Farm Equipment: History Of The Tractor
Farm equipment is any type of machinery that is used on a farm to help with various farming duties and operations. Of course the most well known type of farm equipment is the tractor. Tractors are used in a variety of ways, primarily to pull loads and various types of attachments.
The first mechanized farm equipment came about in the 1800s and early 1900s. Steam tractors were built with steam engines that were not entirely safe as they could explode or catch peoples’ clothing in the moving belts.
John Froelich built the first gasoline powered tractor in 1892 in Clayton County, Iowa. Though gasoline powered tractors were not popular at first they quickly caught on and around the 1910s became much more affordable as well as smaller.
By the 1920s gasoline powered tractors contained internal combustion engines, which had become the norm in all gasoline powered vehicles. Until internal combustion engines were incorporated in tractor designs, the engines used were called ‘practical’ gasoline powered engines.
Since the earliest tractors, not much has changed in overall design besides the engine type. The classic farm tractor is an open vehicle that has to very large wheels on an axle slightly below and behind the single driver’s seat.
Typically, the engine is located in front of the driver’s seat, along with two smaller wheels for steering. This basic design has remained unchanged for so long because of the comfort and inherent driver safety.
Modern farm tractors typically have four foot pedals located on the floor of the tractor in front of the driver’s seat. The leftmost pedal is the clutch which is used to disengage the transmission for changing gears or stopping the tractor.
The two middle pedals are both brakes. Tractors use differential braking just like small airplanes. Stepping on the left brake stops the left wheels and the right brake stops the right wheels. In this way steering can also be effected or aided by using one or the other brake pedals. To stop the tractor both pedals are depressed. The right most pedal is the accelerator or ‘throttle’. Sometimes the throttle will be hand operated to provide more consistent speed during field work.
Modern farm tractors contain diesel engines that range in power from 18 to 500 horsepower and can be classified as two wheel drive, two wheel drive with front wheel assist or four wheel drive. Smaller tractors, such as those used for yard work typically have 10 to 25 horsepower engines.
