page_title: Case Corporation
section_title: Modern mergers
hierarchical_section_title: Case Corporation / History / Modern mergers
caption_attribution_description: English: Combine Harvester in operation, Lyon County Iowa 2006.
context_page_description: The Case Corporation was a manufacturer of construction equipment and agricultural equipment. Founded, in 1842, by Jerome Increase Case as the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, it operated under that name for most of a century. For another 66 years it was the J. I. Case Company, and was often called simply Case. In the late 19th century, Case was one of America's largest builders of steam engines, producing self-propelled portable engines, traction engines and steam tractors. It was a major producer of threshing machines and other harvesting equipment, The company also produced various machinery for the U.S. military. In the 20th century, Case was among the 10 largest builders of farm tractors for many years. In the 1950s its construction equipment line became its primary focus, with agricultural business second.
  Case's corporate entities and brands changed repeatedly in the 1980s and 1990s. When its corporate parent, Tenneco, bought International Harvester's agricultural equipment division and merged it into Case, the J. I. Case Company continued, but it began using the Case IH brand.
context_section_description: In 1957, Case bought out the American Tractor Corporation (ATC). ATC was founded in 1950 and was a producer of small crawler tractors. Their production of dozers (marketed as Terradozers) and development of an integrated backhoe was of particular interest to Case. Case dropped the ATC name in 1959 only retaining the Terratrac name for the drive trains. This led to a hybrid tractor being rolled out of the Burlington Plant in 1957. This model, the 320 Construction King, would become synonymous in the United States to the name backhoe loader. Since then Case has released other models such as the T-Series which includes the 580T, 580ST, 590ST and 695ST. In 1998, a jury awarded a construction worker over $17million in damages after a defect in the design of the 580 backhoe led to him being crushed and being paralyzed from the waist down while operating the machine.
  In 1961, Case Corporation signed a deal with RyCSA and Metalúrgica Tandil (in Buenos Aires), to make Case tractors and agricultural implements under licence in Argentina. The models built were the 830 and the 831, made until 1964 when RyCSA closed down.
  1964 brought the acquisition of Colt Garden Tractors. This was the first garden tractor powered by 'Hy-Drive", a form of hydraulic propulsion that allowed for various heavy duty attachments and eliminated the need for transaxle drive belts. The Kern County Land Company, using oil money, bought the Case Company. In turn Kern County sold Case to Tenneco Company of Texas.
  In 1972, Case bought the British tractor builder David Brown Ltd. At this time Case was repositioned as a construction business, with the expansion of the construction arm and repositioning of the company away from agricultural machinery.  American farms began to slide into collapse due to interest rates and low prices.
  In 1974, Case acquired most of the French construction equipment firm, Poclain.
  In 1983, during purchase of International Harvester assets, Case sold its garden tractor division to Ingersoll Power Equipment. Ingersoll tractors would continue to carry the Case brand name until 1987.
  In 1984, Case parent Tenneco bought selected assets of the International Harvester agriculture division and merged it with J. I. Case.  All agriculture products are first labeled Case International and later Case IH. They used the 94 Series Case Utility, two- and four wheel drives for Case IH's first tractor together as a company. The first tractor developed by the new corporation was the Magnum. Introduced in 1985, the Magnum began production and the 94 series line was dropped.
  When Case IH bought out Steiger in 1986 they also continued the Steiger branding, and still do today.
  In 1996, Austrian tractor builder Steyr Tractor was purchased.
  The Case Corporation joined with New Holland N.V. to become CNH (Case-New Holland), now CNH Global, in November 1999. Because of the merger, CNH was forced to release its production plants in Doncaster, England and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The Doncaster site was bought by the ARGO-group, owner of tractor builder Landini, and brought back the McCormick brand. The plant in Winnipeg was taken over by the Buhler family to start Buhler Tractors.
  In Europe the merger with New Holland (including the former Fordson and Fiat tractor lines) was the success Case IH expected. In 2006, Case IH came with a plan to bring back the "International" feel to their products. They brought back the old International Harvester logo, and made more technical difference between the two brands. Montgomery Design International redid the industrial design and styling of the MAGNUM and several other new Case IH products as well as the New Holland "Cat's Eye" styling on all New Holland tractors and the revised Steyr tractor styling. These styling themes continue to this day.
caption: Case IH Combine circa 2006.
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