Electrall

Better Farming With Electricity

- Jim Allen

International Harvester in the early 1950s was innovative and unafraid to market new things. One of those things was called Electrall and it debuted for 1954 in the form of a tractor-mounted generator kit that cranked out 10 kW 3-phase 120/208 volts. “Yes, but why?” you may ask.

Even in the early 1950s, the electrification of rural farming areas was not complete, nor was it particularly reliable in many places. As a result, many farmers had standby generators. They weren’t there just to keep the house lights on and the wife’s fridge going, either. This was back in the days when many farmers did it all. A few dairy cows, steers, hogs, sheep, chickens, plus crops. Farmers with a small dairy had electric milking machines and refrigerated milk tanks and anyone who knows the dairy biz knows a power outage can run your day… and old Bessie’s.