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Question about Oliver and Waukesha engines

M

MNGB

Well-known Member
Hi all can anyone tell me how Oliver ended up using Waukesha engine for so many of their tractors? I heard once that Oliver designed them and had Waukesha build them but have no idea if that's true.
Thanks GB in MN
 
I've been curious about that myself. Were the Waukeshas (232, 265, 310s, etc.) exclusive to Olivers, or general industrial engines that Oliver used, like the Budas in Cockshutts?
 
from what I've read Oliver was actually going to go with contenintal first but they were already producing at capacity so they turned oliver away. so they went with waukesha. If i recall correctly it was a group effort on the designing and for the building oliver would cast the blocks in their foundry then ship them to waukesha and they would do final machineing and assembly and ship back.
 
The oliver/Waukesha engines were Waukesha engines cast to olivers specs and shipped to oliver for assembly. I believe oliver did the machining in house, but not sure on that. The same basic engines were sold by Waukesha as industial units for draglines, welders, generators and the like.
 
I will add more to the confusion. The Rowcrop tractor in 1930, Oliver's first tractor after the merger used a Waukesha engine. The chilled plow tractor used a Hercules. That was the start of it. The Oliver 60 used a Model 160 Waukesha engine. It was the only model of engine used by Oliver that Waukesha did not sell to anyone else. The other models of spark ignition engines were also sold by Waukesha and used by other companies. The odd one is the 195 series which was used in the 6 cylinder 99 through 950 tractors. The Oliver versions use the same oiling system while most of the engines sold by Waukesha are known as "oil field models" and use a gear oil pump and a drill crankshaft. The Waukesha diesels did not use the Lanova combustion until latter. When you look at an engine in an Oliver there are 2 sets of casting numbers. One is the Waukesha number and the other one is the Oliver number. The weird numbering system is the Oliver engines with the 7 main bearing blocks. The Waukesha casting numbers all start 220. A 220 Waukesha is a 4 cylinder engine. Does that help anyone?
 
By the way, the only engines assembled in Charles City later on were several models of Moline engines, Not Oliver or Waukesha engines.
 
Keep it coming! It is always good to read what you have learned over the years of your connections to Oliver.
 
I read an interesting article about CW Hart & CH Parr and how they started building engines in Wis and decided to get into the tractor business and started the Hart Parr tractor factory in Charles City Ia. really interesting that the article claims they invented / designed the overhead valve system, a 2 chamber carb to inject water in the engine when running on kerosene to stop detonation first use of a magneto for ignition etc.
https://www.asme.org/getmedia/17bd0ac6-d3ce-4e9b-b244-ce56f5af0dab/190-Hart-Parr-Tractor.aspx
 
One of the reason for my original post was that Hart Parr became Oliver and Hart Parr built all their engines for about 30 yrs so its kind of odd that they gave up on building engines when they designed / built the Olivers.
GB in MN
 
Hey J schwiebert,theres not much you don'tknow about
olivers.If you have'nt already;have you ever
considered writing a book about them.It would be a
helluva legacy!
 
You're correct. Oliver didn't have enough manpower to completely build engines, so they cast the blocks, heads, and probably other parts and shipped them to Waukesha for assembly. I got this from Herb Morrells book,''Oliver Farm Tractors.'' They were also involved in the development of the Oliver 70 engine. Many don't realalise that Oliver had much to do with engine development.
 
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