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I never heard of Rock Island before, so I got out my tractor book I got for Christmas and looked it up. This is from "The Illustrated Directory of Tractors" by Peter Henshaw published by Salamander Books in the UK in 2002. I'm looking at page 416. "Heider was based in Cedar Rapids, and had been makin tractors from as early as 1910. However, it could not survive on its own, and sold out to implement maker Rock Island Plow Company in 1918. Tractors continued to be badged as Heiders for several years, but in the late 1920s the Rock Island name was gradually adopted. These Heiders were not revolutionary tractors. The petro/kerosene Model D of 1919 was rated at 9 drawbar hp, 16 hp at the PTO. Transmission was by friction discs, giving a speed range of 1-4 mph. The 18-35 pictured here came from the later Rock Island era, and used a Buda four-cylinder engine, Stromberg M3 carburetor and Dixie-Splitdorf-Aero magneto. The G2 of 1929 was really a smaller version of the same thing, rated at 15/25hp. This tractor used a Waukesha four-cylinder engine and weighed 4200 lb. Finally, in 1937, Rock Island/Heider was taken over by JI Case, which ended its tractor production." That's all I know about it.
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