Editing Tractor (section)

== History ==
=== Traction engines ===
[[File:Harrison Machine Works 1882 tractor.JPG|thumb|left|1882 Harrison Machine Works steam-powered [[traction engine]]]]

The first powered farm implements in the early 19th century were [[portable engine]]s – steam engines on wheels that could be used to drive mechanical farm machinery by way of a flexible belt. [[Richard Trevithick]] designed the first 'semi-portable' [[stationary steam engine]] for agricultural use, known as a "barn engine" in 1812, and it was used to drive a corn threshing machine.<ref name=Hodge>{{cite book|last= Hodge |first= James |title= Richard Trevithick (Lifelines 6) |publisher= Shire Publications |year= 1973 |isbn= 978-0-85263-177-5 |page= 30}}</ref> The truly portable engine was invented in 1839 by William Tuxford of [[Boston, Lincolnshire]] who started manufacture of an engine built around a locomotive-style boiler with horizontal smoke tubes. A large [[flywheel]] was mounted on the crankshaft, and a stout leather belt was used to transfer the drive to the equipment being driven. In the 1850s, [[John Fowler (agricultural engineer)|John Fowler]] used a Clayton & Shuttleworth portable engine to drive apparatus in the first public demonstrations of the application of cable haulage to cultivation.

In parallel with the early portable engine development, many engineers attempted to make them self-propelled – the fore-runners of the [[traction engine]]. In most cases this was achieved by fitting a sprocket on the end of the crankshaft, and running a chain from this to a larger sprocket on the rear axle. These experiments met with mixed success.<ref name="Lane2">{{cite book|year=1976|isbn=978-0450028373|publisher=New English Library|last= Lane |first= Michael R. |title= Pride of the Road |page= 56}}</ref> The first proper [[traction engine]], in the form recognisable today, was developed in 1859 when British engineer [[Thomas Aveling (engineer)|Thomas Aveling]] modified a [[Clayton & Shuttleworth]] [[portable engine]], which had to be    hauled from job to job by horses, into a self-propelled one. The alteration was made by fitting a long driving chain between the crankshaft and the rear axle.<ref>{{cite book|last= Bonnett |first= Harold |title= Discovering Traction Engines |publisher= Shire Publications Ltd |year= 1975 |pages= 5 |isbn= 978-0-85263-318-2}}</ref>

The first half of the 1860s was a period of great experimentation but by the end of the decade the standard form of the traction engine had evolved and changed little over the next sixty years. It was widely adopted for agricultural use. The first tractors were steam-powered [[ploughing engine|plowing engine]]s. They were used in pairs, placed on either side of a field to haul a plow back and forth between them using a wire cable. In Britain [[Mann's Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Company|Mann's]] and [[Richard Garrett & Sons|Garrett]] developed [[steam tractor]]s for direct ploughing, but the heavy, wet soil of England meant that these designs were less economical than a team of horses. In the [[United States]], where soil conditions permitted, steam tractors were used to direct-haul plows. Steam-powered [[agricultural engine]]s remained in use well into the 20th century until reliable internal combustion engines had been developed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/machines_04.html|title=Tractors Advance during the Depression|website=livinghistoryfarm.org}}</ref>

=== Fuel ===
[[File:Ivel Tractor 1902.JPG|thumb|[[Dan Albone]] with his 1902 prototype Ivel Agricultural Motor, the first successful lightweight gasoline-powered tractor]]The first gasoline powered tractors were built in Illinois, by John Charter combining single cylinder Otto engines with a Rumley Steam engine chassis, in 1889.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Evolution and History of the Farm Tractor That Changed Everything |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-tractors-1992545 |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-05-06 |title=John Charter: Charter Member – Farm Collector |url=https://www.farmcollector.com/tractors/john-charter-charter-member-zm0z14junzbea/ |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=www.farmcollector.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1969-03-01 |title=When Was The First Tractor Made?? – Gas Engine Magazine |url=https://www.gasenginemagazine.com/tractors/when-was-the-first-tractor-made/ |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=www.gasenginemagazine.com |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1892, [[John Froelich]] built a gasoline-powered tractor in [[Clayton County, Iowa]], US.<ref>{{cite book|title=The John Deere Tractor Legacy|publisher=Voyageur Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3cJeffKoriEC&pg=PA45|page=45|isbn=9781610605298}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Vintage Farm Tractors|year=1996 |publisher=Voyageur Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=twt3arApXLMC&pg=PA14|page=14|isbn=9781610605649}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Xulon Press|publisher=Xulon Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vtgl7YKNFQ0C&pg=PA42|isbn=978-1-59160-134-0|date=June 2002}}</ref> A Van Duzen single-cylinder gasoline engine was mounted on a Robinson engine chassis, which could be controlled and propelled by Froelich's gear box.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ultimate John Deere: The History of the Big Green Machines |publisher=Voyageur Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNXJvfiOqDsC&pg=PA52|page=52|isbn=9781610605588|year=2001}}</ref> After receiving a patent, Froelich started up the [[Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company]] and invested all of his assets. The venture was very unsuccessful, and by 1895 all was lost and he went out of business.<ref>{{cite web|title=Froelich Tractor|publisher=Froelich Foundation|url=http://www.froelichtractor.com/thetractor.html|access-date=2012-05-15|archive-date=2019-08-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829205447/http://www.froelichtractor.com/thetractor.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gasoline Tractor|publisher=Iowa Pathways|url=http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath.cfm?ounid=ob_000058|date=2016-08-17}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=From Steam to Gasoline…|publisher=Inspired Media|url=http://theinspiredmedia.com/2009/08/from-steam-to-gasoline/|date=2009-08-21|access-date=2010-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224084104/http://theinspiredmedia.com/2009/08/from-steam-to-gasoline/|archive-date=2012-02-24|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Miller_in_Macmillan2003"/>

[[Richard Hornsby & Sons]] are credited with producing and selling the first oil-engined tractor in Britain, invented by [[Herbert Akroyd Stuart]]. The Hornsby-Akroyd Patent Safety Oil Traction Engine was made in 1896 with a {{cvt|20|hp}} engine. In 1897, it was bought by Mr. Locke-King, the first recorded British tractor sale. That year, it won a Silver Medal from the [[Royal Agricultural Society of England]]. It later returned to the factory for a caterpillar track fitting.

The first commercially successful light-weight petrol-powered general purpose tractor was built by [[Dan Albone]], a British inventor in 1901.<ref>Moffitt, John. ''The Ivel Story''. {{ISBN|0-9540222-6-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10307483&wwwflag=2&imagepos=1|title=Dan Albone, English inventor, 1902|publisher=The Science and Society Picture Library|access-date=2013-08-30}}</ref> He filed for a patent on 15 February 1902 for his tractor design and then formed Ivel Agricultural Motors Limited. The other directors were [[Selwyn Edge]], [[Charles Jarrott]], John Hewitt and [[Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster|Lord Willoughby]]. He called his machine the Ivel Agricultural Motor; the word "tractor" came into common use after Hart-Parr created it. The Ivel Agricultural Motor was light, powerful and compact. It had one front wheel, with a solid rubber tyre, and two large rear wheels like a modern tractor. The engine used water cooling, utilizing the thermo-syphon effect. It had one forward and one reverse gear. A pulley wheel on the left hand side allowed it to be used as a [[stationary engine]], driving a wide range of agricultural machinery. The 1903 sale price was £300. His tractor won a medal at the [[Royal Show|Royal Agricultural Show]], in 1903 and 1904. About 500 were built, and many were exported all over the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biggleswadehistory.org.uk/Dan%20Albone.htm|title=Dan Albone|publisher=Biggleswade History Society|access-date=2013-08-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315090452/http://www.biggleswadehistory.org.uk/Dan%20Albone.htm|archive-date=2012-03-15}}</ref> The original engine was made by Payne & Co. of [[Coventry]]. After 1906, French [[Aster (auto parts company)|Aster]] engines were used.

The first successful American tractor was built by [[Charles Walter Hart|Charles W. Hart]] and [[Charles Henry Parr|Charles H. Parr]]. They developed a two-cylinder gasoline engine and set up their business in [[Charles City, Iowa]]. In 1903, the firm built 15 tractors.  Their {{convert|14000|lb}} #3 is the oldest surviving internal combustion engine tractor in the United States, and is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The two-cylinder engine has a unique hit-and-miss firing cycle that produced {{cvt|30|hp}} at the belt and {{cvt|18|hp}} at the drawbar.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=157 |title= Smithsonian Museum of American History |publisher= Hart Parr #3 |access-date= 2010-11-29}}</ref>

[[File:FordsonFarmacp.jpg|left|thumb|An early [[Fordson]] discing a field in [[Princess Anne County, Virginia]], in 1925]]

In 1908, the [[Saunderson Tractor and Implement Co.]] of [[Bedford]] introduced a four-wheel design, and became the largest tractor manufacturer in Britain at the time. While the earlier, heavier tractors were initially very successful, it became increasingly apparent at this time that the weight of a large supporting frame was less efficient than lighter designs.  Henry Ford introduced a light-weight, mass-produced design which largely displaced the heavier designs. Some companies halfheartedly followed suit with mediocre designs, as if to disprove the concept, but they were largely unsuccessful in that endeavor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wendel|first=C.H.|title=Oliver Hart-Parr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4wduuQEACAAJ|date= 2011|publisher=Krause Publications|isbn=978-0-87349-929-3}}</ref>

While unpopular at first, these gasoline-powered machines began to catch on in the 1910s, when they became smaller and more affordable.<ref name="Rumely1910"/> [[Henry Ford]] introduced the [[Fordson]], a wildly popular mass-produced tractor, in 1917.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wik |first=Reynold M. |date=1964 |title=Henry Ford's Tractors and American Agriculture |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3740673 |journal=Agricultural History |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=81–83 |jstor=3740673 }}</ref> They were built in the U.S., Ireland, England and Russia, and by 1923, Fordson had 77% of the U.S. market. The Fordson dispensed with a frame, using the strength of the engine block to hold the machine together. By the 1920s, tractors with gasoline-powered [[internal combustion engine]]s had become the norm.

[[File:Trattore Cassani mod 40HP IMG 3337 Museo scienza e tecnologia Milano.jpg|thumb|left|Tractor Cassani model 40HP, at the [[Museo nazionale della scienza e della tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci]] of Milan]]

The first three-point hitches were experimented with in 1917. After [[Harry Ferguson]] applied for a British patent for his [[three-point hitch]] in 1926, they became popular. A three-point attachment of the implement to the tractor is the simplest and the only statically determinate way of joining two bodies in engineering. The [[Ferguson-Brown Company]] produced the Model A Ferguson-Brown tractor with a Ferguson-designed [[hydraulic]] hitch. In 1938 Ferguson entered into a collaboration with Henry Ford to produce the [[Ford N-Series tractor|Ford-Ferguson 9N tractor]]. The three-point hitch soon became the favorite hitch attachment system among farmers around the world. This tractor model also included a rear [[Power take-off|Power Take Off (PTO)]] shaft that could be used to power three point hitch mounted implements such as sickle-bar mowers.

===Electric===
{{Main|Electric tractor}}
In 1969,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Will |first=Oscar H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITg7npppD9sC |title=Garden Tractors: Deere, Cub Cadet, Wheel Horse, and All the Rest, 1930s to Current |date=2009|publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=978-1-61673-161-8 |pages=81–83 |language=en}}</ref> [[General Electric]] introduced the [[Elec-Trak]], the first commercial, [[electric tractor]] (electric-powered garden tractor).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liston |first=James M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtgDAAAAMBAJ |title=Popular Mechanics |date=April 1970 |publisher=[[Hearst Magazines]] |page=120 |language=en}}</ref> The Elec-Trak was manufactured by General Electric until 1975.<ref name=":0" />

Electric tractors are manufactured by a German company, [[Fendt]], and by US companies, [[Solectrac]] and Monarch Tractor.<ref name="Gaines">{{Cite web |last=Gaines |first=Tharran |date=2021-11-28 |title=An electric tractor may be in your future |url=https://www.agriculture.com/machinery/tractors/an-electric-tractor-may-be-in-your-future |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Successful Farming |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Weisbrod">{{Cite web |last=Weisbrod |first=Katelyn |date=2022-07-13 |title=A New Project in Rural Oregon Is Letting Farmers Test Drive Electric Tractors in the Name of Science |url=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13072022/a-new-project-in-rural-oregon-is-letting-farmers-test-drive-electric-tractors-in-the-name-of-science/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=[[Inside Climate News]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Garvey |first=Scott |date=2021-02-10 |title=Development of Fendt's e100 electric tractor continues |url=https://www.grainews.ca/machinery/development-of-fendts-e100-electric-tractor-continues/ |access-date=2022-07-24 |website=Grainews |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Doll |first=Scooter |date=2022-08-09 |title=Foxconn to manufacture electric tractors for Monarch at newly acquired Lordstown facility |url=https://electrek.co/2022/08/09/foxconn-electric-tractors-monarch/ |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=Electrek |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[John Deere]]'s protoype electric tractor is a plug-in, powered by an electrical cable.<ref name = "hobby20020723">{{Cite web |last=Brackney |first=Susan |date=2021-09-02 |title=Electric Tractors Are The Future Of Farming |url=https://www.hobbyfarms.com/electric-tractors-are-the-future-of-farming/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Hobby Farms |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Kubota]] is prototyping an autonomous electric tractor.<ref name="Szymkowski">{{Cite web |last=Szymkowski |first=Sean |date=2020-01-29 |title=Autonomous, electric tractor could be the future face of smart farming |url=https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/autonomous-electric-tractor-future-farming/ |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=CNET |language=en}}</ref>