FUNDAMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING TRACTOR DESIGN

The farm tractor is finding itself among the most essential of mechanical agricultural devices; the industry is young, and controlling basic factors of design are not yet completely crystallized, nor has research had its proper share in the development. Some further factors of the author's earlier article on tractor plowing speeds² are discussed in this paper. The earlier article dealt chiefly with plowing data on the assumption that there was delivered at the drawbar of the tractor a constant horsepower. This paper starts with a normal condition of a constant engine power which is to be delivered to the crankshaft under governor control for any of the travel speeds analyzed. The tractor is considered as powered by a given brake-horsepower engine, this power being transmitted through sets of gears in which the net bearing and gear efficiency is taken to be 73 per cent. The drawbar horsepower would then be theoretically the same for various weights of outfits which are considered of equally good design and construction.

The effects of slopes and weights on the drawbar pull are then discussed at length and illustrated by charts. In conclusion, the need for research work to benefit the tractor and plow industries is emphasized.