Avery Company - Bankruptcy and Receivership

Bankruptcy and Receivership

Lacking research and design resources and unable to manufacture competitive products, the company entered bankruptcy and went into receivership in 1923. One year later President J. B. Bartholomew died. Former officers of the bankrupt Avery company organized a new, smaller firm in late 1925 as the Avery Power Machinery Co., acquiring a large portion of the original plant in Peoria. They developed and manufactured a new line of advanced all-steel threshers and combine harvesters employing anti-friction bearings. They also manufactured parts for all of the previous Avery machines, for which there was still considerable demand. The competition for track-type farm equipment increased when in 1925 the Holt Manufacturing Co. and the C. L. Best Co. of San Leandro, California merged to form the Caterpillar Tractor Co. When wheat dropped to 25 cents a bushel in 1931, farmers could not afford new farm implements and the new Avery Power Machinery company could not pay its debts. Banks with an interest in the company placed a manager in charge in late 1931, who gradually liquidated the company's assets.

As the Depression waned, the company was restarted in 1936 as the Avery Farm Machinery Co. It manufactured primarily combines, separators and replacement combine cylinder teeth. Two years later, in 1938, it produced the Avery Ro-Trac tractor, which had an unusual front-axle design that could be converted from a narrow- to a wide-front tractor. It was the first Avery tractor in a dozen years, but this was doomed to be its last tractor. World War II interrupted production again, and the company closed its doors for the last time.