Allis - Chalmers Manufacturing Company - Delaware 1944

Beautifully engraved certificate from the Allis - Chalmers Manufacturing Company issued in 1944. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of the company name. This item is over 65 years old.




Certificate Vignette



The Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co. of West Allis, WI was an American manufacturer with diverse interests, perhaps most famous for their bright orange farm tractors. The company eventually divested its manufacturing businesses and today is known as Allis-Chalmers Energy, and is based in Houston, Texas.

Allis-Chalmers first entered the manufacturing business in the 1840s. It made waterwheel, sawmill and grindstones. While originally incorporated in Delaware, the company soon became a major manufacturer of steam engines and industrial equipment in the Milwaukee area after merging with other firms--Fraser & Chalmers were a large steel and mining retort manufacturer. The company's presence in Milwaukee became so large that its plants were once used as a landmark there, and, in particular, its "west" plant lent its name to the city of West Allis. Allis-Chalmers entered into the farm equipment business in 1914 at about the time of the World War I. The company would also play a major part as a manufacturer in the World War II building pumps for uranium separation as part of the Manhattan Project and building electric motors for U.S. Navy submarines. Allis Chalmers also built triple expansion marine steam engines for Liberty ships.

The company introduced a number of product lines including Agricultural Tractor, Implements, Industrial Tractor, Gleaner Combines, Hydroturbines, Valves and Pumps, Compressors, Electric Motors, Crushing and screening equipment, Comminution, Air Purification, Coal Gasification and Simplicity Garden Tractors.

A series of acquisitions were made by the company beginning in 1928 with the acquisition of Monarch Tractor Company. In 1931, the company acquired Advance-Rumely based in LaPorte, Indiana. Buda Engine Co., based in Harvey, Illinois was acquired in 1953. Two years later the company acquired Gleaner Harvester Co., and in 1959 it acquired the French company Vendeuvre. Allis-Chalmers also acquired Simplicity, which was later sold to its management in 1983.

The company began to struggle in the 1980s in a climate of rapid economic change. It was forced amid financial struggles to sell its farm equipment division to K-H-D (Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz) AG of Germany in 1985, the owners of Deutz-Fahr, which was renamed Deutz-Allis. Deutz-Allis later was sold to management and became what is now the AGCO Corporation (AGCO), and tractors were sold under the AGCO-Allis name - though later this became just AGCO. What remained of the manufacturing businesses were dispersed in 1998 and the company officially closed its offices in Milwaukee in January 1999 The remaining service businesses became Allis-Chalmers Energy in Houston, Texas.

In April, 2008, Briggs & Stratton Corp. announced that it would sell lawn tractors under the Allis-Chalmers brand name.

Allis-Chalmers offered a complete line of agricultural machinery, from tillage and harvesting to tractors.

In 1965 Allis-Chalmers built "Big Allis" or Ravenswood No.3, the biggest generator of its time. It's located in Queens NY and the total output is 1000 MW. It is still operational today.

In 1965 Allis-Chalmers built hydrogen fueled fuel cell golf carts.

United tractor on display at Hendricks Ag History Center, Woodland, CAIn 1959, a team led by Harry Ihrig built a 15 kW fuel cell tractor for Allis-Chalmers which was demonstrated across the US at state fairs. This system used potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte and compressed hydrogen and oxygen as the reactants. The original AC fuel cell tractor is currently on display at the Smithsonian.

History from Wikipedia and OldCompany.com (old stock certificate research service).