He built his first thresher with only blacksmith tools in the 1850's; it was the best thresher during that time. So after that engine he created the Nichols & Shepard Co. in 1886. In 1902 they had the first made "Four Threshmen", which has a big cylinder, a steel winged beater, men behind the gun, and a beating shaker. (Norbeck 187) The Shepard in the title comes from David Shepard; he helped John expand the smith shop. At first they built agricultural implements, mill irons, and small stationary steam engines. The Nichols & Shepard Co. expanded to be one of the biggest thresher companies in the country. They were the first to build the most revolutionary steam engine called a "Flagg." They had the most substantial boiler, .
it had the thickest boiler plate used in any traction engine. It easily steamed and had a lot of steam capacity. Later the company was known to make: double and single cylinder traction engines that would adapt to coal, wood, or even straw; the Red River threshing machines; rice threshers; mounted water tanks; alfalfa and small seed thresher; low down tank pumps; and Nichols & Shepard all-steel frame horse powers. In 1929 the Nichols & Shepard Co. joined forces with Oliver Corp. based out of Cleveland, Ohio (Norbeck 187).
In 1847 John Abell built a small shop and began to manufacture mill irons and similar articles. At that shop he designed tools to help him make his very first steam engine, it was also the first steam engine made and used in that district. In 1862 he realized that steam engines were in great demand in that area so he bought a larger shop and started off making plows, and other farm machinery. After only a few years Abell needed to hire almost a hundred workers to help make his threshers. (Norbeck 60) He named his thresher the "Paragon" which was geared for horsepower drive, it later had gang beaters and straw carriers added on. In 1874 all of Abell's hard work was burnt to the ground, but that did not stop him.