The potential advantages of four-wheel drive didn’t escape the notice of early steam traction engine manufacturers.
Lansing Iron & Engine Works, Lansing, Mich., used a chain to drive a large sprocket turning in a carrier bolted to the bottom of the boiler. The axle keyed into the sprocket, and also used the sprocket as its pivot point. However, with no front differential, one wheel would drag in a turn.
This 12 HP, 1898 Lansing, the only known example, once belonged to Iron-Men Album founder, Rev. Elmer Ritzman, who kept it on display in his “Korn Krib,” a museum he maintained at his home in Enola, Pa.
Lansing started making traction engines about 1883, but in 1898 the company shut its doors. It’s unknown how many engines Lansing built, as no company records have survived.