Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1938-07-21
RUBBER TIRES ON FARM
TRACTORS AND
IMPLEMENTS

IMPLEMENTS
-Four years ago a demonstration
of the installation of pneumatic tires
on farm tractor was put on in
our community. The demonstration
was done with a Mccormick Deering,
ten-twenty tractor and a two gang
pillow with fourteen inch bottoms. The
purpose was to determine the differ
ence in power between steel wheels
and pneumatic tires. The test was
first tried with steel wheels with
spade Jugs. The farmer started plow-
ing while the spectators looked on
with great interest. The tractor
plowed in third gear, jolting over
stones which were found here and
there along the furrow.
Several rounds were made and the
dealer of pneumatic tires told the OPP
orator of the tractor to stop, as they
were ready to install the pneumatic
tires. A new era was now beginning
in agriculture in the central part of
Maryland. y, I@,s.t
An hour or so had elapsed and the
second part Of the demonstration was
ready with pneumatic tires on the
same tractor. The same operator was
ready to test these tires, but first of
all the dealer of these tires talked
the first tractor the farmers had seen
with rubber tires.
| The tractor was now in motion.
Third gear was first tried, then fourth
gear, yet the tractor pulled the pillow
with ease. The pillow was pulled in
fourth gear with rubber tires, which
the tractor never had done with steel
wheels. The pillow was set deeper and
still the tractor pulled the pillow. The
farmers were amazed at the accom-
plishment of the tractor with pneu-
matte tires.
/ The operator made several rounds
and stopped to talk to the field audi
cnce about the performance of pneu-
matte tires. The price was asked and
was quoted at three hundred dollars.
The owner of the tractor said that
this was too large sum of money to
| invest on an old tractor, but his new
tractor would be equipped with pneu-
matte tires.
AS l rode down the road to my
home with my father we talked over
the situation of pneumatic tires as a
luxury to us on our new tractor. We
outlined several features Of the tires
as follows:
l More traction with ease at the
drawbar. More comfort to the oper-
ator and less wear on the tractor and
to the implements attached to the
drawbar.
2. We had never seen a tractor pre-
pare seed beds, but we had an idea
that pneumatic tires woulo not pack
the ground as much as steel wheels.
They do not make spade lug holes
causing legumes and grasses to die.
3. They do not damage floors of
buildings, roads on farms and other
highways as spade Tugs do.
One year later we purchased a new
Farmall tractor equipped with rub
Der tires. We got the tractor before
harvest, so we also had our ten-foot
power binder equipped with pneumat-
ic tires. After my father had tried
them for cutting wheat he said he
would no longer be jolted over two
hundred acres of wheat land as long
as rubber tires were being made. We
found that our small tractor would
pull this binder over hills faster and
easier than our large tractor that we
use for threshing wheat.
In the spring of 1886, we started
| blowing with two gang fourteen :
inch bottom pillow and again found an
improvement in the drawbar pull over
our large threshing tractor. We
plowed about one mile an hour faster
and one inch deeper.
To prove to ourselves that pneu-
matte tires decreased the fuel bill, we
plowed in field with another Farm
all like ours except that it had steel
wheels with spade Tugs. Both of these
tractors were started at the same
time, pulling the same kind of plows
and filled with the same amount of
gas, which was all that the tanks
would hold. More gas was added dur
ing the day but at the end of the day
the tractor with steel wheels had used
thirty gallons of gas and our tractor
with pneumatic tires used only twenty
gallons. Both tractors were run the
same amount of time.
Since our tractor had rubber tires
on it we can do much more work for
our neighbors simply because we can
do our farm work faster, giving us
more time to do work for them.
Our farm work for the tractor is
blowing. preparing seed beds, cult
waiting the corn crop. harvesting
wheat, grinding feed and saving
wood. On the farms of neighbors we
bale hay, straw and thresh wheat.
Therefore one can see that We need
plenty of traction to pull these i'm
plements over the country roads as
found in Maryland. Our Farmall is
used to pull the baler and drive it,
so if it were not for pneumatic tires
we would not be interested in doing
cGstom work Of this kind.
I have operated this tractor with