AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Smithfield Show Reveals Prosperity in the Tractor Trade

11th December 1936
Page 44
Page 45
Page 44, 11th December 1936 — Smithfield Show Reveals Prosperity in the Tractor Trade
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• Several Newcomers, Many innovations in Design. A Wide Variety of Distinctive T yes of Machine Represented at an Important Annual Event in

London

FARMERS and tractor makers are arriving at a better mutual understanding. The former are really waking up to the value of Mechanization, whilst the latter are more closely studying the exact requirements of agriculture. It is not long ago that representatives of tractor manufacturers sometimes met a definitely hostile reception when approaching farmers, and, on theother hand, that their products did not always afford wholly satisfactory service.

There are unmistakable signs at the Smithfield Club Cattle Show, now in progress at the Royal Agricultural Hall, Islington, London (closing to-day at 9 p.m.), that the position is now very different—that more cordial relations exist to-day between makers and users of agrimotors.

No fewer than 16 different makes of tractor are on view, whilst the incidental apparatus, conversions, equipment, implements, etc., are multifarious. Almost without exception, however, the machines displayed are for use exclusively on the farm, actual transport appliances being represented by one cattle carrier (Fordson-Miles), one van (Fordson) n26 and a handful of trailers, the last being mainly intended for use on the land in conjunction with tractor or horse.

Among the most interesting of the new makes of tractor is the Ferguson, shown by Harry Ferguson, Ltd.,' Cable Street, Huddersfield. It is a low-huitt, wheeled machine, well made and finished, and incorporatesan important and unipie feature. An hydraulic device, controlled by hand and automatically, lifts the implement as desired, or as circumstances demand. Also, if the implement strikes an obstruction, the action of the linkage by which it is attached raises the rear of the tractor and permits the wheels to spin.

Another newcomer is the Unie, a product of the Soviet, which is being handled by Messrs. R. Pedersen, 93, Upper Thames Street, London, E.C.4. It is imported from Stalin, grad, and is exhibited in England for the first time. Rated at 14-25 h.p., the machine has steel spudded wheels and an

orthodox four-cylindered paraffin engine. 13eing offered at the attractive price of £245, including power take-off, belt pulley and electric lighting,it may achieve a measure of popularity in this country.

The Ford Motor Co., Ltd., Dagenham, is displaying a new addition to its range. This is a row-crop machine with single-twin front wheel, and rear wheels, variable for track. It is based on the well-known Fordson design. The

method of varying the track is to slide the wheels along the splined shafts which extend to the maximum width. They can be locked in any position..

A John Deere tractor of new design is amusing considerable attention, largely by reason.of the fact that it is the only machine in the Show with a side-by-side-type twocylindered engine. This is a four-stroke unit, is placed horizontally, and runs on paraffin at 1,150 r.p.m.

On the same stand is the recently introduced Caterpillar. RD4, 30 .hip. tractor, which is thefl smallest oil-engined machine in its maker's range. It is claimed to have a fuel consumption of between 1 gallon and gallon per hour. Both' these makes are handled by the joint distributors, Jack Olding and Co., Ltd., 101, Grosvenor Road, London, S.W.1, and H. Leverton and Co., Spalding.

A Six-cylinder Oiler.

A new Cletrac is shown by Blaw-linox, Ltd., New Oxford House. Hart Street, London, W.C.1. Exerting .35' drawbar h.p. it is powered by a Hercules six-cylinderecl oil engine, and has a 24-volt electric starter. Weighing 4 tons, if costs £760. Of its type it is the only six-cylinder oiler on view.

Offered at £275, a new machine, designated Model U, is to be seen& on the stand of the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co., 728, Salisbury House, London Wall, E.C.2. It has a 36 h.p. paraffin engine and is available with steel or pneumatic tyres.

Two claims are made for this tractor. One is that it holds the distinction of having been the pioneer pneumatictyred farm tractor, and the other that it established the existing tractor speed record, having attained 67.3 m.p.h. The Challenger and the Pacemaker are new introductions of Massey-Harris, Ltd., Ashburton Road, Trafford Park, Manchester. The latter is a conventional four-wheeled mediumweight, whilst the former is of the single-twin frontwheel type, with narrow rear wheels adjustable for track. It is intended for row-crop work, the rear wheels being able to run between rows of plans set very closely.

Another six-cylindered machine, in this case using paraffin fuel, is the Oliver row-crop tractor, exhibited by John Wallace and Sons, Ltd., 34, Paton Street, Glasgow, and I tendon Aerodrome, London, N.W.9. In this case, also, an electric starter is provided despite the fact that the price of the steel-wheeled model is only £285.

The outstanding feature of this tractor is that the implement is mounted under the machine in front of the driving axle. A big advantage of this arrangement is that the driver can easily see the work in progress. The implement has spring-balanced lifting gear, and the axle a clearance of 2 it. 6 ins.

The only big track-laying oil-powered four-cylinder tractor of wholly British origin in the Show is the Fowler, made by John Fowler and Co. (Leeds), Ltd., Leeds. Three models are on view, one being equipped with the company's well-known Gyrotiller rotary plough. • A unique small track-laying tractor is that displayed by Bristol Tractors, Ltd., Idle, Yorkshire. It has a Jowetb horizontally opposed engine..

The International Harvester Co., of Great Britain, Ltd., 259, City Road, London, E.C.1, has, as usual, a big array of its wide variety of machines. All are well-known models of wheeled And track-laying paraffin and oil-engined tractors.

A Case row-crop tractor, new in several respects, figures among the large exhibit of Associated Manufacturers Co. (London),: Ltd., 46-48, Wharfedale Road, London, N.1. It is available with steel or pneumatic tyres. All Case tractors run on paraffin fuel.

An interesting small two-wheeled tractor .is the British Holder, made by British Holder Tractor, Ltd., Progress ,Way, Croydon, Surrey. It has an 8 h.p. air-cooled twostroke engine, driving through worm and spur gear. An unexpected feature is that it is adaptable to cable ploughing. Three machines with low-pressure horizontal two-stroke single-cylindered oil engines, working on the hot-bulb principle, are displayed by the Lanz Tractor Co., Ltd., 7, Coronation Road, London, N.W.10. In latest guise they have high air-intake pipes, the object being to keep out the dust raised by the front wheels.

Also employing a single-cylindered two-stroke oil unit is the Marshall, manufactured by Marshall, Sons and Co. (Successors), Ltd., Gainsborough. In this case the engine is of the true compression-ignition type, and starting is effected by a torch. It is little changed for the 1937 season.

Besides the tractors, many concerns are showing special wheels, the majority of which are adjustable for track. One—the Stanhay—employs a threaded hub, which, when rotated by the engine, 'screws the wheel inwards or outwards ; keys are inserted When the desired track is reached.

Miller Wheels, Ltd., uses sets of distance pieces which can be fitted on either or both sides of the wheels without taking off the wheel-nuts. Reversible wheels and discs are a less novel means for varying the track dimension.

Useful Track Variation.

The Miller system enables variations in the track of 1 ft. to. be effected. The company also makes a simply fitted road band, which is nevertheless held in position with unusual security, sets of split rings for attachment between spuds for work on light soil and a sturdily constructed hydraulic gear for implement lifting.

The Dunlop company has introduced a strake gear, costing £15 a pair, for attachment to pneumatic-tyred wheels. The Firestcne concern has produced a new size of tyro 9.00-36—for row-crop tractors, also a demountable rim for implement tyres, so that one set may be employed for several machines.

Finally, to complete this review of the appliances at the Show that come within the field of this paper, we must refer to the employment of small air-cooled petrol engines as the sources of power of implements such as mowers.

Tags

People: Stalin, R. Pedersen

comments powered by Disqus