Steam tractor
Encyclopedia
- This article refers to the steam-powered agricultural tractor; for other types of steam tractor, see: Traction engineTraction engineA traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
which is used for pulling.
In North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, the term steam tractor usually refers to a type of agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
tractor
Tractor
A tractor is a vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture or construction...
powered by a steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
, used extensively in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, the term steam tractor is more usually applied to the smallest models of traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
- typically those weighing seven tons or less - used for hauling small loads on public roads. Although known as light steam tractors, these engines are generally just smaller versions of the 'road locomotive
Road locomotive
Road locomotive could refer to:* A type of traction engine, usually referring to those designed for heavy haulage on common roads...
'.
This article concentrates on the steam-powered agricultural vehicle
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s intended for the direct-pulling of ploughs and other implements (as opposed to cable-hauling).
Development (Great Britain)
Owing to differences in soil conditions, the development of steamSteam
Steam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...
-powered agricultural machines differed considerably on either side of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
In Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, a number of traction engine builders attempted to produce a design of agricultural engine that could pull a plough
Plough
The plough or plow is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture...
directly, in place of a team of horses. However, the heavier and wetter soils found in Britain meant that these designs were not successful — being less economical to use than the team of horses they were intended to replace! These engines were also known as "steam tractors". Instead, farmers resorted to cable-hauled ploughing using ploughing engines.
A distinctive example of a British-designed (agricultural) steam tractor is the Garrett
Richard Garrett & Sons
Richard Garrett & Sons was a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, steam engines and trolleybuses. Their factory was Leiston Works, in Leiston, Suffolk, United Kingdom.The company was active under its original ownership between 1778 and 1932....
Suffolk Punch, a 1917 design intended to compete directly with internal combustion-powered alternatives.
Development (North America)
Portable engine
A portable engine is a small steam engine, mounted on wheels or skids, which is used for driving machinery using a belt from its flywheel. It is not self-propelled and is towed to the work site by horses or bullocks, or even a traction engine. Portable engines were used mainly for driving...
s built on skids or on wheels and transported to the work area using horses. Later models used the power of the steam engine itself to power a drive train to move the machine and were first known as "traction drive" engines which eventually was shortened to "tractor". These drive mechanisms were one of three types: chain, shaft, and open pinion. The open pinion became the most popular design due to its strength. Later improvements included power steering, differentials, compounded engines, and butt-strap boiler design.
The steam engine was gradually phased out by the mid-1920s as the less expensive, lighter, and faster-starting internal combustion (kerosene, petrol or distillate) tractors fully emerged after World War I.
Threshing
Threshing machine
The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine , was a machine first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. It was invented for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flails,...
or threshing rig would travel from farmstead to farmstead threshing grain. Oats were a common item to be threshed, but wheat and other grains were common as well. On a "threshing day", all the neighbors would gather at that day's farmstead to complete a massive job in one day through cooperation. The women and older girls were in charge of cooking the noon meal and bringing water to the men. The children had various jobs based upon their age and sex. These jobs included driving the bundle racks, pitching bundles into the threshing machine, supplying water for the steam engine, hauling away the freshly threshed grain and scooping it into the granary. Steam traction engines were often too expensive for a single farmer to purchase, so "threshing rings" were often formed. In a threshing ring, multiple farmers pooled their resources to purchase a steam engine. They also chose one person among them to go to a steam school, to learn how to run the engine properly. There were also threshing contractors, who owned their own engine and thresher, and went to different farms, hiring themselves out to thresh grain.
Ploughing
The immense pulling power of steam tractors allowed them to be used for ploughing as well. Certain steam tractors were better suited for ploughing than others, with the large Minneapolis Threshing machine Co., J.I. CaseCase IH
Case IH is an American mechanical company, one of the world’s largest brands of agricultural equipment. With headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin, it has a network of more than 4,000 dealers and distributors that operates in more than 160 countries...
, Reeves Co and Advance-Rumely
Advance-Rumely
The Advance-Rumely Company of La Porte, Indiana was organized in 1915 as a producer of many types of agricultural machinery, most notably threshing machines and large tractors...
engines being prime examples. Some of the largest steam tractors, such as the 150 hp Case (known as "Road Locomotives"), were capable of pulling 30 or more plough bottoms, while most were powerful enough to pull between 6 and 20. Differing soil conditions highly affected the ploughing abilities of these tractors.
Manufacturers
Festivals and museums
- List of steam fairs – where preserved steam tractors may be seen in action
Museums
- Antique Gas and Steam Engine MuseumAntique Gas and Steam Engine MuseumThe Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum is a living-history museum founded in 1969 located on of county-owned land on the outskirts of Vista, California. The Museum is a non-profit 501c organization. It is located at 2040 N Santa Fe Ave. in Vista...
(Vista, California, USA) - Antique PowerlandAntique PowerlandAntique Powerland is a collection of museums and a self-described heritage site for power equipment, such as farm machinery, trucks , trains, construction equipment, and the engines which power them. It is located in Brooks, Oregon, United States, and is operated by the non-profit Antique...
(Brooks, Oregon, USA) - Fort Edmonton ParkFort Edmonton ParkFort Edmonton Park is an attraction in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Named for the first enduring European post in the area of modern-day Edmonton, the park is the largest living history museum in Canada by area...
(Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) - Heidrick Ag History Center (Woodland, California)
- Heritage Museum on the Old Thresher's ReunionOld Thresher's ReunionThe Midwest Old Thresher's Reunion was started in 1950 and has taken place every Labor Day weekend since in the small town of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa...
grounds (Mt. Pleasant, Iowa) - National Agricultural Museum (Szreniawa, Poland) http://www.muzeum-szreniawa.pl/
- Ontario Agricultural MuseumOntario Agricultural MuseumThe Country Heritage Park is located next to Highway 401 and the Niagara Escarpment in Milton, Ontario, Canada, and recreates rural life in the 19th century in Ontario...
(Ontario, Canada)
See also
- History of steam road vehiclesHistory of steam road vehiclesThe history of steam road vehicles describes the development of vehicles powered by a steam engine for use on land and independent of rails; whether for conventional road use, such as the steam car and steam waggon, or for agricultural or heavy haulage work, such as the traction engine.The first...
- Live steamLive steamLive steam is steam under pressure, obtained by heating water in a boiler. The steam is used to operate stationary or moving equipment.A live steam machine or device is one powered by steam, but the term is usually reserved for those that are replicas, scale models, toys, or otherwise used for...
- SteamrollerSteamrollerA steamroller is a form of road roller – a type of heavy construction machinery used for levelling surfaces, such as roads or airfields – that is powered by a steam engine...
- Steam tricycleSteam tricycleA steam tricycle is a steam-driven three-wheeled vehicle.-History:In the early days of motorised vehicle development, a number of experimenters built steam-powered vehicles with three wheels....
- Traction engineTraction engineA traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
External links
- Video – Victorian agricultural engine, in steam, driving a threshing machineThreshing machineThe thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine , was a machine first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. It was invented for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flails,...
- Steam Tractors - The first of a three part account by Mike Rooth of these engines at work. Parts Two and Three are also found on the same site.