112-497: The Ferguson TE20 is an agricultural tractor designed by Harry Ferguson . By far his most successful design, it was manufactured from 1946 until 1956, and was commonly known as the Little Grey Fergie . It marked a major advance in tractor design, distinguished by light weight, small size, manoeuvrability and versatility. The TE20 popularised Harry Ferguson's invention of the hydraulic three-point hitch system around
224-794: A gentlemen's agreement with Ford, also referred to as the handshake agreement, to produce the Ferguson tractor in Detroit starting in mid-1939. Officially called the Ford Tractor Ferguson System they are more commonly known as the Ford-Ferguson. The first Ford-Ferguson 9N (for 1939 model N) tractors arrived in the United Kingdom in October, 1939 and thousands would be imported to help with food production during
336-502: A 20 hp (15 kW) 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. He filed for
448-511: A Ferguson-designed hydraulic hitch. In 1938 Ferguson entered into a collaboration with Henry Ford to produce the 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 (PTO) shaft that could be used to power three point hitch mounted implements such as sickle-bar mowers. In 1969, General Electric introduced
560-452: A TE20 (for "Tractor England") to be built by Ford's plant at Dagenham. Ford however was unwilling and it was Standard which was to build the tractors at Banner Lane. The first TE20 model used a Continental Z-120 petrol engine, but the TE-A20 and later models used a new engine developed by Standard. The new tractor engine appeared in 1947. It was a petrol powered four-cylinder engine with
672-467: A bore of 80 mm and stroke of 92 mm, for a total capacity of 1,850 cc. The engine was undersquare (long stroke), favouring the tractor's need for torque over horsepower and the British practice of building long stroke engines, dictated by the tax horsepower regulations. A compression ratio of 5.77:1 reflected the era's low octane fuel. Conventional overhead valves were driven from
784-480: A camshaft mounted in the side of the cylinder block via vertical pushrods and adjustable rockers. Cylinder block and crankcase were one piece cast iron , as was the cylinder head . Construction of the engine would be regarded as typical for the 1950s, although this engine was developed in the late 1940s and its lineal derivatives, the Triumph straight-four and straight-six engines, would remain in production into
896-502: A capacity of 2,260 cc. Massey-Ferguson stopped using the Standard engine in favor of Perkins units in 1959. After Standard-Triumph was taken over by Leyland in 1961, this engine was updated and redesignated Leyland OE.138 . A larger capacity of 2,088 cc was achieved by changing the pistons and liners for a bore of 85 mm, retaining the stroke of 92 mm. These are generally known as "85 mm engines", in contrast to
1008-536: A field to haul a plow back and forth between them using a wire cable. In Britain Mann's and Garrett developed steam tractors 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 engines remained in use well into
1120-423: A high tractive effort (or torque ) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture , mining or construction . Most commonly, the term is used to describe a farm vehicle that provides the power and traction to mechanize agricultural tasks, especially (and originally) tillage , and now many more. Agricultural implements may be towed behind or mounted on
1232-488: 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 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 –
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#17327905406591344-410: A means to transfer power to another machine such as a baler , swather , or mower . Unless it functions solely by pulling it through or over the ground, a towed implement needs its own power source (such as a baler or combine with a separate engine) or else a means of transmitting power from the tractor to the mechanical operations of the equipment. Early tractors used belts or cables wrapped around
1456-434: A number of trailers and loaders , seed drills , a side-mounted baler , a very rare 'wraparound' combine harvester , a muck spreader , a sickle mower and a powered auger . With its power take-off , the tractor could also drive stand-alone equipment, such as pumps, milking machinery or circular saws, by belt or driveshaft. Ferguson became well known for its effective and distinctive advertising, intended to demonstrate
1568-411: A part of the tractor, almost as if it were attached by a fixed mount. Previously, when the implement hit an obstacle, the towing link broke or the tractor flipped over. Ferguson's idea was to combine a connection via two lower and one upper lift arms that were connected to a hydraulic lifting ram. The ram was, in turn, connected to the upper of the three links so the increased drag (as when a plough hits
1680-480: 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 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
1792-560: 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. 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
1904-428: A permanent part of the cylinder head. The separate tubes were reliable, less expensive to manufacture than casting them into the head, and gave that side of the engine its distinctive "hollow" appearance with the rocker box appearing to be supported by columns. Farms up until then had little machinery, electricity was still uncommon, and the tractor was also expected to be able to power farm machinery . For this purpose,
2016-529: A risk-mitigation standpoint because of what can go wrong if the operator makes a mistake – transmission damage is possible, and loss of vehicle control can occur if the tractor is towing a heavy load either uphill or downhill – something that tractors often do. Therefore, operator's manuals for most of these tractors state one must always stop the tractor before shifting. In newer designs, unsynchronized transmission designs were replaced with synchronization or with continuously variable transmissions (CVTs). Either
2128-403: A rock) caused the hydraulics to lift the implement until the obstacle was passed. Recently, Bobcat's patent on its front loader connection (inspired by these earlier systems) has expired, and compact tractors are now being outfitted with quick-connect attachments for their front-end loaders . In addition to towing an implement or supplying tractive power through the wheels, most tractors have
2240-433: A rollover risk depending on how the tractive torque was applied. The Fordson tractor was prone to roll backward due to an excessively short wheelbase. The linkage between the implement and the tractor usually had some slack which could lead to jerky starts and greater wear and tear on the tractor and the equipment. Drawbars were appropriate to the dawn of mechanization, because they were very simple in concept and because as
2352-467: A self-propelled one. The alteration was made by fitting a long driving chain between the crankshaft and the rear axle. 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 plowing engines . They were used in pairs, placed on either side of
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#17327905406592464-415: A separate, implement-mounted power source, which is almost never seen in modern farm equipment. It is also optional to get a front PTO as well when buying a new tractor. Virtually all modern tractors can also provide external hydraulic fluid and electrical power to the equipment they are towing, either by hoses or wires. Modern tractors have many electrical switches and levers in the cab for controlling
2576-545: 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 Agricultural Show , in 1903 and 1904. About 500 were built, and many were exported all over
2688-410: A synchronized manual transmission with enough available gear ratios (often achieved with dual ranges, high and low) or a CVT allow the engine speed to be matched to the desired final-drive speed, while keeping engine speed within the appropriate speed (as measured in rotations per minute or rpm) range for power generation (the working range) (whereas throttling back to achieve the desired final-drive speed
2800-627: A tractor variant), growing with time. The engine's origins lay in the wartime production of Bristol aero engines at the new Banner Lane shadow factory , operated by Standard in Coventry . From 1939 this factory produced Bristol Hercules engines, an air-cooled radial engine, with Bristol's typical sleeve valves . With peace in 1945, this huge factory then stood empty. During the war, Ford had built tractors for Ferguson in Detroit. Afterwards, Ferguson wished to continue this arrangement with an improved TO20 tractor (for "Tractor Overseas") and also
2912-492: A training school in the grounds of Stoneleigh Abbey , close to the Banner Lane factory. There, Ferguson dealers, salesmen and engineers were trained on the new machines they would be working on, and courses were also run for farmers to learn how to most effectively operate the tractors and the various implements. Coventry production up to 1956 was 517,651 units, with about 66% being exported, mainly to Continental Europe and
3024-421: A two-point "Fast Hitch", and John Deere had a power lift that was somewhat similar to the more flexible Ferguson invention. Once the patent protection expired on the three-point hitch, it became an industry standard. Almost every tractor today features Ferguson's three-point linkage or a derivative of it. This hitch allows for easy attachment and detachment of implements while allowing the implement to function as
3136-454: Is a plug-in, powered by an electrical cable. Kubota is prototyping an autonomous electric tractor. Most older farm tractors use a manual transmission with several gear ratios , typically three to six, sometimes multiplied into two or three ranges. This arrangement provides a set of discrete ratios that, combined with the varying of the throttle, allow final-drive speeds from less than one up to about 25 miles per hour (40 km/h), with
3248-523: Is a trade-off that leaves the working range). The problems, solutions, and developments described here also describe the history of transmission evolution in semi-trailer trucks . The biggest difference is fleet turnover; whereas most of the old road tractors have long since been scrapped, many of the old farm tractors are still in use. Therefore, old transmission design and operation is primarily just of historical interest in trucking, whereas in farming it still often affects daily life. The power produced by
3360-572: Is the key to the success of all subsequent Ferguson and later Massey Ferguson "Ferguson System" tractors, the most important of which are the TE and TO 20 models. (It was the production of the Model A that led to the David Brown line of tractors in 1939). In order to get volume production with lower costs, following a demonstration of his tractor before Henry Ford Senior in October 1938, Ferguson made
3472-443: Is the replacement of wheels or steel crawler-type tracks with flexible, steel-reinforced rubber tracks, usually powered by hydrostatic or completely hydraulic driving mechanisms. The configuration of these tractors bears little resemblance to the classic farm tractor design. The predecessors of modern tractors, traction engines, used steam engines for power. Since the turn of the 20th century, internal combustion engines have been
Ferguson TE20 - Misplaced Pages Continue
3584-558: Is via a quick hitch, which is attached to the three-point hitch. This enables a single person to attach an implement quicker and put the person in less danger when attaching the implement. The three-point hitch revolutionized farm tractors and their implements. While the Ferguson System was still under patent, other manufacturers developed new hitching systems to try to fend off some of Ferguson's competitive advantage. For example, International Harvester's Farmall tractors gained
3696-696: The British Empire , but to many other countries as well. To the above figure must be added TO production at Ferguson Park, Detroit. Including all 'Ferguson System' tractors from May 1936 to July 1956 brings the figure to approximately 1 million. Between 1953 and 1957, over 37,000 TE20 tractors were assembled in Saint-Denis near Paris by a joint venture between the Standard Motor Company and Automobiles Hotchkiss . Additionally, in 1957 and 1958, Standard-Hotchkiss built nearly 29,000 of
3808-794: The Elec-Trak , the first commercial, electric tractor (electric-powered garden tractor). The Elec-Trak was manufactured by General Electric until 1975. Electric tractors are manufactured by a German company, Fendt , and by US companies, Solectrac and Monarch Tractor. John Deere 's protoype electric tractor is a plug-in, powered by an electrical cable. Kubota is prototyping an autonomous electric tractor. Tractors can be generally classified by number of axles or wheels, with main categories of two-wheel tractors (single-axle tractors) and four-wheel tractors (two-axle tractors); more axles are possible but uncommon. Among four-wheel tractors (two-axle tractors), most are two-wheel drive (usually at
3920-541: The Netherlands , and Germany , the word "tractor" usually means "farm tractor", and the use of the word "tractor" to mean other types of vehicles is familiar to the vehicle trade, but unfamiliar to much of the general public. In Canada and the US , the word may also refer to the road tractor portion of a tractor trailer truck , but also usually refers to the piece of farm equipment. The first powered farm implements in
4032-857: The Triumph Motor Company in 1944 and, after the Second World War, began manufacture of the Triumph Town and Country saloon and the Triumph Roadster based on pre-war Standard components. The drivetrain of the Roadster was replaced by the Vanguard drivetrain, including the 85 mm wet liner engine, in October 1948; the saloon's drivetrain was similarly transplanted in February 1949. The wet liner engine
4144-413: The flywheel or a separate belt pulley to power stationary equipment, such as a threshing machine, buzz saw, silage blower, or stationary baler. In most cases, it was impractical for the tractor and equipment to move with a flexible belt or cable between them, so this system required the tractor to remain in one location, with the work brought to the equipment, or the tractor to be relocated at each turn and
4256-498: The 1910s, when they became smaller and more affordable. Henry Ford introduced the Fordson , a wildly popular mass-produced tractor, in 1917. 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 engines had become
4368-472: The 1950s, most notably the Vanguard . Later it was successfully used in Standard's popular early generation Triumph TR series sports cars. The water-cooled overhead valve engine featured novel advances for an immediate post-war design, which included thin-wall bearings with replaceable shells and loose-fitted wet liners . Displacement varied from 1,850 cc to 2,088 cc (and 2,188 cc in
4480-413: The 1950s. The distinctive, and unusual, feature of the engine was its use of wet liners to form the cylinders. Rather than the cylinders being bored into the cast-iron block, separate thin-walled steel tubes were inserted into a hollow block. The space between liner and block formed a large uninterrupted water jacket, which improved cylinder heat dispersal into the cooling system, as did the thin tubes of
4592-434: The 1970s. In some aspects it was advanced for its day, particularly in its use of components such as pistons being pre-graded into standardised sizes and marked as such. This avoided the need for costly hand-fitting during assembly and also simplified replacement in service. It was one of the first mass-production engines to use thin-wall bearings : a steel shell faced with whitemetal bearing material. Rather than re-metalling
Ferguson TE20 - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-623: The 20th century until reliable internal combustion engines had been developed. 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. In 1892, John Froelich built a gasoline-powered tractor in Clayton County, Iowa , US. 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. After receiving
4816-613: The Detroit-built TO20 introduced a year later. The 80 mm bore 'Standard' petrol engine was phased in during mid-1947 as the TEA-20, approximately 3,000 of the 20,500 tractors built to 31 December 1947 being TEA-20s. Subsequent to the introduction of the 85 mm bore TED-20 in April 1949, the petrol engine was also made with an 85 mm bore, which increased its power to just over 28 hp. The term "Fergie 28" refers to
4928-721: The FF30; introduced in January 1957, this version had 100 percent French parts content, a sprung seat, a red-painted engine and chassis, and power was up to 30 hp (22 kW). The FF30 was nicknamed Ventre Rouge ("Red Belly") in France. Local parts content had been gradually increased, for instance, the engines began to be locally assembled in 1955. Harry Ferguson merged his worldwide companies with Massey-Harris of Toronto in July 1953, three years before TE and TO20 production ended, hence
5040-871: The Ferguson Black, was built to further technical development and for demonstrating to potential manufacturers. During 1936, the first production Ferguson tractors were built in Huddersfield , Yorkshire, by the David Brown Company . That tractor, the Ferguson Model A, incorporated Harry Ferguson's "suction side" hydraulic control system, the key to solving sensitive automatic control of three-point mounted implements, patented on 5 February 1936 (patent no 470069). The combination of Ferguson's converging three-point hitch, patented on 3 July 1928 (patent no 320084) with his "suction side control" valve
5152-463: The Ferguson company and these show the tractors to have been reliable and effective – being capable of climbing a 1-in-7 slope of "hard polished ice where a man cannot walk without crampons ", as well as operating in conditions of −10 degrees Fahrenheit. Under Hillary these tractors were driven to the South Pole, becoming the first vehicles to be driven to the pole, and the first overland journey to
5264-632: The New Zealand team were fitted with an extra wheel on each side and full caterpillar tracks , developed by the expedition in the Antarctic. In both cases, the track kits were easily removable and in light conditions the tractors were used on standard wheels and tyres. A canvas cabin was added for windproofing. Other than this, the tractors were totally standard – two were even fitted with a standard farmyard hydraulic front-loader for loading and unloading supplies. Reports were made at regular intervals to
5376-526: The TE-F20 tractor. Called the Standard 20C, this was a new engine design, different from the petrol engine. Bore of 3 3/16" and stroke of 4" gave a capacity of 2,092 cc. In 1954 this engine also found its way into the Phase II Vanguard , making this Britain's first production diesel car. This was followed by the Standard 23C engine in 1956. The 23C had its bore increased to 3 5/16" for
5488-565: The TVO tractor was launched incorporating the standard engine as early TE20s used a continental Z-120. There were later versions that ran on tractor vapourising oil (TVO), sometimes called petrol-paraffin or power kerosene. Some were converted in the UK to use a 3-cylinder Perkins diesel engine. Between 1948 and 1951, the TO20 with a Continental engine was built in Detroit, Michigan. These were built with
5600-456: The UK on 17 October 2013. The show is based on the Norwegian children's story and TV series Den lille traktoren Gråtass . Australian folk musician Peter Pentland released an album in 1979 (enlarged 2001) Me Beaut Little Fergie Tractor . Track 6 is the song "Fergie Tractor". Notes Bibliography Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver
5712-697: 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 30 hp (22 kW) at the belt and 18 hp (13 kW) at the drawbar. In 1908, the Saunderson Tractor and Implement Co. of Bedford introduced a four-wheel design, and became the largest tractor manufacturer in Britain at
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#17327905406595824-530: The War. In 1942 due to material shortages after the USA entry into the War the model was updated to the 2N (for 1942 model N). About 300,000 of these tractors, known as "Ford-Fergusons", were produced up to 30 June 1947. During the war years, the Ferguson design team developed many improvements to both tractor and implements and started to make arrangements to manufacture in the United Kingdom. The agreement with Ford in 1938
5936-539: The Wold), due to a barbiturate overdose; it was never established if it was deliberate or not. The engine was the Standard wet liner inline-four engine . Dimensions were: The larger capacity of the petrol-paraffin engine was to compensate for the power reduction resulting from the low compression ratio. Newer versions of the petrol only engine had a 85 mm bore as well. The first TE20s ran on petrol until 1949 when
6048-650: The Z120 engines. TO30s were also built in Michigan with Z-129 engines. Production ceased in 1954. Models and production years, Standard built: Models and production years, Detroit built: Models and production years, Hotchkiss -built (Paris): 517,651 TE20 tractors of all models were built at Banner Lane, Coventry . In mid-1953 Ferguson merged with Massey-Harris to become Massey-Harris-Ferguson . The new company continued both Massey Harris and Ferguson brands until December 1957, when it became Massey Ferguson. The new FE35
6160-466: The abilities of the TE-20 tractor to farmers who previously had used only draft horses and had little experience with mechanised equipment. Public demonstrations of Ferguson tractors and implements were held throughout rural Britain towards the end of the harvest season. A typical demonstration involved fencing off an area 27 by 20 ft (8.2 by 6.1 m) and using a cultivator -equipped TE-20 to till
6272-450: The bearing journals and hand-scraping a new bearing surface to fit the crankshaft, these bearings were disposable after use. Several replacement bearing shells were expected to be fitted before the crankshaft required re-grinding. Had the tractor been built at Ford, Dagenham as originally intended, it is likely that the engine would still have been designed around the whitemetal bearings that Ford continued with on small car engines throughout
6384-698: The change of name on the serial plate to 'Massey-Harris-Ferguson'. The Ferguson 35 replaced the old line in the US in 1955 and the TE20 in the UK in 1956; production in the UK starting in September of that year following re-tooling of the factory. Harry Ferguson remained Chairman of Massey Harris Ferguson until 1957, when he left over an argument over the Ferguson TE60 or LTX project as it is known. Harry Ferguson died on 25 October 1960 at his home (Abbotswood, Stow on
6496-526: The clutches. Twinned brake pedals - one each for left and right side wheels- are placed together on the right side. Some have a pedal for a foot throttle on the far right. Unlike automobiles, throttle speed can also be controlled by a hand-operated lever ("hand throttle"), which may be set to a fixed position. This helps provide a constant speed in field work. It also helps provide continuous power for stationary tractors that are operating an implement by PTO shaft or axle driven belt. The foot throttle gives
6608-631: The coastline of Britain, gaining the record for the longest journey undertaken by tractor. Betsy was donated to the Friends of Ferguson Heritage group in 2004, and can be seen on display at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming in York. Between 1992 and 2015, a TEA-20 was depicted on the New Zealand five-dollar note . There was a portrait of Sir Edmund Hillary on the obverse (front), with one of
6720-512: The complete area - such an area was too small to be worked by a horse or a drawbar-equipped tractor of the time. Advertising also emphasised that in the 'Ferguson System' the tractor was not merely a replacement for the horse but, via its linkage and shaft-drive power take-off , it could mechanise dozens of agricultural tasks previously performed either by separate machines, unwieldy drawbar-mounted trailed equipment, or manual labour. The TE and TO 20 tractors were so revolutionary that Ferguson set up
6832-487: The early 19th century were portable engines – 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. The truly portable engine was invented in 1839 by William Tuxford of Boston, Lincolnshire who started manufacture of an engine built around
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#17327905406596944-517: The engine compartment. This basic design has remained unchanged for a number of years after being pioneered by Wallis, but enclosed cabs are fitted on almost all modern models, for operator safety and comfort. In some localities with heavy or wet soils, notably in the Central Valley of California, the "Caterpillar" or "crawler" type of tracked tractor became popular due to superior traction and flotation. These were usually maneuvered through
7056-430: The engine must be transmitted to the implement or equipment to do the actual work intended for the equipment. This may be accomplished via a drawbar or hitch system if the implement is to be towed or otherwise pulled through the tractive power of the engine, or via a pulley or power takeoff system if the implement is stationary, or a combination of the two. Plows and other tillage equipment are most commonly connected to
7168-484: 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. The first proper traction engine , in the form recognisable today, was developed in 1859 when British engineer Thomas Aveling modified a Clayton & Shuttleworth portable engine , which had to be hauled from job to job by horses, into
7280-513: The forward power unit while the trailing unit is not steered separately. In the early 21st century, articulated or non-articulated, steerable multitrack tractors have largely supplanted the Caterpillar type for farm use. Larger types of modern farm tractors include articulated four-wheel or eight-wheel drive units with one or two power units which are hinged in the middle and steered by hydraulic clutches or pumps. A relatively recent development
7392-406: The gap until the new Ferguson factory in Detroit started in October 1948, more than 25,000 Coventry-built TE20s were shipped to the US and Canada. The TO (Tractor Overseas) 20 was virtually the same as the TE20, with a Continental engine Z-126 fitted instead of the Standard engine. At the time of its introduction the Ferguson three-point linkage was unique to the TE20, and to gain the full utility of
7504-431: The implement being semi-permanently attached with bolts or other mounting hardware. Usually, it was impractical to remove the implement and reinstall it on a day-to-day basis. As a result, the tractor was unavailable for other uses and dedicated to a single use for an appreciable period of time. An implement was generally mounted at the beginning of its season of use (such as tillage, planting or harvesting) and removed when
7616-592: The junction of the Darling and Murray Rivers in Australia commemorating the time in 1956 when both rivers flooded and a fleet of little grey Fergies was used to build levee banks to save the town. A fleet of seven Ferguson TE-20s was used on the 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition which was led by Edmund Hillary . Four petrol-engined and three diesel models were used. Some were supplied as half-tracks , with steerable front skis, whilst others of
7728-447: The liners. The liners were only loosely installed into the block with hand pressure. The sealing of the liners into the engine block was at the bottom by a pair of soft metal "spectacle washers" that each sealed a pair of liners. Each liner stood slightly proud of the cylinder block face. so that it formed a good seal against the head gasket when assembled. Such wet liners had been used in high performance engines for many years, but this
7840-531: The lower speeds used for working the land and the highest speed used on the road. Slow, controllable speeds are necessary for most of the operations performed with a tractor. They help give the farmer a larger degree of control in certain situations, such as field work. When travelling on public roads, the slow operating speeds can cause problems, such as long queues or tailbacks, which can delay or annoy motorists in cars and trucks. These motorists are responsible for being duly careful around farm tractors and sharing
7952-493: The main casting of the cylinder head. The top and bottom faces of the cylinder head were extended to form a flange on the camshaft side of the engine with individual steel tubes placed through the flanges to enclose each pushrod (a similar system was used for the Volkswagen Beetle engine, albeit with longer tubes the entire length of the cylinder). These tubes were expanded at top and bottom to seal them and thus became
8064-471: The manifolds increased the inlet temperature, encouraging vapourisation of the fuel. To avoid problems with fuel condensation in the inlet ports, diameter of the valves (in some engine versions) was also reduced, thus increasing flow velocity. The lamp oil engine used a zero octane paraffin (kerosene) fuel, but was only suitable for use in warm climates, or else the fuel did not vapourise adequately. In March 1951 Standard produced their first diesel engine for
8176-477: The model is also a popular collector's item for enthusiasts today. The model name came from Tractor, England 20 horsepower (not the true power delivered but from a tax formula based on engine size). The TE range of Ferguson tractors was introduced in England in 1946, following 30 years of continuous development of the Ferguson System from 1916. The first work was to design a plough and linkage to integrate
8288-458: The multitude of different functions available on the tractor. Some modern farm tractors retain a traditional manual transmission ; increasingly they have hydraulically driven powershift transmissions and CVT, which vastly simplify operation. Those with powershift transmissions have identical pedal arrangements on the floor for the operator to actuate, replacing a clutch pedal on the far left with an inching pedal that cuts off hydraulic flow to
8400-468: The nominal horsepower of the later range of tractors. To benefit from the reputation of the later models in the used tractor market, the 23HP TE-20 is often advertised simply as TE-20; only very rarely is it referred to in Australia as a "Ferguson 23". In North America the 'Standard' petrol-engined TEA-20s with the 85 mm bore were known and advertised as TE-2085s. There is a monument in Wentworth at
8512-412: The norm. 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
8624-470: The operator more automobile-like control over the speed of a mobile tractor in any operation. Standard inline-four engine The Standard wet liner inline-four engine was an inline four cylinder petrol engine produced by the Standard Motor Company . Originally developed concurrently for passenger car use and for the Ferguson TE20 tractor, it was widely used for Standard passenger cars of
8736-415: The operator to engage the clutch to shift between gears. This mode of use is inherently unsuited to some of the work tractors do, and has been circumvented in various ways over the years. For existing unsynchronized tractors, the methods of circumvention are double clutching or power-shifting, both of which require the operator to rely on skill to speed-match the gears while shifting, and are undesirable from
8848-433: The original "80 mm". After 1955, the engines in Ferguson tractors had a bore of 87 mm, giving a capacity of 2,188 cc engines. The Standard Vanguard used the same 2,088 cc "85 mm" engine that had been developed for the tractor. Compression ratio remained the same at 6:1 but the valve and ignition timing were changed to suit road driving conditions and a more predictable quality of petrol. The governor
8960-791: The pole since Captain Scott. The tractors were left at the pole for the use of American researchers. One of the tractors used by Hillary's party was later repatriated to New Zealand and is on display along with other British Trans-Antarctic Expedition vehicles in the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand. One diesel (TEF-20) example, TEF320709 known as Betsy, earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records in May 2003 when Terry Williams drove it 3,176 miles (5,111 km) around
9072-406: The power set-up reapplied (as in cable-drawn plowing systems used in early steam tractor operations). Modern tractors use a power take-off (PTO) shaft to provide rotary power to machinery that may be stationary or pulled. The PTO shaft generally is at the rear of the tractor, and can be connected to an implement that is either towed by a drawbar or a three-point hitch. This eliminates the need for
9184-488: The power source of choice. Between 1900 and 1960, gasoline was the predominant fuel, with kerosene (the Rumely Oil Pull was the most notable of this kind)being a common alternative. Generally, one engine could burn any of those, although cold starting was easiest on gasoline. Often, a small auxiliary fuel tank was available to hold gasoline for cold starting and warm-up, while the main fuel tank held whatever fuel
9296-425: The rear ); but many are two-wheel drive with front wheel assist, four-wheel drive (often with articulated steering), or track crawler (with steel or rubber tracks). The classic farm tractor is a simple open vehicle , with two very large driving wheels on an axle below a single seat (the seat and steering wheel consequently are in the center), and the engine in front of the driver, with two steerable wheels below
9408-554: The road with them, but many shirk this responsibility, so various ways to minimize the interaction or minimize the speed differential are employed where feasible. Some countries (for example the Netherlands ) employ a road sign on some roads that means "no farm tractors". Some modern tractors, such as the JCB Fastrac, are now capable of much higher road speeds of around 50 mph (80 km/h). Older tractors usually have unsynchronized transmission designs, which often require
9520-441: The season ended. The drawbar system was virtually the exclusive method of attaching implements (other than direct attachment to the tractor) before Harry Ferguson developed the three-point hitch . Equipment attached to the three-point hitch can be raised or lowered hydraulically with a control lever. The equipment attached to the three-point hitch is usually completely supported by the tractor. Another way to attach an implement
9632-514: The second world war, Petrolium based fuel was scarce in many European nations. So they resorted to using wood gasifires on every vehicle, including tractors. In some countries such as Germany, biodiesel is often used. Some other biofuels such as straight vegetable oil are also being used by some farmers. Prototype battery powered electric tractors are being developed by a German company, Fendt , and by two US companies, Solectrac and Monarch Tractor. John Deere 's protoype electric tractor
9744-405: The team make their way through a village, investigating a series of mysterious deaths. It then reappears in a more prominent role in the climax of the episode, when Jack Harkness smashes it through a wall in order to break in to a pub and rescue the other team members, who are being held hostage. A TE20 is the star of a TV series for preschool children, The Little Grey Fergie , which premiered in
9856-544: 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. While unpopular at first, these gasoline-powered machines began to catch on in
9968-407: The tractor and its implement into a single mechanised unit was marketed as 'The Ferguson System', presenting a wholly new and entirely mechanised form of agriculture. By 1950 there were over 60 official Ferguson implements for the TE20, many of which had not been seen in mechanised tractor-mounted form before. As well as basic implements such as ploughs , harrows and cultivators , the range included
10080-499: The tractor replaced the horse, existing horse-drawn implements usually already had running gear. As the history of mechanization progressed, the advantages of other hitching systems became apparent, leading to new developments (see below). Depending on the function for which a tractor is used, though, the drawbar is still one of the usual means of attaching an implement to a tractor (see photo at left). Some tractor manufacturers produced matching equipment that could be directly mounted on
10192-416: The tractor the farmer also had to purchase specially-designed implements to work with the tractor. Ferguson initially designed and manufactured a range of implements for the TE20 in-house, but as the tractor's popularity spread other manufacturers began designing their own machinery for the TE20 in agricultural, industrial, construction and horticultural applications. The idea that the three-point linkage made
10304-401: The tractor via a drawbar . The classic drawbar is simply a steel bar attached to the tractor (or in some cases, as in the early Fordsons, cast as part of the rear transmission housing) to which the hitch of the implement was attached with a pin or by a loop and clevis . The implement could be readily attached and removed, allowing the tractor to be used for other purposes on a daily basis. If
10416-408: The tractor was 23.9 hp although the tax rating of 20 hp gave the tractor its model number of TE20. The first tractor models of 1947 were built for petrol fuel. In 1949 versions of the engine using TVO , and in 1950 lamp oil were introduced. TVO has a low octane rating of around 60 and so the engine had the usual changes to compression ratio and ignition timing. A heat shield around
10528-413: The tractor was equipped with a power take-off shaft at the rear. This could drive either a hitched implement such as a rotovator , or static machinery such as a thresher . The engine was fitted with a governor to allow the engine speed to be set somewhere between idling speed of 400 rpm and full power speed of 2,200 rpm, maintaining this speed against varying loads. The "belt hp" rating of
10640-431: The tractor was equipped with a swinging drawbar, then it could be set at the center or offset from center to allow the tractor to run outside the path of the implement. The drawbar system necessitated the implement having its own running gear (usually wheels) and in the case of a plow, chisel cultivator or harrow, some sort of lift mechanism to raise it out of the ground at turns or for transport. Drawbars necessarily posed
10752-418: The tractor with its work in a manner that was an engineering whole. The automatic control system is now employed by almost all tractor manufacturers worldwide. A British patent was applied for by Harry Ferguson in 1925 and granted the following year. By the early 1930s, the linkage design was finalised and is now adopted as international standard category I. Just one prototype Ferguson System tractor, known as
10864-557: The tractor would be built in its huge " shadow factory " which had been an aero engine plant during World War II but was then standing empty. Standard developed a new wet-liner engine for the tractor, and for Standard's road cars, such as the Vanguard . Production started in the late summer of 1946, nearly a year before the last Ford Ferguson came off the line in Detroit in June 1947. The break with Ford left Harry Ferguson and his US company with implements to sell but no tractors. To make up
10976-501: The tractor, and the tractor may also provide a source of power if the implement is mechanised. The word tractor was taken from Latin , being the agent noun of trahere "to pull". The first recorded use of the word meaning "an engine or vehicle for pulling wagons or plows" occurred in 1896, from the earlier term " traction motor" (1859). In the UK , Ireland , Australia , India , Spain , Argentina , Slovenia , Serbia , Croatia ,
11088-399: The tractor. Examples included front-end loaders, belly mowers, row crop cultivators, corn pickers and corn planters. In most cases, these fixed mounts were proprietary and unique to each make of tractor, so an implement produced by John Deere, for example, could not be attached to a Minneapolis Moline tractor. Another disadvantage was mounting usually required some time and labor, resulting in
11200-487: The tractors used in his Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition at the bottom-left corner. A Ferguson tractor was also depicted on a New Zealand $ 1.50 postage stamp as part of a set of five commemorating the life of Sir Edmund Hillary, issued in 2008. A TE20 with a cab makes a brief cameo in the sixth episode, Countrycide , of the British Science-Fiction series, Torchwood . It is seen briefly when
11312-437: The use of turning brake pedals and separate track clutches operated by levers rather than a steering wheel. Four-wheel drive tractors began to appear in the 1960s. Some four-wheel drive tractors have the standard "two large, two small" configuration typical of smaller tractors, while some have four large, powered wheels. The larger tractors are typically an articulated, center-hinged design steered by hydraulic cylinders that move
11424-456: The world, and the system quickly became an international standard for tractors of all makes and sizes that has remained to this day. The tractor played a large part in introducing widespread mechanised agriculture . In many parts of the world the TE20 was the first tractor to be affordable to the average farmer and was small and light enough to replace the draft horse and manual labour. Many TE20s remain in regular use in farming and other work and
11536-510: The world. The original engine was made by Payne & Co. of Coventry . After 1906, French Aster engines were used. The first successful American tractor was built by Charles W. Hart and 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 14,000 pounds (6,400 kg) #3 is the oldest surviving internal combustion engine tractor in
11648-419: Was an early example of them for a low-cost, mass-production engine. Particularly with the advanced grinding techniques necessary to make such a thin-walled tube with good concentricity and surface finish, other manufacturers saw them as over-complex. However Banner Lane's building of sleeve-valve Bristol engines during the war had given them the necessary experience and equipment. Throughout the engine's service it
11760-420: Was an economy version introduced in 1957. The engine in the original Ensign had its cylinders sleeved to 76 mm, giving a capacity of 1670 cc and a power output of 60 hp (45 kW) at 4000 rpm. In 1962 this was replaced by an uprated Ensign with an 86 mm bore, giving a capacity of 2138 cc and a power output of 75 hp (56 kW) at 4100 rpm. The last car to use this engine
11872-544: Was introduced in October 1956 in grey and gold livery and became the red and grey MF35 at the Smithfield Show in December 1957. The colloquial term "Ferguson 28" is sometimes used in Australia and New Zealand for later models of the TE-20 including the petrol TEA-20 and diesel TEF-20. "Ferguson 28" has never been an official tractor model designation. Initially the TE20 had the 'Continental' Z120 23HP engine, as did
11984-851: Was most convenient or least expensive for the particular farmer. In the United Kingdom, a gasoline-kerosene engine is known as a petrol-paraffin engine . Dieselisation gained momentum starting in the 1960s, and modern farm tractors usually employ diesel engines , which range in power output from 18 to 575 horsepower (15 to 480 kW). Size and output are dependent on application, with smaller tractors used for lawn mowing , landscaping, orchard work, and truck farming , and larger tractors for vast fields of wheat, corn, soy, and other bulk crops. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) or propane also have been used as tractor fuels, but require special pressurized fuel tanks and filling equipment and produced less power, so are less prevalent in most markets. Most are confined for inside work due to their clean burning. During
12096-453: Was removed and the power output rose to 68 bhp. The Phase III version of the Vanguard, introduced in 1955, had a compression ratio of 7.5:1 but the power output remained at 68 hp (51 kW). The engine was also used in two variants of the Vanguard. The Sportsman was a high-performance version made in 1956 and 1957 with two SU carburettors and a compression ratio of 8:1, yielding 90 hp (67 kW) at 4500 rpm. The Ensign
12208-427: Was seen as a dependable and reliable engine, if slightly staid and tractor-like. The liners never gave the trouble experienced by other engines such as the much later Rover K-series . Another distinctive, although less revolutionary, feature of the engine was the location of the tubes carrying the valve pushrods. Rather than being cast inside the cylinder head, thus requiring more cores and complexity, they were outside
12320-503: Was the Standard 2000 in India. When it was introduced in 1986, the engine was modified with Heron combustion chamber, twin SU carburetors and a redesigned inlet manifold. The bore was around 84.45mm and original stroke of 92mm made it into a 2061cc engine. It made a claimed 83 bhp at 4250 rpm and production ended when Standard India shut down in 1988. Standard bought the assets of
12432-537: Was to include production at the Ford plant at Dagenham , Essex, but the UK Ford company would not do it. By 1945, Ferguson had made a manufacturing agreement with the Standard Motor Company of Coventry to produce a Ferguson tractor incorporating all their latest improvements and to be known as the TE20. As well as allowing Ferguson to get his tractor into full production, the deal was of great benefit to Standard, because
12544-647: Was used in all Triumph TR -series sports cars from the TR-X and 20TS prototypes to the TR4A . All the TRs using this engine used two SU carburettors except the TR4A, which used two Strombergs . The wet liner engine was sold to specialist manufacturers without the resources to build their own engines. Most notable among these was Morgan , which used the engine in their Plus 4 . Others included sports car maker Peerless , which
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