International Harvester Canada Ltd. fonds (University of Guelph)

The International Harvester Company was formed by the merger of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and the Deering Harvester Company in 1902. International Harvester purchased Chatham Wagon Works in 1910 and became North America's premier truck manufacturer. The company had a number of early tractor models. The Farmall, in 1924, introduced a revolution in tractor design because of its innovative tricycle style row-crop tractor: it could plow and was capable of precision work such as cultivating. It was introduced to fend off competition from the Ford Motor Company's Fordson tractors. International Harvester's agricultural operations were merged with the J. I. Case Company in 1985. Equipment is still manufactured under the Case IH name. In addition to its line of farm equipment, International Harvester produced plows, construction equipment, household appliances, M1 Garand military rifles, jet engines, trucks and school bus chassis. In 1986 the company sold its farm implements division and changed its name to Navistar International Corporation before closing the Hamilton plant in 1992.