![Redmond's Steam Plow [1868]. Weighed nearly 5000 pounds and was about 6 feet wide. Tender carried water tank of two barrel capacity upon which was mounted engineer's seat. Drive wheels fitted with protruding lugs automatically pushed through rim.](https://ogden_images.s3.amazonaws.com/www.farmcollector.com/images/1976/07/05170039/IMA_V31_I4_Jul_1976_15-5.jpg)
![C. L. Best Steam Tractor [vertical fire tube boiler], 1885. Space between firebox and outer shell formed the water leg and made place for mud to collect.](https://ogden_images.s3.amazonaws.com/www.farmcollector.com/images/1976/07/05170049/IMA_V31_I4_Jul_1976_15-7.jpg)
The information was compiled by R. B. Gray and the book was
first published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. It is now
published by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.
The book is divided into two sections. The first section
discusses mechanical farm power from its beginning until 1920. The
second catalogs chronologically the development of both track and
wheel type tractors through the year 1950.
Excellent photographs help make the book more than a listing of
names and dates. Illustrations abound, and the information is
further enhanced by charts showing comparative performances of
various machines.
In addition to giving year-to-year information about tractors
and tractor manufacturers the book stresses highlights and
historical events which played major roles in the growth of the
farm machinery industry.
The opening of the West after the Civil War, for instance, and
the need to break open the prairie soil, stimulated
manufacturing.
1917 Fordson
20 HP, 1,000 r.p.m., 4-cylinder vertical engine mounted
lengthwise. Ignition by low-tension flywheel magneto and high
tension coils; clutch, multiple disc in oil; worm-gear final drive;
two-piece case-iron frame bolted together at middle; splash
lubrication oil from fly-wheel splash caught in funnel and
conducted to individual trays in which connecting-rod cap
projections dipped.
1918 Case 9/18
1894 Van Duzen
In 1915 interest in tractors was fed by the increased demand for
food products brought on by the First World War. As the United
States got further into the war in 1917 and 1918 the farm tractor
helped meet the problems of labor and animal shortage. About this
time small, versatile tractors appeared on the market and tractor
demonstrations were held in the Midwest. These demonstrations were
valuable in publicizing the worth of tractors and in spreading
knowledge about their performance.
After the Second World War emphasis was placed upon the
development of attachments to help in planting, cultivating and
mowing.
The first step in mechanical power farming was the invention of
the ‘steam’ or traction engine. After McCormick invented
the reaper in 1831 demand grew for belt power to thresh the grain
crop which was now harvested mechanically. One thing led to
another. Each invention brought on the need for another.
The next big step was the portable steam engine, then the
self-propelled steam traction engine.
Although the origin of the internal combustion engine dates back
to 1678, experiments were largely neglected for more than a
century. In 1794 an Englishman, Robert Street, ‘patented the
first real engine,’ using turpentine as the fuel.
In 1801, Frenchman Lebon D’Humbersin, called the father of
the present-day engine, patented an explosion-type engine. With the
N. A. Otto engine of 1876 the internal combustion engine began to
look like a practical power unit.
The development of the gasoline tractor was similar to that of
the steam traction engine first a stationary engine, then portable,
then self-propelled. Gasoline burning tractors were being made in
the 1890s, and in the early 1900s competition was strong between
steam and gas tractor manufacturers.
In 1908 the public had its first real chance to compare
‘steamers’ and gas tractors in the field at the Winnipeg
Trials held at the Winnipeg Industrial Exhibition in Canada.
1917 was a watershed year. Ford produced his first tractor,
the Fordson. This was also the first tractor made of cast
iron unit frame construction. Soon all manufacturers followed suit.
By August of 1920 Ford claimed to have sold 100,000 Fordsons.
In 1928 rubber casings were successfully used on wheels in the
Florida orange groves to prevent root damage. In 1931 B. F.
Goodrich introduced a ‘zero pressure’ rubber tire which was
a rubber arch on a perforated wheel base to be attached to steel
tire drive wheels. In 1932 Firestone came out with pneumatic
tires.
From 1920 to 1950 power farming showed a remarkable development.
From the first crude machine there was a steady progression to the
sophisticated general-purpose tractor with attachments. In 1950
there were nearly 4 million tractors on American farms.
In the competition between steam and gasoline the winner, of
course, was gasoline. The competition between the two ideas was
healthy, as was that between the big firms in the search for
greater efficiency and better design of the tractor.
The development of the tractor has been a vital element in the
growth of the United States, helping to make it one of the
world’s leading granaries. The Agricultural Tractor 1855-1950
tells us all about it, in concise, businesslike terms, with no
chaff or fanfare. It is an honest, reliable, informative and
important story of the growth of the tractor and of the great
manufacturing firms which made these machines.
If you are interested in tractors, you should get this book.
$12.50 a copy, postpaid. Order from Stemgas Publishing Co., Box
328, Lancaster, PA 17604. Pa. residents, include 6% sales tax.
