By the time the Model 72 replaced the 66 in 1960, about 300,000 had been built. The only other pull-behind combine I've seen surviving from that era in any numbers, at least around here, is the John Deere Model 12. Of the small combines that survive, most are rusting away in the weeds, displaced by bigger self-propelled combines. However, a few pull-behind combines are stored and maintained with care by people who still do their own grain and seed crops.