San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN J. CAMPODONICO
After many years of intelligent
study, John J. Campodonico has perfected a tractor that combines simplicity,
economy and efficiency in the highest degree consistent with durability. He is the inventor and designer of the Campco
Tractor and a company has been incorporated entitled Campco Tractor, Inc., a
corporation formed to manufacture this tractor on a five acre site on McKinley
Avenue, extending 700 feet along the Western Pacific Railroad.
John J. Campodonico is a native son
of Stockton, born June 25, 1886, the youngest son of the late pioneer, John J.
Campodonico, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in this volume. He received his education in the Brothers
Academy, Stockton, and since 1907 has been associated with his brother and
mother in farming operations. He has
also devoted much time and thought to his inventions, the Campco Tractor and
the air compressing shock absorber for the automobile being the most
outstanding; though there are also a number of minor inventions to his credit.
The Campco Tractor takes its place
in the tractor industry as the culmination of years of experience and
experiment. Each unit, each feature, has
been a special study in itself, and has been tested time and again since 1912
under the hardest working conditions.
The Campco Tractor contains all these features and units in a perfect
working combination. The president of
the company, John J. Campodonico, both farmer and practical engineer, a man who
has constantly used tractors of many makes, early foresaw the great future of
the industry, but unlike others he did not rush a model into the market. Instead, the requirements of severe service
encountered were carefully studied, as well as the arrangement of power and the
economy of motion. After many years of
study, devoting entire attention to a tractor that should combine simplicity,
economy and efficiency in the highest degree consistent with durability, the
Campco Tractor was designed and completed.
New and special features of the Campco are: an automatic two-speed forward and one
reverse transmission; a separate train of drive gears to each wheel; a powerful
clutch on the main drive shaft to transmit full engine power to either wheel
for short turning; a track-laying wheel provided with a double row of shoes,
giving a powerful traction surface on the ground, and in addition, all working
parts run in oil, safe from dirt, grit and wear.
Since the introduction of the
tractor in agriculture, the demand for power and more power has constantly
increased. The Campco Tractor meets this
demand twofold: not by generation of
more energy, but by the proper application and control of the power. It is in the application of the power itself
that the Campco stands supreme, not only in the ease by which the power is controlled,
but also in the economy in wear and tear on parts. The two-speed transmission with reverse
permits of changing from low to direct or direct to low without releasing the
power of the engine or stopping the tractor.
Other tractors that are equipped with a standard type transmission, when
shifting from low to direct or direct to low practically start with a dead
load. This naturally causes a burning of
clutches. The Campco is designed to
avoid stopping when changing from low to direct and from direct to low. This action is automatic and instantaneous
and the momentum of the load is not lost.
This is an absolutely exclusive feature of the Campco, and the saving in
power, time and fuel is readily seen.
The gears of the Campco Tractor are always in mesh, which eliminates the
possibility of the breaking of gear teeth.
This feature not only saves time and money, but eliminates breakdowns in
the rush of the season’s work. In order
to properly control the power at its command, the Campco has two independently
operated clutches on the main drive shaft in one unit without adjustments or
toggles of any kind. It is placed
between the transmission and the gear trains, one clutch for each set of gears. This arrangement permits a small, powerful
clutch to transmit the total engine power to either tractor wheel in making a
turn or to both wheels when driving ahead or in reverse. All the moving parts are tightly enclosed,
making it impossible for dust to get at them, and thus eliminating much of the
wear and consequent grief that have always afflicted tractor users since the
first machines began to replace horses.
The tractor members are undoubtedly the most important unit in a
tractor, and the method used to apply the power delivered to the wheels decides
its value to the world of agriculture.
Campco wheels are provided with track-laying shoes. Each wheel has a staggered double tread which
presents large traction surface to the ground.
An extension of the wheel surface can also be made to increase the traction
on soft or muddy soil. Since the action
of the wheel, rim, links and shoes is a rolling one, and the oscillating
movement of the links in the hook connection is limited, the wear on these
points is negligible. The advantage of
this new feature in tractor wheel construction is a powerful traction in
difficult soils, and a minimum of wear and tear with comparatively no upkeep.
No other piece of automotive
machinery has to withstand the extremely hard working conditions which the
tractor must meet. It must work through
all seasons, under every climatic condition, in every kind of soil, in dust,
mud, sand, uphill and down, pulling constantly its full rated load with no
let-up. It must be built so that it can
absolutely be depended upon by the owner; for when he needs his tractor it must
be ready, and it must be able to give him a full measure of service each day
throughout the season. It must be the
most dependable piece of machinery on the farm.
The Campco Tractor lives up to this standard of performance.
Mr. Campodonico divides his time
between Stockton and San Francisco in the construction of his inventions and
new improvements, all of which are practical labor-saving devices.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
1207-1208. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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