Artifact
Articles
Calliope
Education
Programs
Winning
the Prairie Gamble 
Training
CoursesCan You Lift Yourself By Your Bootstraps?
The Hart-Parr Tractor Demonstration
By Collections Curator Ruth Bitner
and former Conservator Ron Ford
January 2006
Hart-Parr bootstrap demonstration c. 1925
Floyd county Historical Society
Charles City, Iowa
The Hart-Parr company began as a partnership between University of
Wisconsin engineering students Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr. They
built their first tractor in 1901 at Charles City, Iowa. Over the next few
years, the partners spent time redesigning their tractor, and in 1905, hired
a sales manager, W.H. Williams. Williams is credited with coining the word
“tractor” in 1907. Hart-Parr’s tractors, like others of the day, were big
and clumsy. The 30-60 HP model, dubbed “Old Reliable,” weighed some 10 tons.
In the late teens, Hart-Parr came up with a clever gimmick to promote its
new and smaller gas tractors at local fairs throughout Canada and the United
States. The bootstrap demonstration showed the tractor lifting itself up
with cables and pulleys wrapped around the wheels. The stunt was even filmed
by a movie-maker.
A reporter for the Charles City newspaper wrote about the demonstration at
the National Tractor Show in Kansas City in early 1919.
The boys ... called the stunt which the tractor did the
“boot strap” job for it resembled in a remote way the efforts of the man
who tried to jump over a fence by pulling upward on his bootstraps. Of
course he never accomplished his aim while the Hart-Parr put its
demonstration over and across. Briefly, it consists of an arrangement
whereby the tractor is able by its own power to lift up and down inside
a four posted framework.
The “boot strap” demonstration attracted so much attention and applause
that the show management at Kansas City requested that the stunt be
exhibited elsewhere...
...Hart-Parr came away with so many honours...that our local
poet...perpetrated the following outburst in honour of the event:
There are tractors that make us dippy,
There are tractors that make us swear,
There are tractors that drive away all reason
And make us rave and tear.
There are tractors that have abundant power for
They show us what they really are:
But the tractor that is bringing home the bacon
Is the powerful New Hart-Parr.
The December, 1919 edition of The Canadian Thresherman and Farmer carried a Hart-Parr advertisement that showed an illustration of 12 men on the tractor and described the demonstration.
In this demonstration the tractor is running in reverse gear at
1½ miles per hour...This unique demonstration designed by Hart-Parr
Company and called ”Bootstrap Test” is proof of the actual power
delivered at the rims of the rear wheels. The cables pass around the
rims of the rear wheels and around the front wheels and the tractor
raises itself and the twelve men by its own power.
The clutch and brake action of the New Hart-Parr are so perfect that
the tractor moves up and down gently and steadily, stopping at any
desired point. The tractor has such perfect balance that it is not
necessary to lock the differential in making this test....
The Western Development Museum collection contains ten Hart-Parr
tractors, ranging from the 1911 model 30-60 HP to 1920s models including
the 12-24 HP used for the bootstrap demonstration. This tractor was
restored by Western Development Museum conservation staff for exhibit in
the WDM centennial exhibit Winning the Prairie Gamble: Farm Life in
Saskatchewan. It is featured in a 1920s agricultural fair scene
where the bootstrap demonstration will be recreated. However, for
technical and safety considerations, the tractor is stationary–it does not move up and down as did the original.
The WDM
welcomes visitors to the colourful and interactive story of farming in
Saskatchewan as told from the perspective of an immigrant family. Be
sure to see the impressive line-up of recently restored agricultural
equipment and a re-created sod house.
You might also like:
- Artifact Articles: Spy Hill Snowplane Start of Prairie Legend
