Whenever we are in the Quad Cities (Rock Island and Moline IL,Bettendorf and Davenport IA) we like to visit the John Deere Pavilion to marvel at the machines made by Deere. A few are displayed outdoors; most are indoors. If you visit, plan to spend at least a couple of hours, especially if you want to take a turn operating any of the three simulators. There is no admission charge and the machinery is changed once a year.
Another nearby attraction is the Rock Island Arsenal, an active military base. One needs to enter the base to reach the Lock and Dam no. 15 on the Mississippi River and the Corps of Engineers visitor center at the lock. On the base was a prisoner of war camp for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The many who died there are buried in a separate cemetery on the base. There is also an interesting display of military artillery. The Commandant's home is reported to be the largest U S owned residence after the White House.
One of Deere’s larger tractors and a very wide planter. Generally the cabs are air conditioned and have stereo, etc. Many are equipped to be steered by a GPS signal.
Big motor grader with scarifier teeth on the back. All of the construction equipment is painted yellow, with green being reserved for farming equipment.
This is an articulated 4 wd loader. The bucket holds 5.25 cu. yd. of material. Visitors are encouraged to sit in the operating cabs of the new machines inside, and many do make the climb up.
Deere makes their own diesel engines. Here is a cutaway version to illustrate the many parts. Also on display in the Pavilion were smaller units built by (or for) Deere, such as a riding lawnmower and a quad.
Model S 670 combine. A sign explained that the name of the machine comes from the three processes combined in the machine – harvesting the crop, separating the crop from the stalks and chaff, and separately disposing of each – the crop into a hopper for discharging into a truck or “buggy” and the waste to the ground or another container if not to be spread on the field.
Different heads are available for combines. This one, I think, is for harvesting soy beans. There are others for corn and wheat.
This is called an Autonomous Tractor. There are no operator controls on the machine – it is controlled only remotely. This machine is labeled as experimental.
Here is another experimental machine, a six legged tree harvester. (It reminded me of some of the war machines in the Star Wars movie series.)The mechanism to grasp and cut the tree is yellow. After the tree is cut the machine lays the tree on the ground. The machine was so close to others I could not back up far enough to be able to include the whole machine in one picture. The display features a video of the machine in action. Although it probably will not go into production, some of the systems developed for this one are going to be used in more conventional machines, according to a sign.
This shows 3 legs on one side.
This is the front of Deere”s more conventional tree harvester. It is shown holding and cutting two trees at one time.
In the antique section, people are not to climb on the machinery. This is one of Deere’s early crawler tractors. When in law school in the late 1950s I had a summer job working for a landscaper, and one of the machines we used was a three cylinder Deere crawler tractor.
This tractor was built by the company bought by Deere in 1918 to get into the powered equipment business. Note that this one was powered by kerosene! This had to be hard to steer with no power steering.
This model was Deere’s first more powerful tractor with a diesel engine produced from 1960 to 1963. This model came with either 4 or 6 cyl. engines. The cutaways show working parts which otherwise would be covered. 1960 marked the end of a 40 year era when Deere’s tractors were powered by 2 cyl. engines.
Both young and old enjoyed playing on the three simulators in the pavilion. I did not get a turn on any of them!
In a nearby building was the gift shop with everything imaginable bearing the Deere logo, including toys.
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