Traction engine
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A traction engine is a wheeled steam engine used to move heavy loads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it. They are also known as "Road locomotives" to distinguish them from (railway) steam locomotives - ie steam engines that run on rails.
Traction engines tend to be large, extremely heavy, slow, and poorly maneuverable. Nevertheless, they revolutionized agriculture and road haulage at a time when the only alternative prime mover was the draught horse.
The machines typically have two large powered wheels at the back and two smaller wheels for steering at the front. However, some traction engines used a four-wheel-drive variation.
They became popular in industrialised countries from around 1840, when the farm machinery company Ransomes of Ipswich developed a portable steam engine for agricultural use. Production continued well into the early part of the 20th century.
Traction engines were cumbersome and ill-suited to crossing soft or heavy ground so their agricultural use was usually either "in the belt" – powering farm machinery by means of a continuous leather belt driven by the flywheel – or in pairs, dragging an implement on a cable from one side of a field to another. However, where soil conditions permitted, direct hauling of implements ("off the drawbar") was preferred.
Manufacturers continued to seek a solution to realise the economic benefits of direct-pull ploughing, and, particularly in North America, this led to the development of the steam tractor.
[edit] History
The earliest mobile steam engine is thought to have been invented by Nicolas Cugnot who demonstrated an engine for hauling artillery at the Paris arsenal on October 23, 1769. Unfortunately the idea was discredited when a similar engine ran into a brick wall during a demonstration in Paris.
The traction engine, in the form recognisable today, developed from an experiment in 1859 when Aveling and Porter modified a Clayton and Shuttleworth portable engine, which had to be hauled from job to job by horses, into a self-propelled one. The alteration was made by fitting a long driving chain between the crankshaft and the rear axle, and this set the basic design for the next 60-odd years.
All types of traction engines have now been superseded by internal combustion engine -powered equivalents.
[edit] Operation
- See: steam engine for a description of how the actual engine worked
Although the first 'traction engine' had a chain drive, it is more typical for large gears to be used to transfer the drive from the crankshaft to the rear axle.
[edit] Usage
Traction engines saw use in a variety of roles between 1840 and 1940. They can be divided according to their use.
[edit] Portable engine
Essentially a small agricultural engine that was not self-propelled. Could be towed by horses to the work site where it would drive machinery using a belt from its flywheel.
Some have two flywheels mounted on the same shaft (either side of the engine) of different diameters. This enables the farmer to select a slower speed for farmyard work (eg chopping feedstuffs) than used for threshing (for example).
[edit] Ploughing engine
A distinct form of traction engine, characterised by the provision of a large diameter winding drum driven by separate gearing from the steam engine. Onto the drum a long length of wire rope was wound, which was used to haul an implement, such as a plough, across a field.
The winding drum was either mounted horizontally (below the boiler), vertically (to one side), or even concentrically, so that it encircled the boiler. The majority were under-slung (horizontal), however, and necessitated the use of an extra-long boiler to allow enough space for the drum to fit between the front and back wheels. These designs were the largest and longest traction engines to be built.
Mostly the ploughing engines worked in pairs, one on each side of the field, with the rope from each machine fastened to the implement to be hauled. The two drivers communicated by signals using the engine whistles.
A variety of implements were constructed for use with ploughing engines. The most common were the balance plough and the cultivator - ploughing and cultivating being the most physically demanding jobs to do on an arable farm. Other implements included the mole drainer, used to create an underground drainage 'pipe', and the dredger bucket, used for dredging rivers or castle moats.
The engines were frequently provided with a 'spud tray' on the front axle, to store the 'spuds' which would be fitted to the wheels when when travelling across claggy ground.
Ploughing engines were rare in the U.S.; ploughs were usually hauled directly by an agricultural engine or steam tractor.
[edit] Agricultural (general purpose) engine
The most common form in the countryside. They were used for hauling and as a stationary power source. Even when farmers did not own such a machine they would rely upon it from time to time. Many farms would use draught horses throughout the year, but during the harvest, threshing contractors would travel from farm to farm hauling the threshing machine which would be set up in the field and powered from the engine — a good example of the moveable stationary engine.
[edit] U.S. (agricultural) traction engine
Favourable soil conditions meant that U.S. traction engines usually pulled their plows behind them, thereby eliminating the complexities of providing a cable drum and extra gearing, hence simplifying maintenance. American traction engines were manufactured in a variety of sizes, with the 6 horsepower Russell being the smallest commercially made, and the large engines made by Russell, Case, and Reeves being the largest.
[edit] Steam tractor (U.S.)
In North America, the term steam tractor usually refers to a type of agricultural tractor powered by a steam engine, used extensively in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
[edit] Steam tractor (UK)
In Great Britain, the term steam tractor is more usually applied to the smallest models of traction engine – typically those weighing seven tons or less – used for hauling small loads on public roads. Although known as light steam tractors, these engines are generally just smaller versions of the 'road locomotive'.
They were popular in the timber trade in the UK, although variations were also designed for general light road haulage and showman's use.
[edit] Road locomotive
Used for haulage of heavy loads on public highways, it was not uncommon for two or even three to be coupled together to allow heavier loads to be handled.
A particularly distinctive form was the Showman's engine. These were operated by travelling showmen both to tow fairground equipment and to power it when set up; either directly or by running a generator. These could be highly decorated and formed part of the spectacle of the fair. Some were fitted with a small crane that could be used when assembling the ride.
[edit] Steam roller (Road roller)
- Main article: Steam roller
A distinct form of the steam traction engine, used for road building and flattening ground. Typically designed with a single heavy roller replacing the front wheels and axle, and smooth rear wheels without strakes.
[edit] Steam wagon
These were the earliest steam lorries and came in two basic forms. The earlier over-type designs resembled traction engines by having a cab built around a horizontal boiler with a round smokebox and chimney (eg Foden). And they resembled lorries in having a load-carrying body and being built around a chassis (so they cannot really be called traction engines).
The more modern under-type designs have the engine under the chassis (although the boiler remains in the cab), and generally resemble lorries rather than traction engines.
Early examples of either type had solid tyres, but various developments, including vertical boilers, enclosed cabs and pneumatic tyres were tried by companies such as the Sentinel Waggon Works in a bid to compete with internal combustion engine -powered lorries.
[edit] Steam lorry manufacturers
Many traction engine builders also built forms of steam lorry, but some firms specialised in them.
Manufacturers who specialised in the construction of steam lorries include:
[edit] Terminology
- spud – strip of angled metal that could be bolted to the driving wheels to provide greater traction on soft or heavy ground. Spuds were often required on ploughing engines when moving across farmland.
- strake – name for the diagonal bars cast into the wheel rims to provide traction on unmade ground (similar to the tread on a pneumatic tyre).
[edit] Modern use
Although no longer used commercially, traction engines of all types continue to be maintained and preserved by enthusiastic individuals and are frequently exhibited at agricultural shows in Europe (particularly the UK), Canada and the United States. They are often a main attraction in a live steam festival.
A traction engine won a modern tractor pull near Sale, Victoria, after pulling the sled to the end of the 100 metre track, up around the entire fair, through the parking lot and back to the starting line without stopping once when most tractors in the event struggled to get to the 80 metre mark.
[edit] In fiction
There also has been a traction engine featured in the Rev.W.Awdry's The Railway Series. His name is Trevor the Traction Engine, and was saved from scrap by The Vicar of Wellsworth with the help of Edward the Blue Engine.
From the same series, George the Steamroller is a character with a strong dislike for the railways. (A second steam roller, called Buster, was introduced in the DVD "On Site with Thomas".)
[edit] On television
Fred Dibnah of Bolton, England was known as a National Institution for the conservation of old traction engines in Great Britain. His television series, Fred Dibnah's Made in Britain, shows him touring the United Kingdom in his rebuilt, 10 ton traction engine.
[edit] Manufacturers
[edit] UK
[edit] Yorkshire
- John Fowler & Co. of Leeds
- J&H McLaren & Co. of Leeds
- Mann’s Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Company of Leeds
[edit] East Anglia
- Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies Ltd Ipswich
- Charles Burrell & Sons, Thetford
- Richard Garrett & Sons, Leiston
- Paxmans
- Youngs
[edit] Kent
[edit] Hampshire
- Wallis & Steevens
[edit] Lincolnshire
- William Foster & Co Ltd
- Marshall, Sons & Co., Gainsborough
- Clayton & Shuttleworth Ltd
- Ruston & Hornsby Ltd –see Ruston
- Robey & Co Ltd
[edit] North America
- Advance-Rumely
- American Abell
- Aultman-Taylor
- Avery Co.
- Baker
- Buffalo-Pitts
- Emerson-Brantingham
- Frick
- Gaar-Scott
- Geiser
- Huber
- J.I. Case Corporation
- Keck-Gonnerman
- Minneapolis
- Nichols & Shepard
- Peerless
- Reeves
- Russell
- Sawyer-Massey –see Massey-Ferguson
- Waterloo
- Woods Brothers
[edit] External links
- UK Traction engine rallies
- East Anglian Traction Engine Society
- Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion
- Engine Resources
- Steam Scenes Traction Engine Pictures
- National Traction Engine Trust
[edit] See also
[edit] Festivals and museums
- Great Dorset Steam Fair
- Fort Edmonton
- Ontario Agricultural Museum
- Steam Era, a festival in Milton, Ontario, Canada
- Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association, Kinzers, Penn. See http://www.roughandtumble.org.
- Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, Minnesota
