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A traction engine is a wheeled steam engine used to move heavy loads, plow ground or to provide power at chosen location. They are also known as "Road locomotives" to distinguish them from steam locomotives ie railway engines that run on tracks. These machines were cumbersome and ill-suited to crossing heavy ground so their agricultural use was either "in the belt" - powering farm implements by means of a long leather belt driven by the flywheel or in pairs dragging a plough on a cable from one side of a field to another.

The earliest mobile steam engine is thought to have been invented by Nicolas Cugnot who demonstrated an engine for hauling artillery at the Paris arsenal on October 23, 1769. Unfortunately the idea was discredited when a similar engine ran into a brick wall during a demonstration in Paris.

Traction engines tend to be large, extremely heavy, slow, and poorly manoeuvrable. They typically have two large powered wheels at the back and two smaller wheels for steering at the front. They became popular in industrialised countries from around 1840, when the farm machinery company Ransomes of Ipswich developed a traction engine for agricultural use.

Usage

Traction engines saw use in a variety of roles between 1840 and 1940. They can be divided according their use.

  • Agricultural general purpose engines
The most common form in the countryside. They were used for hauling and as a stationary power source. Even when farmers did not own such a machine they would rely upon it form time to time. Many farms would use draft horses throughout the year, but during the harvest Threshing contractors would travel from farm to farm hauling the threshing machine which would be set up in the field and powered from the engine — a good example of the moveable stationary engine.

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Traction engine".

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