The Invention History And Development Trend Of Tractor

Invention process
Since ancient times, many people have tried to use mechanical power to replace human and animal power for farming. However, it was not until the 19th century when Europe entered the steam engine era that the birth of powered agricultural machinery became possible.
Alabart of France and R.C. Parvin of Illinois, USA, invented the earliest steam-powered tractors in 1856 and 1873 respectively.
In the 1830s, some people began to study the use of steam vehicles to pull agricultural machinery for field operations. However, the steam engine-drawn vehicles that could be built at that time (the predecessor of the steam tractor) were like a small locomotive. Even if it did not get stuck in the field, it would compact the soil very tightly and it was impossible to cultivate. In 1851, Farrar and Smith of Britain used steam engines for the first time to realize mechanical farming of farmland. Some people regard this as the beginning of agricultural mechanization, but at that time their method was to place the steam engine at the head of the field and use wire ropes to pull the plowshare that was plowing in the field from a distance. Later, with the advancement of steam engine manufacturing technology, miniaturized steam engines appeared. They were installed on the chassis of vehicles to drive the wheels, so that they could drive into the fields from the edge of the field and directly pull agricultural machinery. This is how tractors were born. The tractors at that time were very similar to early steam engine cars, but they had greater horsepower and slower driving speeds.
The original tractors were bulky and expensive, inconvenient to use, and often required several people to operate. They were suitable for farming on vast fields, and were generally unaffordable for individual farmers. In 1889, the Chadda Engine Company in Chicago, USA, manufactured the world's first agricultural tractor using a gasoline internal combustion engine - the "Baga" tractor. Because the internal combustion engine is relatively light, easy to operate, and has high work efficiency, its appearance laid the foundation for the promotion and application of tractors. In the early 20th century, Sweden, Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom and other countries almost simultaneously manufactured tractors powered by diesel internal combustion engines. During the First World War, due to the war, labor shortages and rising agricultural product prices promoted the development of farmland tractors. Between 1910 and 1920, there was a fierce competition between tractors powered by steam engines and internal combustion engines. The latter showed greater superiority and gradually eliminated the former. Today's tractors all use diesel internal combustion engines.
On November 24, 1904, the "77" steam tractor was tested for the first time and later put into mass production. In 1906, the tractor manufacturing company founded by Holt manufactured the world's first crawler tractor powered by a gasoline internal combustion engine. This tractor began mass production the following year and was the most successful tractor at the time. It became the reference model for the UK to develop the world's first tank a few years later.
In the development of wheeled tractors, people initially widened the steel wheels to increase the ground area and reduce the pressure, but the effect was not good. Later, they came up with a way to add a rubber protective layer to the steel wheels. After the birth of car tires, people used solid and pneumatic tires for tractors. But car tires are not completely suitable for tractors. One is that the grooves of car tires are too shallow and fine. Second, people found that tractors have better soft-ground driving performance when the tires are under-inflated than when they are fully inflated. In 1932, the Filsdown Tire and Rubber Company in the United States produced a large-sized high-pattern low-pressure pneumatic rubber tire. This was the first tire truly suitable for agricultural tractors, which greatly improved the driving and traction performance of wheeled tractors. By the end of the 1940s, tractors had replaced livestock and became the main power source for farms in North America, Western Europe and Australia. Since then, tractors have been promoted and used in Eastern Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.