Steam Engine
Invented
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In 1769 James Watt took out a patent on a steam engine making use of a separate condenser. James Watt's improved steam
engine transformed previously designed steam engines, which had hardly changed for fifty years, into a source of power
that transformed the world of work, and was the key innovation that brought forth the Industrial Revolution. The contributions
made by Watt were of such significance that he is frequently referred to as the
inventor of the steam engine. |
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The importance of the
steam engine invention can hardly be underestimated--it gave us the modern world. A key feature of it
was that it brought the engine out of the remote coal fields into factories where many mechanics, engineers, and even tinkerers were exposed to its virtues and limitations. It was a platform for generations of inventive men to improve. It was
clear to many that higher pressures produced in improved boilers would produce engines having even higher efficiency,
and would lead to the revolution first in transportation that was soon embodied in the locomotive and steamboat and later
to the farm field and the Traction Steam Engine.
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Farmers started buying
self-propelled steam engines
in the late 1870's in
considerable numbers. In 1890
approximately 3000 steam tractors and 2661 steam
threshers were built. In 1894
several plow manufacturers
advertised multiple-bottom steam
tractor plows or gangs.
By 1900 more than 30 firms were
manufacturing some 5,000 large
steam-traction engines a year.
These tractors were greatly
improved over earlier models.
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Tractor and Farming
Landmarks in Steam
Engine History |
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Nichols & Shepard
Steam Engine Tractor
click on image to
enlarge |
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Nichols & Shepard
Steam Engine Tractor
click on image to
enlarge |
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Steam Engines |
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Nichols & Shepard
Nichols & Shepard came out with its first steam engine
in 1911, and kept building tractors into 1929 . That year saw the merger of Hart-Parr Co., Nichols &
Shepard Co., American Seeding Machine Co., and Oliver Chilled Plow Works into one company named Oliver . |
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FARMALL
REGULAR - F20 |
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International Harvester Company built 135,000 regular Farmall tractors between 1923 and 1932,
when the name was changed to "F-20." (The F- 12 was also introduced in 1932 by International Harvester and 132,000 F-12's were built between 1932 and 1938.)
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