History of the Tractor
There’s no more important piece of farm equipment than the humble tractor. Between their durable reliability and massive power, they’ve become the standard for how work is done in agricultural operations. It can be hard to think there was a time when the hardest work of farming was done with manual labor, but the tractor was invented just over a hundred years ago, and the story surrounding it is now farming history!
At Bayview Trucks and Equipment, we pay tribute to the everpresent steel workhorses of the agricultural industry. That’s why we’re talking about tractor history today. Keep reading for information about how tractors were first developed and became the staple they are today, or head into one of our locations across Atlantic Canada for a look at our stock of new and used farm equipment.
Development in the 19th Century
John Froelich is who you should thank for the progenitor to the tractor. An inventor who lived in a small village in Iowa named after his father, Froelich developed the first gas-powered traction engine in 1892. Before then, there were steam-powered plowing engines, but they were extremely slow, hard to move around obstacles, and were prone to exploding. All of that — and the explosions in particular — made Froelich’s invention a resounding success.
After gasoline became a commonplace fuel in the late 19th century, a variety of traction engines using gas appeared on the market. Froelich’s engine, a combination of earlier ideas, was the first farm machine with forward and reverse gears. Froelich connected his tractor to a thresher during harvest in South Dakota and successfully threshed wheat.
Charles Parr and Charles Hart, engineering students at the University of Wisconsin, developed the idea for a new gasoline-powered engine. They founded the Hart-Parr Gasoline Engine Company in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1897, shifting production to Iowa at the turn of the century. They coined “tractor” from the original term “traction engine” and produced the very first successful North American tractor in 1901.
Innovation in the 20th Century
The 20th century saw tractors evolve from time-saving pieces of farm equipment into the farm staple that they are today, partly due to the competition and cooperation of different manufacturers. Primary in this evolution was the Waterloo Company, which invested in tractor research in 1911, leading to the development of kerosene-powered tractors that competed against gasoline engines.
It didn’t take long for Illinois-based farm equipment enterprise Deere & Company to buy out Waterloo. In 1918, head of Deere & Company, William Butterworth (grandson-in-law of John Deere himself) saw potential in tractors and continued to produce the Waterloo tractor models until 1923, when the first John Deere Model D was introduced.
Other manufacturers joined the boom and produced their own tractors. Healthy competition led to price drops, and tractors became more and more affordable for farmers who could now increase the productivity of their farms with the time and labor saved. Tractors were also made smaller and lighter to create more efficient machines. Even Henry Ford manufactured a tractor. Called the Fordson, it was in wide international use by the 1920s. This brand was made in England through 1964, although its American counterpart ceased production in 1928.
Other heavy manufacturers around the world began to build and market their own tractors during the mid-20th century, like Lamborghini in Italy and Mahindra in India. Both of these companies manufactured tractors starting in 1948 for domestic and international markets. While there are hundreds of tractor manufacturers around the world, Mahindra is the world’s highest-selling tractor manufacturer by volume as of 2010.
Continual improvements have meant that tractors are lighter, faster, and more efficient machines than their steam-powered ancestors, making them essential for a variety of industries, from farming to logging.
We hope getting to know more about tractor evolution has gotten you more interested in these powerful pieces of farm equipment. For your chance to check out some great new and used tractors, head into Bayview Trucks and Equipment at one of our locations across Atlantic Canada. We proudly serve New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and all of Atlantic Canada. Come in today and let our team of courteous experts answer all your questions and help you find what you’re looking for.