Since ancient times, many people have tried to use mechanical power to replace human and animal power in farming. But it was not until Europe entered the steam engine era in the 19th century that the birth of powered agricultural machinery became possible.
Alabart of France and RC Palvin of Illinois, USA, invented the first steam-powered tractors in 1856 and 1873, respectively.
In the 1830s, people began to study the use of steam vehicles to pull agricultural machinery for field operations. But the steam engine towing vehicle (the predecessor of the steam tractor) that could be built at that time was like a small locomotive. Even if it was not stuck in the field, it would compact the soil so hard that it could not be cultivated. In 1851, Faras and Smith of England used steam engines to realize farmland mechanical farming for the first time. Some people regard this as the beginning of agricultural mechanization, but at that time their method was to install the steam engine on the field and use a steel wire rope to pull the ploughshares that were ploughed in the field. Later, with the advancement of steam engine manufacturing technology, a miniaturized steam engine appeared, which was installed on the chassis of a vehicle to drive wheels so that it could drive from the ground into the field and directly pull agricultural machinery, which gave birth to the tractor. The tractors of the time were very similar to the early steam engine cars, but they had more horsepower and slower speeds.
The original tractors were heavy and expensive, inconvenient to use, and often required several people to operate them. They were suitable for farming in vast fields and were unaffordable for ordinary individual farmers. In 1889, the Chada Engine Company of Chicago, USA produced the world's first gasoline engine. Internal combustion engine agricultural tractor-"Baga" tractor. Because the internal combustion engine is relatively light, easy to operate, and has high working efficiency, its appearance has laid the foundation for the popularization and application of tractors. At the beginning of the 20th century, countries such as Sweden, Germany, Hungary, and the United Kingdom almost simultaneously produced tractors powered by diesel internal combustion engines. During the First World War, due to the war, insufficient labor and rising prices of agricultural products promoted the development of farm tractors. . From 1910 to 1920, there was fierce competition between steam engines and tractors powered by internal combustion engines. The latter showed greater superiority and gradually eliminated the former. Today's tractors use diesel internal combustion engines.
On November 24, 1904, the "77" steam tractor was tested for the first time and was later put into mass production. In 1906, the tractor manufacturing company founded by Holt produced the world’s first crawler tractor powered by a gasoline internal combustion engine. This tractor began mass production the following year. It was the most successful tractor at the time and became a British development a few years later. The prototype of the world's first tank.
In the development of wheeled tractors, people initially widened the steel wheels to increase the ground area and reduce the pressure, but the effect was not good. Later, they came up with a way to add a rubber protective layer to the steel wheels. After the birth of automobile tires, people successively used solid and pneumatic tires for tractors. But car tires are not completely suitable for tractors. First, the grooves of car tires are too shallow. The second is that people find that the tractor has better performance on soft ground when the tires are not inflated than when the tires are full. In 1932, the Philsdown Tire and Rubber Company of the United States produced a large-size high-pattern low-pressure pneumatic rubber tire. This is the first tire that is truly suitable for agricultural tractors. It greatly improves the driving and traction performance of wheeled tractors.
By the end of the 1940s, in North America, Western Europe and Australia, tractors had replaced livestock and became the main driving force of farms. Since then, tractors have been promoted and used in Eastern Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.
