The Minneapolis Manufacturing Syndicate

AN UNAUTHORIZED,

POSSIBLY INACCURATE,

DISCUSSION OF

The Standard Engine Company,

The Walsh Tractor Company, and

The Allied Motors Corporation

AND

Their Products

by

Mark E. Bookout

Copyrighted 26 Jul 97

18 Jan 99:

NOTICE! The data contained on this page has MANY errors. It was written based on information I had compiled in early '97. Since then, I have compiled and written a book on the subject, which is considerably more accurate. This book should be available in the middle of 1999.

You may not reproduce this document for profit of any kind what so ever. Other than that, enjoy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Please Note: If you have knowledge, documents, or anything else relating to the Standard machines or the other companies that you feel would compliment or correct this paper, please contact the author. I cannot make any guarantees relating to the accuracy of the information contained herein, however it is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.

At the time of the Standard Engine Company's tractor's operational heyday, many companies were producing two wheel garden tractors. These ranged from quite small to very large, but the general classification of "walk behind tractors" covers all of them competitive with the tractors under discussion here.

Two wheel garden tractors were big business starting with the 1920s to the 1950s. There was a veritable plethora of manufacturers. Some machines even went beyond two wheels and were mounted on baby crawler tracks. Even one wheel cultivators were produced. In all of these cases, the manufacturers were working on the paradigm which was developed from the horse drawn farming and cultivation techniques which were in widespread use at this time.

Truck gardening/farming during this time, whether utilizing horses or tractors for draft power, was based on tillage through cultivation. The farmer would need to plow, then disk and/or harrow the ground to prepare the seedbed for the crops, plant the crops in rows (hence "row crops"), cultivate them to keep the weeds under control, and finally harvest the crops. To this end, several attachments were available for the Twin, and it must be supposed for other brands of two wheel (or track!) tractors as well.

As well as I can determine, all of these type of garden tractors, or power cultivators, were used in a similar manner. The operator would provide balance for the machine (front and back) by holding the handlebars, and turn it with muscle power at the end of the row, or when otherwise required. The Twin had brakes on each wheel that could be independently operated to assist the operator in turning; perhaps other machines did too.

The implements were often drawn from a single hitch point on the machine, forming an articulation point where the tractor and implement met. When this was not the case, i.e. when the implement was rigidly fixed to the tractor, the operator was required to lift the implement from the ground, presumably with the handlebars and then negotiate the turn at the end of the row.

A WORD ABOUT THE COMPANIES

Standard Garden and Small Farm Tractors

A Full Line -- Sized and Powered for Every type Small-Farm

"On the modern farm, as in the modern factory -- POWER has opened the door to progress -- and the man who has put Power Machinery to work on his place is far ahead of the man who worries along with the older and slower methods. For him, the drudgery of the push hoe -- the expense adnd bother of keeping a horse -- the annoyance of waiting around for some friendly neighbor -- and the uncertanity of hired help are gone forever. Instead, he gets his work done quickly and easily -- gets it done just when it should be done -- and reaps the benefits in greater profits at harvest time."

"STANDARD Tractors bring power to the small farm -- power designed and controlled to fit the intensive conditions on the small farm -- and the Standard Line includeds 3 machines of sizeds and capacities to properly meet the needs on every size and type small farm. The TWIN with its 5 horsepower, 2 cylinder engine , is in the top power class and is buit for the man who has thoroughly heavy work to do. The Standard MONARCH is the most popular size of Garden Tractor. It has 3 1/2 horsepower engine and has built for itslef a national reputation as a general purpose, small farm machine. The WALSH Model is smaller - built mainly as a cultivator, yet it has a generous power for the lighter run of work ont he smaller acerage."

"Why not ad POWER to your equipment -- a Standard Tractor to bring your working methods up to date -- and reap the savings which surely follow."

Standard Engine Co.

Mineapolis, New York, Philadelphia

"The Standard Tractor Line includes three sizes of machines -- the "Twin", the "Monarch", and the "Walsh" -- built with power and capacity to meet the needs on every type small farm."

Standards forceful advertising introduced the world to their products.

With that sort of advertising, one would think that this company must have left a fairly large footprint in the garden tractor manufactors' history pages. Quite to the contrary, though, very little is known about the Standard Engine Company. It is known, however, that they operated out of Minneapolis from sometime in the 1920’s until sometime in the 1950’s. Also, just to add to the confusion, the company was called the Standard Engine Company, but produced garden tractors. Of course, all of the high production Standard tractors were built using integrated engines built by Standard, but still, it seems likely that the company may have earlier been involved in stationary engines. It also appears that the company maintained, at least at one point, warehouses of tractor parts in New York City and Philadelphia.

Standard's earliest tractors were primitive at best. They used an open chain drive, and a motor cycle engine. From this they advanced to an open gear drive tractor. Clearly, these were not going to dominate the market, so new designs were developed. These later designs are ones which some small amount of data still exists.

The Standard Engine Company broke into the enclosed running gear type of 2 wheel garden tractor line with a single cylinder model known as the Standard. This model was active in 1931 according to advertising of the time. The Standard had 32 inch steel wheels, spur gear drive, a ratcheting drive axle, and wood handles. Early units used battery and coil ignition as standard, magnito ignition may have been an option on later units. The engine was started by inserting the crank (a really long crank) into the engine through the wheel. This was required because the engine crankshaft was arranged perpendicular to the tractor's line of travel.

A block away from the Standard Engine Company building in Minneapolis, the Walsh Tractor Company was building 2 wheel garden tractors too. As early as 1928 Walsh was selling a line of one and two cylinder models. There was some prolonged contact between the Walsh Tractor Company and the Standard Engine Company because in 1934 the Walsh forces were "joined" to those of Standard. Standard released a document describing how happy they (Standard) were to have Mr. Walsh involved in the Standard company. Mr Walsh didn't seem too happy about the situation. Nevertheless after this aquisition, the Standard line of tractors changed significantly.

The Standard tractor was re-designed to be a bigger model of the Walsh single cylinder model, and introduced as the Monarch. At the same time, negotiations on another front were coming to a head, those concerning the Allied Motors Corporation and Standard Engine Company. In 1931 Allied had begun marketing a 2 cylinder tractor called the Viking Twin. From this platform, the Standard Twin was developed. By 1937 the Viking Twin was virtually identical with the Standard Twin, except for some minor sheet metal detailing. In 1934, at the same time as the Walsh merger was happening, the Standard Twin was introduced. There were several differences between Standard's Twin and Allied at this time, including the engine main bearings, clutch system, and drive mechanisim.

One part of the drive system that was common to the Walsh machines, the Standard machines except the Twin, and the Viking machines of the time was a ratchting wheel hub. These tractors used a solid axle, and inside of each hub they placed a ratchet which would allow the wheel to turn faster than the axle, but not allow the axle to turn faster than the wheel. This system had been used on other equipment, such as horse drawn sickle bar mowers, from the late 1800's, and so wasn't a new idea. However, when applied to garden tractors, it presented a problem for building a reverse gear. None of these tractors had reverse except the Twins. How Allied managed to build an early Twin with ratcheting wheels and reverse remains a mystery.

At any rate, after the '34 upheaval, the Walsh line was reduced from a series of machines including one and two cylinder tractors to a single cylinder model, the smallest of the Standard line. The Monarch came out as a Walsh on steroids, and the Twin was fresh on the market as a new design. Standard continued the production of the Walsh and the Monarch for a fairly long time, though we don't know for sure when production of them ended. In 1937, Standard was advertsing the two single cylinder tractors, and all of the Standard tractors were then available on steel or rubber tires. Flyers from 1947 show the Walsh and Monarch as part of the de facto lineup of Standard Tractors. While both of these units used Standard's engines of nearly identical design, the Monarch is known to have used a slightly larger 3 inch by 3 inch air cooled 4 cycle engine, while the Walsh sported a 2 1/2 inch bore and stroke. The Walsh appears to have always been offered with battery and timer ignition as standard, and with magnito ignition as an optional upgrade. When shipped with the battery type ignition, batteries used on the Walsh were of the round "model T" type. The Walsh rated 2.5 horsepower and a 7 inch plow, the Monarch rated 3.5 horsepower and an 8 inch plow. By 1947, Standard was offering the Monarch to the public as the "most widely used of any model of any garden tractor". Later Monarchs, after 1947 at the latest, though probably much earlier, were offered with magnito igniton. Early units were offered with battery and timer ignition.

During the early thirties Standard and Allied developed the Standard Twin. An advertisement from 1931 shows the Viking Twin as sold by Allied Motors Corporation.. Like with the Walsh, Standard's association with Allied is rife with of mystery concerning corporate alliances because it is apparent that Standard had a lot to do with how the Allied tractors were developed.

When it was introduced, the Twin was a big improvement over the earlier models, including a number of features that the company proudly proclaimed "have never been seen on a garden tractor before". The Twin was a remarkable machine for it's time and continued to be the flagship of the Standard Engine Company for the rest of its known existence.

After looking at all the similarities between the machines of the Walsh Tractor Company, the Allied Motors Corporation, and the Standard Engine Company, I have a strong suspicion that the owners of the each of these companies were probably related in some way. There was surely joint ownership between the three companies. Such an arragement would explain the corporate alliances that appear to have been forged. More research may provide the missing details on these companies interdependencies.

The earliest Standard Twin known personally to me is a 1937 model; the latest is a 1950 model. I belive that Standard ended production in 1955. I have no personal knowledge of a Walsh or Monarch, nor any Walsh built machines. In 1937, brakes were added to the Standard Twin, and later, in 1940, several other improvments were incorporated into the basic design. The 1940 changes seemed to be focused on performance issues; the changes included aluminum heads and pistons, and probably governers were added at this time too. The Walsh and Monarch benefitted from the aluminum pistions and heads, but did not recieve brakes or governers.

The Twin was produced in what appear to be large quantities and sold heavily throughout the Midwest. It is not known for sure, but a likely scenario is that the Twin, Monarch, and Walsh were marketed to truck farms located outside of large cities. Advertisements from the thirties are nearly universal in thier claim that this size of tractor is just right for "truck farms" and "nurseries".

The Walsh Tractor Company, absorbed by Standard in 1934 was the first to fall from the appearance of an independent corporation. Allied threw in the towel at the beginning of World War II under the guise of freeing up manufacturing capacity for war production, leaving Standard as the sole surviving company. In 1955 Standard Engine Company closed for good. The building still stands today, relatively unchanged, and houses a printing company.

THE WALSH TRACTORS

Herein shall lie all we know or can find about the Walsh Tractor Company products

THE STANDARD TRACTORS

Following are detailed descriptions and commentary of the 3 main standard tractors; Walsh, Monarch, and Twin. If we can find enough data, we'll include a section for the early Standard tractor as well.

The Standard Twin

"The Twin is a 2-cylinder, 5 H.P. engined machine with 2 speeds forwad and reverse. It is built to meet severe conditions, pulls a 10 inch plow through heavy going, and has team cultivating capacity to cover from 3 to 6 acres per day."

"A 625 pound, 2-cylinder, Tractor with Power and Traction for Heavy Field Work"

This is how Standard advertising introduced the Twin to prospective buyers.

The Twin sported an impressive array of advertised features, especially considering they went on sale in 1931:

all for a paltry $465 f.o.b. Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1947 dollars.

Engine

The 2 cylinder air cooled gasoline engine developed 5 horsepower, which was ample power for the size of the machine, and the weight of 625 pounds, gave it good traction, though traction was marginal when doing heavy work like plowing. The engine used splash type lubrication (figure E) and later machines had a flyweight type governor (the lettered figures in this document show a Twin with brakes, but without a governer, indicating a '37 - '40 model. These pictures are from my owners manual). Typical of engines of this period, the Twin used a L head design; this design is sometimes called a side valve engine. Ignition was at first provided by a Wico type A magnito, and then later by an impulse equipped Fairbanks- Morse J2 type magneto. In both cases, the cylinders fired 360 degrees apart. This gave a power stroke on every revolution of the engine. The engine used a Zenith updraft type of caruretor, model number 9711A. This particular carburetor uses a cork float, and is, in my opinion, prone to trouble because of fuel flow problems. This carburetor is illustrated as item 14 in figure C. Item 13 is the air cleaner; it consists of a cannister filled wth oil soaked moss.

Clutch & Transmission

The tractor came standard (no pun intended) with 2 forward speeds and one reverse speed selected via sliding gears. It turns out that low gear propels the machine at a slow walk (1/4 MPH), and high gear can approach a fast walk at high throttle (about 3 MPH). Power was delivered from the engine to the transmission through a lever operated multiple disk type clutch running in oil. The multiple disk clutch consisted of a stack of disks, alternating bronze and steel which were squashed together when the clutch was engaged. The Twin also featured a differential, which was a great improvement over the earlier Standard tractors, which used ratcheting wheels to allow the operator to turn the tractor. Finally, power was transferred from the differential to bull gears which were attached to the axles.

Wheels & Brakes

Where the rubber met the road, or ground, as the case may be, the Twin featured two large round spoke wheels, driving either steel lugs or rubber tires. The hubs of the wheels contained set screws which tightened down on a square key to fix them to the axle. A Twin on steel wheels is shown in figure X at right. Either one or two extension rims could be ordered to increase traction, as required. Twins mounted on rubber used 7.5 x 18 tires. Those mounted on steel used 30 x 3 1/2 inch rims with 24 lugs. As mentioned previousely, in 1937, Standard started shipping Twins with a brake on each wheel. These were of the constricting band type, and operated independently with hand levers mounted on the handlebar crossbar.

Lubrication

There is no question that Twin was a solidly engineered piece of equipment. It appears that some significant engineering thought went into exploring the operating environment for the tractors. In this vein, not only were all gear trains and internal components sealed, but also all gear cases and the engine were designed to use the same type and weight of oil; Mobile Oil AF. There were five areas that were lubricated in this manner: both final drives, transmission, differential case, and engine & clutch. The owners manual that was shipped with each tractor also stressed the importance of maintenance in many areas, including regular oil changes. For the modern operator of a Standard or Viking Twin, since Mobil Oil AF is no longer available, use of a SAE 40 non-detergent engine oil in the crankcase is acceptable, and 80 weight gear oil in the other gear cases can be used. Modern engine oil has too many harsh additives to be safely used in the non-engine gear cases of this antique machine.

Other Technical Information

A picture of the major internal components is shown in Figure Z. Notice that the pistons both arrive at Top Dead Center (TDC) at the same time. This allows the power stroke on each revolution of the engine, but does make for some vibration, even with the counterweights on the crankshaft.

The Twin also offered a way to provide power to implements. A shaft with a 5 inch V-belt pulley extended through the rear of the transmission case. This is the same shaft on which the sliding gear (item 14 in figure Z) rides. A picture of this PTO system is shown in illustration ?. The PTO was controlled by the main clutch, therefore, anytime the tractor was in use, this pulley was turning. It is not known that a guard for this pulley was ever built and/or installed on production machines.

At least one twin has been found with a belt pully attachment on the front of the tractor. The advertisements for the Twin indicate that it could be equipped for "belt work", though there are no known pictures of a Twin so equipped in the advertisements.

Options/Unknowns

It is not known that a muffler was an option from the factory. To date none are known to exist, and no known advertising shows one. However, early advertising does show a different type of exaust manifold than those which I have seen in person or pictures, and a parts sheet which I've viewed had a part number and the word "muffler" handwritten in the appropriate place on the sheet. Finally, it is nearly certain that all Standard Twins were shipped with hand crank starting as there was no provision for an electrical system anywhere on the original tractor.

Operation

Hard starting has been a common complaint of users of this particular tractor, however, the author has found that with a properly adjusted carburetor and a hot magneto, the tractor will start reliably and easily. As a starting note, the author has found that the tractor starts easiest if the impulse trips just as the crank comes "over the top". If the timing, impulse, and fuel flow are right, it is not necessary to crank the engine quickly to start it.

THE MONARCH

"The Standard "Monarch" with its 3 1/2 horsepower 1-cylinder engine is the most widely used of any model of any garden tractor. Now built to compete on even terms with one horse, the Monarchs handle an 8 inch plow, and when cultivating will average 2 to 4 acres per day."

In just one sentence, Standard put the rest of the garden tractor competition on notice.

THE WALSH

"The Walsh Model is the lightest of the standard models. It has a 2 1/2 H.P. engine -- and though built primarily as a cultivator, still it has capicity for all around work on the less extensive areas. It handlees the 7 inch plow to moderate depth under all reasonable conditions and at cultivating and other field jobs will work, up to 2 or 2 1/2 acres per day."

Standard advertising wizards produced this copy for the Walsh.

STANDARD'S TRACTOR ATTACHMENTS

Standard Tractor Field Equipment

A great part of the progress which has been made in broadening the field forsmall tractors is based onthe ever widening assortment of tools which have been developed. In the beginning, garden tractors were merely light cultivating machines; but today with increased power and capicity, their field covers the full scope of small farm operations. The equipment available with Standard Tractors offers a variety to meet the conditions on every size and type small farm.

Plows (see detailed discussion below) come in 7, 8, and 10 inch sizes for the different models.

Discs -- in 8, 10, and 12-inch diameters, are made in sets of 2 sections to a set, with threee discs to a section. (12-inch discs also come with 4 discs to the section.) They are highly polished concave discs, and may be set for straight field discing, or as cultivators to throw either to or away from the plants.

Harrowing -- may be handled either with a spike tooth or Acme harrow -- or, the cultivator teet set close together on the drawbar do an excellent harrowing job.

Seeders -- can be supplied for either single or multiple row work. In either case, a marker is carried to lay off the next row, and the seeding is both paralleal and of uniform depth. (Supplied with or without fertilizing attachment.) For bulb or tuber planting, a furrower will open the trench, and at the next trip, a pair of hilling tools will throw the dirt back to cover.

Mowing -- either hay or lawns is a simple job witht he sickle bar or lawn mowing outfits. The lawn0mowing hitch includes quick-clamping, smooth rims -- for work on the finest sod.

Fertilizing -- is improtant in many sections, and the avialble equipment includes a modern knocker-type distributor.

Belt Work -- is a year round job on most every small place. Feed grinding, wood sawing, water pumping and the ike -- these are regular fill-in tasks for most every Standard Tractor.

And Cultivating -- the word covers a whole range of weed killing and soil stirring operations. Standard equipment includes tools and shovels for every type of cultivating job. For ordinary flat cultivation, the steels are mostly used. For weeding, perhaps the best tools are weeding hoes or sweeps -- both run shallow just under the surfact to cut off the sides of the particular tools shown. Standard tool posts are made to handle all common shapes of either hand cultivator or horse drawn shovels.

Mouldboard Plowing

The plow recommended for each Standard model is the correct size for that particular tractor, adn a size which that model will handle at a proper speed, for a smooth, well covered job,. All plows have renewable steel shares, with full mouldboards and long landsides. They have asteel beams, with high throat, and the plowing equipment includes a rolling coulter, steel clevis and pivot hitch, coplete for attaching to the tractor. The "Walsh" plow is 7 inch cut -- the "Monarch" plow, 8 inch cut -- and the "Twin", 10 inch. Depth control on the "Walsh" is by pin and holed clevis, while "Monarchs" and "Twins" have lever adjustment.

Size, Speed, and Capacity

With the 7-inch plow, the "Walsh" models turn over a clean furrow to moderate depth, under andy reasonable conditions. The "monarch" models, with 3 1/2 H.P. engine, handle and 8-inch plow at a fast walk, to turn from 1 1/2 to about 2 acres per day -- substantially the same as with a one horse plow. And the Standard "Twins" with their 2 cylinder, 5 H.P. motors, pull the 10-inch plow through heaving going at a fast field speed; and ins stubble ground will plow on high gear, up to 2 1/2 or 3 acres in a full day.

A curious thing to notice about nearly all of Standard's attachements was that they were made with as few castings as possible. Bar, channel, plate, and angle stock were the basis of many attachments. Consequently, some of the factory implements look similar to what a local shop might build. Close examination of figure H illustrates this. The main rails of the cultivator are channel, the tool bars are bar stock, the wheel adjusting mechanism is made out of bar and plate stock. Even the operator handle is nothing more than a bent pice of flat bar, and rather flimsey at that. The whole thing is held together with a box of bolts. Exceptions to this type of construction were the planter and the plow, both of which looked "factory made".

All three tractors were shipped from the factory with everything needed for cultivation. This included the tractor of course, and a trailing type carriage, called the tool carriage See Figure H. This carriage was attached to the tractor with a single draw pin, and could trail freely, or be fixed in place by inserting two bolts into the tractor's swing bar to limit it’s travel. These bolts would stop the carriage from moving side to side as the machine worked in the field. The trailing steel wheels on the carriage were adjustable for height, and were rigidly fixed to trail straight behind the tractor in all but the highest position. In this position, they could caster freely.

Many devices could be mounted upon the tool bars of this carriage. The tool bars are the horizontal flat bars that span from side to side. The shovels, or points, came with it from the factory so the farmer could cultivate his (presumably already planted) row crops. Optional shovels, sweeps, hillers, weeding hoes, and shovel type plows were also availble. Disk gangs as described in the above advertisement (illustration ?) used wood block bearings. A 4 1/2 foot spike tooth harrow (illustration ?) and a one row planter (illustration ?) could also be attached to the toolbars. Each would be attached to the carriage in turn and successive passes would be made over the rows for preparing the seed bed and planting.

Another device, the plow (illustration ?), was fundamental to the effectiveness of this type of garden tractor, and like the advertisment says, the Standard tractors were well equipped for plowing with a variety of plows. A single (about 40 pounds) cast iron wheel weight could be added to the land side wheel for greater traction, if necessary. Twins on steel could also have a lugged rim extension added to aid landside traction, those on rubber could have the tires filled with fluid.

Harvesting of crops is not known to have been generally supported by the Twin’s available implements. However, at least 4 types of sickle bar mowers were available during the course of the Twin's production.

The first of these had a 3 foot sickle blade that was mouned behind the wheel on the right side.

The second, later, unit mounted just forward of the wheel on the right side. This unit used a independent clutch on the shaft that transferred power from the rear of the tractor to the front. This shaft was hung below the tractor, and was driven from the tractor's PTO pully. On the front of the mower drive shaft was the pittman drive crank, pitman, and folding sickle bar.

The third mower also mounted under the tractor and cut to the right side. It utilized a small wheel to carry the weight of the mower. This mower used a belt drive from the side of the tractor which turned a small shaft parallel to the tractor axel beneath the tractor. on the other end of this shaft was a crank wheel, which drove a crank rod. As this rod moved back and forth, it pushed and pulled on a bellcrank. The bellcrank pushed and pulled another rod which was hooked to the ball on the end of the sickle bar.  Talk about a Rube Goldberg machine!

The fourth type of mower was rigidly fixed to the underside of the tractor, and cut a 50 inch swath directly in front of the tractor. Power for all of these units was taken from the Twins power take-off; a V belt pulley on the back of the transmission case. A belt ran from this pulley straight down to the drive pulley on the mower. An adjustment lever with an idler pulley completed the setup. As indicated previously, the Twin did not have live power, so on the non-independently-clutched models, the sickle was running whenever the tractor clutch was engaged. When an idler pulley was used, it was only used to take up the slack in the belt.

During the time that the Standard tractors were active in the market, flat belt driven small machines were very common on farms. The Walsh and monarch, by the nature of their engine arrangement, were easily equipped with a belt pully on the right sided of the engine. This then could drive a saw, pump, grinder, or similar machine which would be located in front of the tractor. I do not know how the Twin belt pully was attached and operated.

Finally, at least two types of sulky devices was available for those who did not care to walk behind their "walk behind tractor". One of these, called the Convertable, replaced the toolbar carriage and provided pneumatic castoring wheels for a smoother ride. Implements were attached to the sulky in the same way as the toolbar

carriage. Implements such as the plow, which ordinarily were not attached to the carriage, were attached to the sulky as well. The second type of sulky was a 2 wheel add on that attached to the toolbar carriage. This was little more than 2 wheels, a seat, and a coupler that could be bolted to the rear toolbar on the carriage.

THE ALLIED VIKING TRACTORS

And here we shall place all we know or can find about the Allied Motors Corporation and their products

Allied was selling a tractor in 1931 called the Viking Twin. This tractor was clearly the testbed from which the Standard Twin was developed. Early Viking Twins had a primitive air ducting arrangement to cool the cylinders. Later, by 1936, they were using Standard's type of ducting, and surrounding the engine with a louvered, box shaped engine house. Allied tools for the tractors look to be very close copies of, if not identical to, the early Standard Twin implements. The primary difference is that their tool carriage did not have swivel capable wheel spindles.

Engine

The engine used in the Allied Twin wasn't close to the Standard Twin engine, it was the Standard Twin engine. Photos from 1936 show a Viking Twin sporting a unknown make and model of carburetor, and the manual talks about a different magnito, but other than that, the engines are the same. The Viking manual shows the same carburetor as the Standard Twin in the close up shots, and the adustment instructions are identical. By identical, I mean word for word the same. Clearly, whoever wrote the Allied manual also wrote the Twin manual, and modified it as necessary. Minor differences beween the brands also exist concerning the engine controls, such as the choke linkage, to allow the operator to start and run the engine from outside the "house".

Allied also chose to use a Wico LD magnito on their twin in the early years. Allied's Viking Twin owners manual indicates that a Fairbanks Morse magnito may have been fitted to later machines (post '36). The various magnitos found on the different tractors are discussed in the ignition section of this paper (thanks, Neil)

Clutch & Transmission

Early Viking Twins are reported to have a different type of clutch and transmission than the later models.

Differential

Allied used a reduction gear in the differentail case, and placed the differential on the same axis as the axles. This arrangement required a large gear case, and the Allied engineers apparently thought that oiling would be a problem if they relied on just a gears-in-oil-bath setup. Consequently, they installed a plunger type oil pump (the same type as is found in the engine) to spray oil onto a slinger disk in the top of the gear case. This slinger disk was located on the main drive shaft (off of the clutch). The slinger disk was right above the main gear train, so all of the gears were liberaly, continously, sprayed with oil whenever the clutch was engaged.

Another significant difference was that the Allied built twins used timken, roller, and ball bearings where the Standard built twins used bushings. From a durability standpoint, the Allied drive system looks a lot more robust than the Standard version. The picture at the right shows the internal layout of the Allied machine from 1936. The differences are obvious when the Standard view and the Allied view are compared side by side.

Wheels & Brakes

The Allied Twin used the same 30 x 3 1/2, 24 lug steel wheels as the Standard Twin. Brakes were not an option.

Lubrication

Allied's Viking twin used the same oiling guidelines as the Standard model. MobilOil AF was the desired grade for all oiled areas. For the Viking, these included only the engine, differential case, and transmission. The Standard Operators manual says the engine should take 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 quarts, the Allied manual says 2 to 2 1/2 quarts. My Standard Twin takes 2 1/4 quarts. Looks like someone didn't keep the Standard manual up to date.

Other Technical Information

COLORS

The Standard Twin was a high gloss medium blue (color id number??) with Farmall red accents. The body of the tractor, including all castings, handle bars, and associated devices were blue. Wheels and gasoline tank were red, and the toolbar carriage was black. Some twins shipped with the gasoline tank mounts black, some appear to have been blue.

My best guess is that the implements were red and black. The plow beam is known to have been red, while the plow share itself it thought to have been black. The mower units were almost surely red, and while unknown, I suspect that the disk gangs were also red originally.

OTHER TWIN STUFF

The Registry

There exists a Standard Twin registry whose purpose is to develop a list of twins and their owners. The registry is maintained by Mr. Lombard, whose address is listed below. The registry is not a newsletter, and does not provide any service beyond allowing Twin owners to identify themselves to others who have the same interest.

[e-mail me direct for this snail address]

How to read your serial Number

Early twins had a serial number that looked like 37Cxxx, where the first 2 digits were the year produced, and the C indicated that the tractor was sold as a Standard Twin. After 1938, the numbering scheme was changed to be 309Cxxx where the first 2 digits were the decade the tractor was produced, and the third digit was the year in the decade. The C still indicated the tractor was sold as a Standard Twin. Viking Twins used a different (unknown) letter, the Walsh should have an D, and the Monarch should have an E. At least one Monarch has been found, however, without the letter in it's serial number.

See some specificiations on the twin by clicking here