A Brief History of the Tractor
Cover photo courtesy of Western Development Museum. Put the hay-powered horses to pasture and replace them with a gas-powered tractor. In the 1900s, tractors revolutionized the agriculture industry, eventually freeing farmers from using oxen, horses and manpower. Today, no farm is complete without a tractor. “The farm tractor is one of the most important and easily recognizable technological components of modern agriculture in the United States. Its development in the first half of the twentieth century fundamentally changed the nature of farm work, significantly altered the structure of rural America, and freed up millions of workers to be absorbed into the rapidly growing manufacturing and service sectors of the country. The tractor represents an important application of the internal combustion engine, rivaling the automobile and the truck in its economic impact,” according to William J. White, Research Triangle Institute in an Economic History article.The word tractor is from Latin, trahere meaning “to pull.”The first recorded use of the word “tractor” was George H. Edwards’ 1890 patent request for “a tractor to be propelled by steam-engine.”
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First Tractors were Steam-Powered Engines on Wheels
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Photo courtesy of Western Development Museum.
John Froelich Invents First Gas-Powered, One-Cylinder, Tractor in 1892
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Hart-Parr Company Built First Successful Tractor using a 2-Cyclinder Engine in 1903
Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr began their pioneering work on gas engines in the late 1800s while studying mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. In 1897, the two men formed the Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company of Madison and in 1903 had successfully invented and built the first commercially successful “tractor” using a 2-cylinder gasoline engine, weighing in at 14,000 pounds.
“With a Hart-Parr Oil Tractor, you can cut down your farming costs and add the savings to your profits. This “Modern Farm Horse” furnishes ideal power for threshing, hauling, and road grading. One man operates and cares for it. Uses cheapest kerosene for fuel.”
Lightweight, Mass-Produced, Affordable Tractors Available to Farmers
Although the heavy tractors were initially successful, few farmers could afford the large machines and the weight and large frame were not efficient, especially in muddy and uneven soil. In 1907, Henry Ford produced his first experimental gas-powered tractor, and at the time was referred to as an “automobile plow.” After 1910, gasoline-powered tractors were used almost exclusively in farming with over 100 manufacturers selling them, but total sales were small. Ford and International Harvester were edging out the competition by mass producing cheaper, light-weight, and more versatile tractors and competing in price wars.
WWI is a Turning Point: Transition from Horsepower to Mechanical Horsepower
Ford introduced a very popular mass-produced tractor in 1917, called the Fordson, a contraction of the original name of the tractor operation, Henry Ford & Son Inc. The machine included a three-speed transmission and heavy-duty worm-drive rear axle, with the engine and drive train bolted together to create a rigid single unit without the need for an external frame. The tractor used a 20 hp inline four-cylinder engine, similar to the Ford Model T engine. It was the first tractor that was small, lightweight, mass-produced, and affordable at a cost of $750, with a large distribution network and a trusted brand making it possible for the average farmer to own a tractor for the first time. Between 1917 and 1922, the Fordson was to tractors like the Ford Model T was to automobiles. Just like the Model T helped replace horses in transport, the Fordson helped replace horses in farming especially during a war-caused shortage of horses.“World War I, and the food shortage that came along with it, was a defining moment in history and a direct cause of the rise of the lightweight tractor,” — Rick Mannen, editor, Antique Power.“So many young men went to Europe to fight, causing a tremendous shortage of labor. The lack of manpower, combined with a decreased food supply in Great Britain and Allied Nations, put pressure on Ford and the other tractor companies to increase manufacturing for the wartime food effort.” Ford supplied tractors to British, Canadian and American governments at cost. “By the end of WWI, tractor prices were down and most farmers could afford to buy a tractor, and put their horses to pasture,” Mannen said.
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Source: From the Collections of the Henry Ford
John Deere releases its 1918 Waterloo Boy Tractor which ran on Kerosene
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International Harvester Markets Power Take-Off (PTO) and the Farmall Tractor
In order to compete in the growing market, International Harvester was first to market with a PTO on a production tractor, on its model 8-16 introduced in 1918. This metal shaft was driven by the tractor motor and powered implements, rather than getting power from a rolling wheel alongside the tractor. This technology drastically changed the tractor industry by allowing for more complex machinery to be attached to the end of tractors, and not just stationary equipment.
Tractors on Farms Exceed the Number of Horses and Mules
By 1932 over a million GP tractors had been sold with only three companies representing 50% of the market —International Harvester, John Deere, and Allis-Chalmers. These GP tractor designs would change little, except in size and horsepower, over the next 30 years. By the 1940s tractors had successfully displaced mules and horses on the farm. This was a major turning point as farmers were able to harvest more crops and boost production dramatically.Today’s Tractors Have Come a Long Way
Today’s tractors, from compact to utility to row crop to 4WD, have come a long way in the past 100 years. Current models are equipped with revolutionary technology, including self-driving models, GPS, luxury cabs and increased horsepower and versatility.
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John Deere Compact Tractor Depreciation Analysis
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Sources:
- The Tractor Builders: The People Behind the Production of Hart-Parr by John D. Culbertson
- Vintage Farm Tractors by Ralph W. Sanders
- https://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/where-exactly-did-the-word-tractor-come-from/14029.html
- https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vintage_Farm_Tractors/twt3arApXLMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
- https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-froelich-inventor-of-the-gas-powered-tractor-is-born
- https://americanhistory.si.edu/tractor
- https://bid.aumannauctions.com/lot-details/index/catalog/13701/lot/2022015/
- https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2017/the-early-years-of-ford-tractors-1907-1961#:~:text=The%20first%20experimental%20Ford%20tractor,mass%2Dproduced%20tractor%20the%20Fordson.
- https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Fordson
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmall
- https://johndeerejournal.com/
- https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vintage_Farm_Tractors/twt3arApXLMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
- https://www.google.com/books/edition/Vintage_Farm_Tractors/twt3arApXLMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover