History Dept., Midwestern University, Wichita Falls, Texas
76308.
An event of far-reaching importance was the almost unanimous
approval of House Roll Bill Eighty-five by the thirty-seventh
session of the Nebraska State Legislature March 13, 1919. The bill
provided for the ‘official tests of gas, gasoline, kerosene,
distillate, or other liquid-fuel traction engines in the State of
Nebraska, and to compel the maintenance of adequate service
stations for same.’
Wilmot F. Crozier, who drafted the bill and was one of its major
backers, was prompted to seek regulation of the tractor trade after
a series of unhappy experiences with some early models. Crozier
purchased a Ford tractor in 1916; the machine had no connection
with Ford Motor Company but rather had been produced by a
Minnesota-based concern using the name of one of their engineers
hoping to exploit the Ford name. The Polk County farmer had so much
trouble with the tractor that he demanded and received a
replacement. The second tractor was equally unreliable and Crozier
finally dumped it for a used Bull tractor in 1917. Only after
purchasing a new Rumely Oil Pull did W. F. Crozier receive adequate
service from a tractor.
That many tractors offered for sale were little more than
experimental models and parts service often a mere hollow promise
became painfully clear to farmers who bought tractors from many of
the small, struggling companies. Similar experiences of other
farmers and editorial comment in farm publications lead Crozier to
propose the bill and he found wide-spread positive sentiment in the
legislature.
There had been similar moves to establish a regulatory agency to
test tractors in 1915. The farm equipment industry and others
sought standardized tractor horsepower ratings, there was
considerable sentiment that the federal government should establish
a National Testing Station. Tractor and engine competitions held
after the Winnipeg Field Trials varied so widely in test
procedures, policies, equipment, and operation and adjustment of
the tractors that results were inconclusive. Fortunately however,
all national and regional competition results were turned over to
the major sponsor, the National Implement and Vehicle Association
and to the respective manufacturers for their own confidential
use.
The Bureau of Standards in the Commerce Department and the
Office of Farm Management in the Department of Agriculture were
assumed to be likely agencies to handle such a testing program
should the federal government assume responsibility. In 1917, the
A. S. A. E. was instrumental in the introduction of a bill calling
for the creation of a separate bureau in the U. S. D. A. called the
Bureau of Agricultural Engineering. Though the creation of the
proposed bureau was eventually accomplished, no enabling funds for
conducting tractor tests were forthcoming.
By 1917, the A. S. A. E. had adopted a code of test procedures
established by the Society of Automotive Engineers. On April 19,
1919, the tractor and thresher division of the National Implement
and Vehicle Association voted unanimously to petition the U. S. D.
A. to conduct both belt and drawbar horsepower tests and to certify
the results on the basis of these codes. The request was denied by
the Agricultural Committee of Congress; the concensus was that such
operations were not the proper function of a federal agency.
Though Ohio State University conducted some trials of tractors
pulling plows in 1919, no facilities existed for extensive and
officially certified tests. When the Nebraska Tractor Test Law
became effective July 15, 1919, the University of Nebraska
Agricultural Engineering Department assumed responsibility for
testing all tractors sold in the state. In addition to provisions
for testing and the maintenance of parts depots in the state, the
law provided that no tractor could legally be sold in the State of
Nebraska without a permit; that such a permit would be issued by
the State Railway Commission upon certification by a Board of
Tractor Test Engineers that the tractor had been tested and the
results of such test had been compared to the published claims of
the manufacturer covering that tractor. If the claims were not
substantiated by the test, then no permit could be issued.
Provision was made for sale under temporary permit until the
tractor could be tested and reported on. No tractor could be sold
in the state without a permit under threat of penalty.
L. W. Chase, O. W. Sjogren, and E. E. Brackett served on the
first Nebraska Board of Tractor Test Engineers. Chase and Sjogren
had both been active in earlier national and regional tractor
competitions. Claude K. Shedd, from the agricultural engineering
staff at Iowa State College, was hired as the first
engineer-in-charge of tests. The problems of developing an
impartial, consistent and accurate test program were infinite. A
plan to test tractors by plowing was scrapped when it became
evident the Board might have to plow up the campus and the
surrounding area. Instead, a drawbar test on a cinder track was
used; the tractors pulled a specially designed dynamometer car made
on the chassis of a tractor. A building was constructed to house
the Sprague dynamometer; it was decided to use an electrical
dynamometer instead of a Prony brake on the belief it would
withstand longer, heavier usage. One of the most serious problems
encountered was securing the crankshaft speed during the drawbar
test. A universal method of attaching the tachometer was not
possible and variations were required due to the many different
designs of tractors.
Steam and Gas mixed well at the Bluegrass Steam and Gas Engine
Show at Harrodsburg, Kentucky. This shows a general view of the
diversity of power exhibited at Kentucky’s first-organized
engine show.
Testing began in the fall of 1919, with a Twin City 12-20. Tests
were interrupted by snow and the tractor was later withdrawn. A
Waterloo Boy, Model N 12-25, was the first tractor to complete
testing on April 9, 1920. By October 27, 1920, sixty-five tests had
been completed; three other tractors appeared but withdrew after
some preliminary tests. An additional thirty-five applications were
withdrawn before the tractors were submitted.
Initial industry response was hostile. A group of manufacturers
met in Lincoln in June, 1919, to discuss the new law. A small
minority urged united resistance through legal action. More sober
judgment prevailed when members of the Board of Tractor Test
Engineers frankly discussed the nature and purpose of the law;
major concern centered on the possibility that other
farmer-dominated legislatures would enact similar laws in other
states.
The test routine embodied the following: drawbar work from
one-third to full load for twelve hours to limber up the tractor,
brake horsepower test at rated load and speed for two hours, brake
horsepower test at load varying from maximum to no load with all
engine adjustments as in the previous test to show fuel consumption
and speed control, brake horsepower test at maximum load for one
hour to show maximum horsepower and behavior of tractor on the belt
and its fuel consumption, drawbar horsepower test at rated load for
ten hours (this test made on the half-mile cinder track), maximum
drawbar horsepower test with series of short runs with increasing
load until excessive wheel slippage occurs, and constant
observation of the tractor during testing.
The ‘Joe Dear’ sputters out the last minutes of The
Bluegrass Steam and Gas Engine Show while basking in the shadows of
the century-old Mercer County amphitheatre. The amphitheatre is one
of only two such remaining historic fair structures in the state of
Kentucky. My wife holds down the business end of ‘Uncle
Elmer’s’ Gas Engine Knowledge to right. A few admirers
still look at the ‘Joe Dear’ and wonder what it is. Several
thousand filed by to listen and look at my monstrosity.
As both a measuring stick and a ‘whipping stick’ the
tests provided suitable bench marks and perhaps gave the industry a
more balanced view of the tractor’s utility. The tests revealed
glaring engineering deficiencies as well as advancements. As an
example of the latter, the governors of one manufacturer’s
tractors held speed variations, from no load to full load, to 4.82%
— a degree of performance never since bettered. Cases of excessive
claims resulted in misleading information on the part of
manufacturers. Some rated horsepower corrected to standard
conditions for a bare engine instead of the logical power outlet —
the drawbar, belt, or power take-off. Other cases of misleading
data used a ‘theoretical maximum drawbar pull based on the peak
engine horsepower and locked traction members; conditions a farmer
would never experience in the field. In some instances
manufacturers actually did not know how much horsepower a
particular tractor could develop. They based their advertising
claims on the statements made by manufacturers of parts used on the
tractor. The respect with which the tests are received today can be
judged by the fact that no other similar facilities exist in North
America and the results are published world-wide. European tractor
manufacturers bring models to Lincoln for testing and even tractors
from a Communist Bloc country are tested there, mainly because the
results bear authenticity.
This is Mindy and her one and one half horsepower gasoline
engine, type E, serial number 319197, John Deere. Her daddy has
five different kinds besides this one.
Performance improvement continued during the early years of
testing. Tractors testing in 1920, averaged 7.56 horsepower per
hour per gallon of fuel; those tractors tested in 1927, averaged
9.80. Horsepower per pound increased also. In 1920, the ratio was
one horsepower per 356 pounds; in 1927, it amounted to one
horsepower for each 233 pounds. It is to be noted that ninety-one
per cent of those tractors tested in 1927, had better fuel records
than the eight-year average, whereas only thirty per cent of the
tractors tested in 1920 could better this long-term average.
Performance goals gradually shifted from the desire for solely
optimum horsepower to a search for economical fuel consumption
along with adequate drawbar horsepower.