Ugly, Belching Steam-Powered Tractors

"QUANTUM SHOT" #524
Link - by Craig Finch and Avi Abrams

Jules Verne was swallowed by one of these, but escaped unharmed

Just when you thought that we had covered all possible steampunk-ish machinery... here comes another kind of steam transportation: obnoxious, loud, belching steam-powered tractors... oh yeah.

(images by Marvin and Joe Ross)

Of course, when we say ugly, we have to qualify that statement, as some models look positively dashing indeed:

(image credit: Chad Settlemier)

(image credit: Chris Stanbury)

Looking inside the steam engine, you'll find iron balls, pipes and intriguing emblems:

(images by David de Groot, Derek Silver, Werner Wittersheim)

We wrote about Steam Buses and Trucks and Cars with Propellers, but in the 1900s steam-powered tractors were out and running around at a fairgrounds, plowing fields, and powering machinery, with many surviving antique examples still doing the same thing today (not sitting in some museum).

(photos by Wisconsin Historical Society and Tom Lehman - in Puerto Rico in the late 1940s.)

Case steam tractor pulling Case stationary engine -- Mason Steam Tractor Show 2008:

(image credit: Joe Ross)

Craig Finch writes to us: "If you were a farmer, would you be impressed if someone tried to sell you a full-size farm tractor with 22 horsepower? After all, today you can go down to your local hardware store and easily purchase a little riding lawnmower with 20 horsepower. To really understand the story of steam tractors, put yourself in the muddy shoes of a farmer in the 1870's:

(image credit: National Media Museum)

When you are plowing a field, walking behind a "two horsepower" team and stepping in the "natural fertilizer" they leave behind, the idea of a 22 horsepower tractor suddenly seems rather attractive. This Huber steam tractor (probably built around 1921) boasted 22 horsepower:

Steam tractors came in many sizes, to suit various needs. Shown here is a tractor form an identical pair built by the J.I. Case company between 1915 and 1924. Their empty weight is about 20,000 pounds. They make around 65 horsepower at the belt and 45 at the drawbar, and could plow six or more rows at once. In contrast, a team of four mules could plow only two or three rows at once:

This tractor is an Advance-Rumely Universal. Advance-Rumely was a competitor to J.I. Case, and was eventually acquired by the Allis-Chalmers Company:

Photos cannot convey the most interesting aspect of a steam tractor--the way its pistons, valves, gears, and wheels are in constant motion. You really have to see a video and watch the intricate machinery in action (and more videos are here)

link

A tractor must feel most at home in a field, getting ready to do some work. These beasts are actually suprisingly maneuverable. The driver has little trouble backing the tractor up to a plow - (video). Finally, it is time to get some work done:

Here is a modern interpretation of a steam tractor. This is not an antique, but a home-made contraption with an upright boiler, a multi-cylinder engine (and a large umbrella) on a conventional tractor frame. Its primary purpose seems to be transporting its driver around the fair in style!

The internal combustion engine put an end to the reign of the steam tractors. This is a Rumely Oilpull, which ran on kerosene. Kerosene was cheaper and more plentiful than gasoline in those days. The tractor was called the "Oilpull" because oil was used in the cooling system instead of water. The "smokestack" on the front is actually part of the cooling system.

Today the steam tractor is a relic from a bygone era... but its massive descendents are only slightly less impressive, and they will be with us as long as there are fields to be planted.

(most photos above were sent by Craig Finch)

Pictures of steam tractors are good, and videos are better, but you cannot appreciate their size and power and character without actually seeing one in operation. Find a steam reunion in your area, and support the men and women who keep this amazing tradition alive. These photos were taken at the Central States Threshermens' Reunion in Pontiac, IL on Labor Day weekend, 2008.

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Russian Armored Tractors from the World War One era

When you can't build a tank (for various reason), the next best thing is to convert a tractor into a heavily-armored vehicle - which is exactly what Russian engineers had to do during the difficult economic and production times of World War One. It all started in 1916 when some Russian officers customized an English-made chassis to make an "ultimate off-road vehicle":

After that followed the "Red October", "Red Petersburg", models - most from 1918-1920.

Then in the 1930s, Stalin-era tractor factories were converting tractors into heavy tanks and armored vehicles, with heavy guns on top:

Shown below are the models "Kommunar", D-11, D-14. They looks very solid and serious - good for action in some possible "Damnation Alley" movie remake.