Claas are now recognised as industry leaders when it comes to track laying tractors, yet with the purchase of Renault Agriculture, it acquired a company that started off with tracked machines over 100 years ago.
In the first half of last century there arose two basic schools of thought when it came to powering a tractor and whichever one was adopted by the manufacturer tended to depend on their legacy and what sort of tools exist in the factory.
The companies that had been making steam engines had the machine tools and expertise to make large bore single horizontal thumpers, such as Marshal, Lanz, or SFV of France.
Other firms came new to the agricultural scene and tended to adopt multi-cylinder upright engines that they had either developed themselves or purchased from automobile makers and, generally speaking, those with the more modern outlook were the companies that tended to last the longest.
As always, there are exceptions. Landini clung to the horizontal single into the mid 1950s, and even John Deere continued with the horizontal twin format up until 1960, yet both are still going strong today.
Renault do it differently
Among the tractor makers who fitted the lighter and more compact multi-cylinder type of engine was Renault which launched their first proper tractor at the end of World War 1.
The design of the company’s agricultural machine was not based on a steam engine or even a truck, as others were, but, instead, owed its origins to a tank built for the French army in the latter half of World War 1.
The tank in question was the Renault FT, which is often regarded as the first modern tank as its basic layout has remained the standard format for tanks ever since.
Louis Renault himself was behind this design which put the driver at the front and the engine at the back with the world’s first rotating gun turret in between.
Repurposing the tank
Over 3,000 FTs are thought to have been made in France and under licence elsewhere in the world, and it was soon after the war that the company decided to put to use its recently gained expertise in tracked vehicles by developing a civilian tractor from the design.
The first attempt was known as the GP which had the engine at the front. It was one of Renault’s own four cylinder units that offered 30hp from a displacement 4.5L, yet this was little more than a prototype.
By 1920, this early machine had been developed into the Renault HI with much of the engineering and testing being done on Louis Renault’s own farms in Normandy, one of which was the Chateau Herqueville, an estate of 4,000ha.
The company had been making its own engines since 1905 and for the FT tank, it had produced a version that was capable of running at extreme angles, although whether this design feature was carried over into the tractors is not known.
What is quite obvious is that it was housed under a very French looking cover that was familiar to both Parisians and Londoners, due to it following the style of Renault’s taxis and was referred to in France as the alligator bonnet.
Wheels as an option
At this stage Renault had decided that agriculture was a sector ripe for the benefits of the internal combustion engine and the company proceeded to produce a wheeled version of the IH, known as the HO, in 1920.
Another significant milestone in 1920 was the establishment of the Le Mans engineering centre in the north of the country, yet it took another 20 years before it commenced operations as a factory, after which it proved to be in easy range of allied bombers.
In 1926, the company responded to the needs of more modest sized farms with the Renault PE 20. This had a 2.1L petrol engine of 20hp which was designed to be smaller, lighter, more efficient and signified a move away from tractors being modified tanks.
Slow displacement of horses
Despite the introduction of new models, farm mechanisation struggled to take off in France during the interwar period and photos from the 1920s show the Renault HI engaged in forestry work as well as being enlisted into the army.
The fact that the company was producing just forty tractors a month in 1938, but was still the biggest manufacturer in France certainly suggests that the horse remained the primary power unit on French farms right up until World War 2.
It is at this point that political sympathies of Louis Renault played a huge role in the future of the company. Although they are still a matter of debate, it is clear that the French resistance were not impressed with what it saw as his collaboration with Germany.
The upshot was that he died in controversial circumstances while imprisoned at the end of the conflict and the new French government took ownership of the company and ran it as a nationalised concern.
MF move to top spot
Renault had became by far the largest tractor manufacturer in France with a capacity of 10,000 units per year in 1949, yet its position at the top was soon taken by Massey Ferguson which enjoyed 35% to 40% of the market in the mid to late 1950s.
Come the 1960s, there was a general shift in outlook as tractors grew in size and development costs increased, causing partnerships with foreign companies such as Allis Chalmers, John Deere, and Perkins to be established.
Unfortunately the worldwide demand for tractors fell in the latter part of the 20th Century and so even more rationalisation was called for which led to Claas purchasing 51% of the company in 2005 and the remainder in 2008.
After the travails of the war, it is ironic that it was a Germany company, Claas, that has since purchased the Renault factory and developed its own tractor range to compliment its harvesters.
Not only has Claas created a new range of tractors, but is also offering tracked versions of certain models, thus completing the circle started by Louis Renault, the inventor of the modern tank and much else besides.
