Avery Company - Origins in Civil War Prison Camp - Company Founded By Brothers

Company Founded By Brothers

Robert's brother Cyrus thought the invention had huge potential. To fund their company, Cyrus invested some capital, and Robert sold his share of the farm to his brother John and borrowed additional money. They began business as R.H. & C.M. Avery Company. Sales did not take off and the brothers' company teetered on bankruptcy. Robert moved his family to Kansas and took advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 to obtain more farm land. He invented a new spiral corn stalk cutter and this time sales increased quickly. In 1872, Robert moved back to Galesburg and with his brother Cyrus' help, restarted the Avery Company. By 1874 he had a full size working model of his corn planter built. The original planter is now in the Edison Institute Museum at Ford's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.

One of their inventions was the Avery Thresher, a popular threshing machine in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The thresher was driven from the flywheel of a steam traction engine. A belt from the flywheel drove a wheel found on the thresher, separating the wheat kernals from the wheat stalks.

Robert was the inventor while Cyrus managed the business aspects. They operated out of Galesburg, Illinois until 1882, when they needed better access to railroad transportation and wider markets. They bought into the oldest foundry in Peoria, owned by Joseph Frost. They then purchased 18 acres (73,000 m2) in Peoria, Illinois and moved the business there to North Adams and North Jefferson Streets adjacent to a railroad spur. They built a three-story manufacturing facility, producing check rowers, stalk cutters, corn planters, cultivators and hand tools. In 1883 the company was capitalized at US$200.000 and renamed the Avery Planter Company.

When they began manufacturing powered tractors, they hired Albert Espe, one of the premier tractor designers in the country. In 1899, the company was reincorporated, the capital stock increased to US$600,000, and it was renamed the Avery Manufacturing Company. In 1891, they enlarged their product line to include steam traction engines and grain threshers, which would become up the majority of their business for the next 30 years. Their tractors used the best steam engines of the day, and the boilers were reinforced to withstand extra pressure. The line included unique tractors with top-mounted steam engines resembling locomotives more than typical farm tractors of the day. One of their yellow wood threshers were nicknamed the Yellow Fellow and remained a large part of the company's business for the next thirty years. Avery made a variety steam engines, including 18 horsepower (13 kW) 30 horsepower (22 kW), 40 horsepower (30 kW), 50 horsepower (37 kW) and 65 horsepower (48 kW) hp models. They also made Corn King and Corn Queen cultivators, separators, wagons, horse stalk cutters and a steel-mounted water tank.

In 1892, Robert died and Cyrus became president. John B. Bartholomew, who started with the company on December 8, 1879 driving a team to haul lumber for a US$1.10 per day, was made vice-president. He was also the brother of Cyrus' wife, Minnie.