The Tractor Story - Book

The first steam engines on wheels which used belts to drive farm machinery developed into traction engines, used on farms by pulling a plough on cables between two engines. In the 20th century, stationary internal combustion engines, such as the Clutterbuck, began to be put on wheels and moved around a farm to drive threshing machines by belt. Dozens of small companies grew up around the world following their own lines of development. Most lasted only a short time. Firms like Allis-Chalmers, Benz, Lloyd, Jelbart, Glasgow, Fordson, Bates and Hart-Parr are famous names which have faded away or been taken over. A few companies, such as Case and Massey, started in the middle of the 19th century and continue today on a global scale. John Deere started making ploughs in 1837 and is now the largest manufacturer in the world. Some developments have caused a giant leap forward: the use of rubber pneumatic tyres rather than metal wheels; turbo-charged diesel engines and the hydraulic three-point hitch system designed by Ferguson, which is still used today in some form on most modern machines.