Centaur Tractor
New Way Motor Company
·The New Way Motor Company was born out of "The Clarkmobile Company" in 1905.
William Newbrough as treasurer and Charles Way engineer, were the prime movers of the company with Charles Way as the ideas man for the Air-Cooled Engines produced by the company. Automobiles continued to be produced using New Way engines till 1907.
Production actually commenced in a combined facility little more than a simple shed, 100 feet long.
New-Way had a unique way of identifying their engine by a “Series” of engine. The S-Series was the first, introduced in 1905. They are heavy-duty and hit-and-miss governed engines.
1905 New Way Factory
By 1910, with product demand and expansion, the company was operating from a massive well serviced factory.
·New Way manufactured 1 and 2 cylinder Air Cooled engines up to 12 Hp in horizontal and vertical cylinder format.
Vertical single cylinder 3.5 Hp and 6 Hp horizontal twin cylinder Type C air-cooled "Hit Miss" vertical engines were among the first productions. These were quickly followed by a 2.5 Hp single cylinder version of the same Type C.
In 1916, the F-Series was introduced to better serve the agricultural market, specifically as a power plant for horse-drawn binders. The F-Series engines were still cooled by a belt-driven propeller fan, had a true automotive-type Holley Brothers carburetor, and throttle governing.
In 1917, the F-Series adopted a new cooling system, utilizing a squirrel-cage type fan mounted on the back side of the flywheel and enclosed in a full air shroud, while the flywheel remained exposed.
Our Centaur Tractor
Model H.P.5 with a
New Way F Series motor
Central Tractor Company
·Before there was Centaur, there was the Central Tractor Company. Based in Greenwich, Ohio, they got their start around 1919. By 1921, they’d built a small factory on a 3-acre plot and started cranking out a modest little tractor called the Centaur. It began as a walk-behind/sulky-style machine powered by a 6-horsepower, air-cooled two-cylinder engine from New Way.
The tractor was fairly successful and played a significant role in the conversion of small farms from horsepower to mechanization.
In 1928, the Central Tractor Company changed its name to the Centaur Tractor Company and switched to Le Roi engines. The Centaur Tractor Company experienced financial problems during WWII and was sold to Le Roi.
The name ‘Centaur’ was used for all the tractors manufactured by the Central/Centaur Tractor Company of Greenwich, Ohio, and the name was continued for that line after LeRoi purchased the company.