What is the History of the Farm Tractor? | Stirlingkit
July 23, 2022Where do American farmers live? And how do they farm? The agricultural production function has seen several modifications over the last 150 years, each of which has dramatically increased crop output per unit of input: the harvest mechanized via the reaper and steam thresher, replacement of horses and mules with tractors as a source of farm power and ... So you might be curious about how the farm tractor is developed. Below I will explain some interesting historical background of the tractor to you.
What was the first tractor?
The first tractors began to be used in the late 1880s when gasoline engines replaced steam and promoted the powered agricultural revolution for almost 100 years. It was generally believed that the tractor was powered by a steam engine at that time.
In 1889, the Chicago Chadha engine company in the US produced the world's first farm tractor using a gasoline internal combustion engine, called the "baga" tractor. In 1892, Iowa native John M. Frolic built an internal combustion engine for the Van Duz Gas and Gasoline Machine Company as a farm tractor. It was the first truly practical internal combustion engine and also a precursor to the John Deere tractor. In 1902, American Hart and Pan developed a heavy-duty and practical four-wheel tractor. In 1906, the tractor manufacturing company founded by Halter produced the world's first crawler tractor powered by a gasoline internal combustion engine, which went into mass production the following year.
Between 1910 and 1920, there was fierce competition between tractors powered by steam engines and internal combustion engines powered tractors, with the latter proving superior. The evolution of tractors continued, and by 1966 John Deere was the first manufacturer to offer farmers tractors with rolling bars to help protect operators. By the early 1970s, farm tractors began to provide more comfortable seats for their operators and were equipped with a soundproof cover that shielded the cab of the tractor from heat, cold, and dust. As technology advances, farming becomes more and more mechanized. There's a farm tractor for everything, from feeding animals to tilling the land.
In general, farm tractors have three main functions. One, tow or push agricultural machinery or trailers. Tractors are used to pull traditional trailers carrying equipment or products useful for agriculture. They can also haul heavy machinery for sowing, plowing, or harvesting; Two, support agricultural machinery, tools, and equipment. These can be mounted on the front of the tractor, like rollers, forks, shovels, ... or in the back, such as Tedders, Plows, Snow Blowers, Subsoilers, Crushers, etc. In order to attach these materials to the tractor, a coupling system must be used, the type of which varies according to the model. In most cases, however, the three-point hitch system is used; Three, convey agricultural machines containing cylinders or rotating parts. For this purpose, tractors rely on hydraulic or pneumatic systems or power output from the rear of the vehicle.
How many types of tractors are there in the world?
There are 10 main different types of tractors according to their different purpose or need.
Utility Tractors
A utility tractor is a class generally defined by horsepower, ranging from 40 to 100+. They generally run between 25HP and 60HP. The compact utility tractor is a smaller, more compact utility tractor designed for smaller-scale farming projects.
Compact Tractors
People also call compact tractors n as compact utility tractors commonly, which are made for small farms. It's a great choice for homeowners or hobby farmers with small acreage, i.e, a compact tractor is an agricultural tractor equipped with a 540- rpm PTO and a three-point hitch designed for Category 1 implements only. They are regarded as one of the least powerful tractors on the market. Due to the compact size, they are easy to move and ideal for local communities or individuals with large tracts of land, or even certain farmers according to their needs.
Row Crop Tractors
Row crops, or annual crops, are things like corn, soybeans, rice, and cotton. A row crop tractor brings together a farm tractor and its cultivator into one machine. This tractor is comfortable because it provides a cabin that protects the operator from dust and dirt. Row crop farm vehicles are good all-rounder machines that perform any farming task efficiently.
Industrial Tractors
Industrial tractors are designed for tractors for industrial applications, They pull operations and are fitted with drawbars instead of being fitted with the three-point linkages. They are used to pull loads. They are also often fitted with crane booms so that those loads are easy to lift. In fact, most industrial tractors are used in factories while pulling things.
Garden Tractors
Garden tractors are often used for moving material and towing attachments, therefore weighing more, which makes them a more versatile machine.. garden tractors are more than lawn tractors, which can not only mow grass, but also clear snow, tow heavy equipment, till gardens, grade driveways, and so on.
Implement carrier Tractors
Implement carrier Tractors are meant to carry and mount many different types of implements, the chassis frame between the front and rear tires is extended.
Earth Moving Tractors
Do you know? What are the top 3 most popular toys for 5-year-old boys? Yes, that is heavy vehicles, heavy construction equipment, heavy trucks or vehicles, and construction equipment. Earthmoving equipment is often hired to move large amounts of dirt and is used for a wide range of duties including landscaping work, laying foundations, light, and heavy demolition, rock and dirt excavation, and trenching. Most of them use hydraulic drives to drive movement. As for heavy equipment, bulldozer rentals play a high place on the minds of many drillers.
Autonomous Tractors
Autonomous Tractors are also known as driverless tractors because it operates without the presence of a human inside the tractor itself. autonomous farm vehicles at slow speeds for the purposes of tillage and other agricultural tasks. They are equipped with six pairs of cameras that work like human eyes and can provide a 360-degree image and determine where it is in the field and will abruptly stop if it encounters anything unfamiliar. Thanks to their automatic planting systems with exceptional accuracy, growers have improved higher seed conservation and a better harvest.
Military Tractors
Military Tractors here are referred to as the artillery tractors, which are specialized heavy-duty forms of tractor units used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibers. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked to construct and demolition, temporary build road, and other high projects in high-risk areas.
Two-wheel tractors
A two-wheeled tractor specializes in pulling any of the numerous types of implements. Two-wheel tractors are small, motorized farming machines to cultivate the soil for gardening and horticulture, usually on small plots of land. Two-wheel tractors are often used to break up the soil, like a rotary tiller.
According to Wessels Living History Farm, the time it took to plow an acre of land shrank from an hour and a half using five horses to 30 minutes using a 27-horsepower tractor. It’s said that a farm can feed as many as 130 people, while only one or two people can be fed by using a gasoline farm tractor before.
Tractors have become the foundation of the modern farm as they have increased the farmer's ability to maintain more land and produce crops faster and more efficiently than ever. As you can see, horses and mules eat up more than 20% of the food they help farmers grow, while providing agricultural energy. Compared to them, tractors consume less fuel, oil, and hydraulic fluid, and farmers are able to lower their costs and pass on these social savings to food buyers. What's more, millions of farm workers freed up by technology were able to contribute their labor to other areas of the economy, creating huge economic benefits.
Perhaps nothing has changed the life of a farm more than a tractor in the last hundred years, isn't it?
Source:
http://www.pioneerautoshow.com/news/article/a-brief-history-of-tractors-841/
https://www.sodgod.com/tractor-history/
https://eh.net/encyclopedia/economic-history-of-tractors-in-the-united-states/
https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-tractors-1992545
https://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/tractors/machinery-milestones-the-worlds-first-tractors
https://yohta-blog.yokohama-oht.com/how-the-tractor-has-changed-farming
https://www.si.edu/stories/five-ways-tractor-changed-american-farming
https://www.tractorjunction.com/blog/different-types-of-tractors-application-uses-benefits/