Allis-Chalmers Fuel Cell Tractor
date: label: date made
content: 1959-10
name: label: maker
content: Allis-Chalmers Company
notes: label: Description
content: In its search to develop electric power through chemical reactions, Allis-Chalmers in 1951 began research on fuel cells. In October 1959 near West Allis, Wisconsin, this fuel cell tractor plowed a field of alfalfa with a double-bottom plow. Fuel cells produce electrical power directly through a chemical reaction, without heat, smoke, or noise. Unlike standard batteries, fuel cells do not store energy but convert chemical energy to electric energy.
label: Description
content: This tractor has 1,008 fuel cells joined in 112 units of 9 cells each arranged in four banks that produced power to run a standard Allis-Chalmers 20 horsepower dc motor. Using a fuel cell to produce power was not a new idea in the 1950s. Over a century earlier, Sir William Grove originated the idea of a fuel cell that would run on hydrogen and oxygen. Over the years inventors experimented with a number of fuels and configurations. The search for an efficient and economical fuel cell unit continues.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view (fuel cell)
place: label: place made
content: United States: Wisconsin, West Allis
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Agriculture
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content: Agriculture
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Allis-Chalmers
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AG.76A8
label: accession number
content: 232284
label: catalog number
content: 76A08
objectType: label: Object Name
content: tractor
label: Object Name
content: fuel cell tractor
label: Object Name
content: tractor
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)