Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-09-28
TRACTOR Pl0Ws
|. TEN ACRES PER DAY
FORD MACHINE TILlS LARGE
ACREAGE AT SMALL COST
TO FARMER.
WILL LAST TWO YEARS
Tests and Experiments Underway to
Determine Best Method For
Placing Vehicle on the
Market.

! Detroit, Mich, Sept. 27-The For
tractor, which made it's initial publ
appearance at the Michigan state fai
here recently, is now in fairly ad
vanced state Of development, although
the officials state that it is not likel
that 1t will be placed upon the marke
for about year, as it is intended t.
prove it absolutely before going aheat
| with it. Each day during the fair thu
, tractor was demonstrated to the Wis
itors, and it's ability for blowing ant
hauling shown.
Many Tests.
Tests are being made with the vehi
Gle repeatedly by the Ford company
and the experimenters will not sa!
whether or not the present form of the
tractor will be the final form, although
it has worked out very well to date
To demonstrate the haulage ability o
the vehicle, it was recently driven t.
: Cleveland from Detroit over roads tina
are fairly good making the 150-milt
trip. pulling 5-ton trailer at the rate
of 16 m. y. b. 1t has also made this
trip with 7-ton tow.
PIows s to 10 Acres Daily.
AS to its ability as a farm vehicle
the tractor is capable of doing from
to 10 acres of blowing a day, depend
ing upon the depth of the furrow and
the texture of the SOIL 1t can pull
either one plow-share 16 in. wide or
| two shares IL in. wide. Equipped
with the Holley kerosene carDureter,
the tractor uses 10 kal. kerosene for 10
hr. work.
Cost 1910 a Day. =,
To figure the cost Of operating, then,
it should be considered that kerosene
in this locality, costs cents a gal. in
barrel lots, or cents IN small lots.
This means a fuel cost of 60 cents per
10 hr day. If the cost of the vehicle
is to be $3.50, then on the basis that
the tractor would last one year, which
is very low, and also considering that
the farm work for year would not
be over 100 days, the cost for amortiz-
.''.' W. 60 20 per day. Adding
this to the daily fuel cost, the vehicle
~ c.. y..Iv per day, doing a
minimum of 5 acres of blowing.
. Low Fuel Cost.
Now it costs at least SO per acre to
plow with two horses A team cannot
do more than ~ to ~ acres per day,
so that we arrive at the following COM
parison: ...-.
TRACTOR. TWO HORSES.
Work per 10 hr. Work per 10 mr..
days to 10 day-1h to ~
acres. Cost per acres. Cost per
day-s3.10, fig days.
uring that the 80.
life of the trac- 49,. -.
tor Is only 100 ..-..
days, which is
very low. .~
The above is on the assumption that
the farmer would need new one each
year. Even if he did, he would do the
work in cne-third the time, or save
two-thirds for the same amount of
work. It would probably be fairer to
consider that the tractor would last at
1eaet two wears. Surprising it was
good for ESQ days, the amortization
.o,. per cay would be 81. Then the
daily cost, including fuel would not run
over S160 to $1.75. Then the compar-
tson with horses becomes more one
sided Probably tractor having good
care would last much more than two
years.
Use Standard Ford Engine.
The Ford tractor in its present form
uses the standard Ford engine as used
in the passenger cars, and this Is
coupled up to worm-driven rear axle.
Instead of the regular Ford planetary
transmission, the transmission Is
changed to have only one speed, and
the band brake is enlarged. But there
are two sets of spur gears back OF the
regular housing for the planetary gear
ing, which housing is part OF the
crank case and has the regular Ford
engine form. These gears give two
speeds.
The worm is over the worm wheel,
and within substantial housing which
is also the housing of the rear axle
unit. BY the use of worm drive IN
connection with the planetary trans
mission and the two gears back OF the
latter, an enormous reduction between
engine and wheels is obtained. On
the highest speed the reduction be-
tween engine and wheels is 30 to l,
while in second speed it is II to l.
Two Sets Of Wheels.
Two sets of wheels are used with the
tractor. One set is OF the regular IIuCh
type. The rear pair are used with
solid block rubber tires, and the fronts
use solid continuous rubber tires OF
artillery form. For blowing and felt
work where greater traction Is re-
CURED, tractor wheels are arranged to
fit the same axles in place Of the truck
type wheels. The tractor wheels are
steel, the rear set having steel blocks
around their circumference.
In it's present form, the vehicle uses
no form of body, having only a single
seat for the driver on the left. The
engine is inclosed under a hood, how
ever.
At either side of the hood on brack-
cts from the frame are large loyal.
tanks. The one on the right carries
the kerosene, while 10 gal. auxiliary
water is held in the right tank. For
tractor work, the cooling system must
be adequate for the pulling is long and
steady with heavy working Of the en-
gine-conditions which would heat the
engine unduly without the auxiliary
y 4 n