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B.F. Avery & Sons Co.
Successor Minneapolis-Moline
Founded 1847
Founder(s) Benjamin Franklin Avery
Defunct 1951
Headquarters Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Products agriculture machinery tractor
BF Avery Tricycle (row crop) tractor reg TJ 9985 at Newby 09 - IMG 2264

B.F. Avery A Row Crop (tricycle) tractor at the Newby Hall Vintge Gathering 2009

BF Avery reg JL 9985 (front) at Newby 09 - IMG 2266
BF Avery tractor reg JL 9985 (rear) at Newby 09 - IMG 2265

The rear showing the typical USA drawbar only design

'B.F. Avery & Sons Co. of Louisville, Kentucky, USA built agricultural implements and tractors from 1847 until 1951.

Company history[]

Benjamin Franklin Avery was born in 1801 in Aurora, New York. He first began a plow company in 1825 in Clarksville, Pennsylvania, selling the company to a brother after returning to Aurora after the death of his father. Along with a nephew, Daniel Humphrey Avery, he moved to Louisville, KY and began his new plow business in 1847. When Daniel moved on in 1850, the company was organized as B.F. Avery Plows. Operation was suspended during the Civil War, but reopened after the war as B.F. Avery & Sons, and now included his three sons.[1][2]

Benjamin Franklin Avery died in 1865, leaving the company to his sons and later family members. The first motorized machine for the company was the Louisville Motor Plow, a 20hp engine on a chassis with two plows mounted underneath, and was built from 1914-1917. In 1930, Avery began marketing tractors built for them by Huber Manufacturing of Marion, Ohio. Records indicate that 355 Huber tractors were delivered to Avery, mostly the Huber 20-36, and two Huber Light Four tractors. IN 1936, B.F. Avery developed a new tractor and approached Cleveland Tractor Co., or Cletrac, to manufacture it. Cletrac built the General GG three-wheeled tractor for B.F. Avery, and they were also sold by Massey-Harris and Montgomery Wards (Wards Twin-Row). Cletrac ceased building the General GG during World War II, and B.F. Avery acquired the equipment and began manufacturing it as the B.F. Avery A.[3]

During some lean years, B.F. Avery agreed to sell out to Minneapolis-Moline on January 8, 1951. Some of the B.F. Avery models continued in MM's lineup for a number of years, before the manufacturing facility in Louisville was closed for good in 1955. The factory was one of the largest factories in Louisville, and is on the National Register of Historic Places (Kentucky).

Models[]

B.F. Avery Tractor Models
Model Year(s) Produced Horsepower Engine Type Misc Notes Photo
B.F. Avery A 1943-1950 19 hp (14 kW) Hercules (1st built by Cletrac (General GG)
w/Avery's designs), also sold as
Wards Twin-Row and as Massey-Harris The General
BF Avery Tricycle (row crop) tractor reg TJ 9985 at Newby 09 - IMG 2264
B.F. Avery BF 1950-1953 27 hp (20 kW) Hercules also sold as Minneapolis-Moline BF B.F. Avery BF
B.F. Avery BFD 1953
B.F. Avery BFH 1953
B.F. Avery BFS 1953
B.F. Avery BFW 1953
B.F. Avery BG 1953-1956 27 hp (20 kW) Hercules also sold as Minneapolis-Moline BG
B.F. Avery crawler B.F. Avery crawler
B.F. Avery GG 1939-1942 19 hp (14 kW) Hercules Cletrac General GG,
renamed to B.F. Avery A
B.F. Avery R 1950-1951 25 hp (19 kW) Hercules most powerful B.F. Avery tractor B.F. Avery R - 1951
B.F. Avery V 1946-1955 27 hp (20 kW) Hercules 7,500 models built B.F. Avery V
Louisville Motor Plow 1914-1917 20 hp (15 kW)


Tractor Models designed/produced by B.F. Avery for other companies
Model Year(s) Produced Horsepower Engine Type Misc Notes Photo
Cletrac The General 1939-1942 19 hp (14 kW) Hercules Cletrac The General
Massey-Harris The General 19 hp (14 kW) Hercules MH The General brochure
Wards Twin-Row 19 hp (14 kW) Hercules Wards Twin-Row (B.F. Avery Cletrac) 2

See also[]

References / sources[]


External links[]


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