In 1868, the patent for the Oliver Chilled Plow was issued and by 1870, the Trademark was applied to the plows made by Oliver Chilled Plow Company of Indiana. By 1871, they sold 1500 plows and three years later sold 17,000 plows and the company branched out. In 1887, Oliver sold plows in the foreign market, including South America, Africa, Australia and France, which was how they adopted the trademark phrase, Plowmakers for the World.
In the early 1900 s, with the birth of the internal combustion engine, the motorized farm tractors came to be. Through the merger of 4 companies in 1929, including Hart Parr Tractor Works and Oliver Chilled Plow Works, the emerging company was named Oliver Farm Equipment Company. As years, went on, the company merged with more companies until the Oliver Company was bought by White Motor Company and the silver colored White tractors replaced the Oliver tractor. The final Oliver tractor 2255 was manufactured in 1976.
That doesn t mean that the Hart Parr Oliver tractors were not still a popular tractor, it s just that they demanded a market of Oliver tractor parts to keep them alive, on a global scale. Nothing remains of the Oliver Tractor Company and in 2002, White Tractor Company ceased to exist.
The Hart Parr Oliver tractors are collected and shown throughout the country and the Oliver parts get harder to find as the years go by. There are organizations whose missions are to collect, preserve and distribute information on Hart Parr and Oliver, and the companies that became related to them. With the Internet, you can still find Oliver tractor parts, if you are an avid antique tractor collector, looking for Oliver parts.
The legacy of the Oliver tractor makes it popular, especially for those in the Midwest, where the Indiana roots are most evident. In 1871, The South Bend Register of South Bend, Indiana reported, if he keeps on improving his plow, it will soon have no rival in the country when referring to James Oliver and his Chilled iron plow. In 1910, it took 135 man hours to produce 100 bushels of corn, but by 1960, it was cut down to 23 man hours, because of the innovations provided by James Oliver and his plows.
For those that are fans of the Oliver tractor, keeping it alive and restoring the existing plows have become a passion. The market for Oliver parts is a global market, because of this exporting, which was ahead of its time. Many of the collectors find Oliver tractor parts through a number of means, in various countries.
Through the changes in the farming industry and the merging of companies, it might be difficult to find the Oliver parts you need through conventional means. Some of the collectors may have sources and the Internet can be quite helpful, when researching Oliver tractors and plows. If you happen to run across one in an old barn on a farm you purchase, know that there is a market and the tractors or plows can bring quite a sum of money in a fully restored state. Oliver tractor parts are what keep the legacy alive.