The years before and after World War I were a remarkable time of engineering innovation for the materials and components of tractors.
Advances from the 1900s to 1920s were significant for tractors, according to historian Dave Mowitz.
Among the innovations were lighter and stronger metals and engines that generated more power but were smaller in size and weight.
Improved transmissions offered an increasing number of speeds delivered by gears that meshed smoothly in operation.
Electrical systems generated a reliable spark to the engine and constant power for such advances as lighting and cooling systems that kept hard-working engines chilled.
There were also devices that scrubbed dirt from the air, or precisely doled out fuel and general mechanical components, and fasteners that were lighter yet more durable.
In 1846, Englishman Henry Bessemmer created a process where more oxygen was added to blast furnaces to remove excess carbon from steel. Before this, making a good, strong steel took weeks. The Bessemmer process accomplished the task in minutes.
Andrew Carnegie embraced what would become known as the Bessemmer Process, which made the production of steel cheaper and more plentiful. This new steel was crucial to the development of more powerful engines that could withstand the high pressures of combustion reactions.
In 1902, electric arc welding made fabricating vehicles from steel faster and more affordable. In 1910, the advance of striking an arc from a coated metal electrode was used extensively in tractor fabrication.
Before 1839, wood was the material of choice for bearings. That year, American Isaac Babbit invented an antifriction alloy that was melted and poured into molds surrounding bearing points in an engine block and caps.
An alternative to the Babbit bearing was conjured up by Henry Timken. Use of Timken’s roller bearing, which found ready use in engines, axles, and load shafts, expanded so much that in 1923 Timken bragged, “wherever wheels and shafts turn,” a Timken roller bearing was in use.
The roller bearing was not alone in carrying a load. In 1907, Swedish inventors innovated the double-roll, self-aligning ball bearing.
Grease, engine oil, and related lubricants, although simplistic in formulation and often of questionable quality, were available in the early 1900s.
However, the methods used to deliver these lubricants were crude and unreliable.
Lubrication of engine cylinders, main bearings, and bull gears was accomplished with a drip or sight-feed oiler. Such feed systems were erratic which led to the introduction of force-feed oilers and grease gun applicators.
Power-drive plunger pumps offered metering control of oil to engine parts. Combined with a force-feed slash system designed for the engine crankcases, there was no question of whether bearings or piston rings were being lubricated.
Enclosing transmission gears allowed gear oil to be employed in a bath to ensure a long life for power transfer.
In 1916, Arthur Gullborg researched supplying grease to bearings and bushing. Gullborg innovated the use of a pump that supplied grease to a hose attached to a female fitting. That fitting would be pressed on a male connection that was hollowed out and fitted with a small spring with a metal ball at the end.
The result was the grease fitting, and Gullborg went on to create the Alemite Lubrication Company in 1918 and grease guns became a universal tool on farms.
Eventually, the performance of both oils and greases improved with advanced refinement processes and the addition of additives to protect against friction.
In 1918, USDA sent questionnaires to more than 2,000 tractor owners asking them what part of their tractor caused them the biggest problem.
No. 1 on the list? Magnetos, followed by spark plugs.
The performance of low-tension ignition systems at the turn of the last century was hazardous. It included weak batteries, poorly insulated electrodes, weak magnets, damp spark coils, weak ignitor plugs, and poor contact points.
Robert Bosch created magneto ignition devices for cars in 1897. By 1902, Bosch created the first high-voltage magneto system, followed a few years later with the first functioning spark plug.
Dust and particulates, along with poor lubrication in early tractors, raised havoc with engines in the late 1800s causing cylinders and pistons to become badly worn. The problem was that air for combustion was being drawn directly into the engine without filtration.
In the late 1920s, a self-contained oil-type air cleaner was invented that cleaned air by passing it through a mist of light-grade oil and a wire mesh filter. It was highly effective in removing dust and particulates.
Engineers turned to rudimentary designs to dole out fuel and mix it with air to produce a readily ignitable mist.
In the late 1800s, Wisconsin’s Anthony Messina was working to perfect a carburetor that employed two jets to spray fuel. One jet provided a rich mixture rate while the other worked to offer a lean rate. The mixture of these rates was then combined in the right proportions according to engine speed and load.
Messina’s carburetor, which he labeled the Zenith, caught the eye of Henry Ford who started using it on his Model T cars in 1908. This launched Zenith Fuel Systems in 1911, which quickly branched out to build tractor carburetors.
Until the late 1800s, transmitting power to the ground involved crude cast-iron gears operating in open cases.
That all changed when heat-treated, machine-cut packs of gears were mounted in a casing that was not only enclosed, but also bathed gears in lubricant. The availability of steel alloys created gears that were smaller and more durable.
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