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Cool, thanks for posting that. Going to a Restored Antique Tractor Club plow day this saturday. Might be a steam powered unit there but usually its all gas powered smaller tractors and a few Olivers with Detroit diesels in them screaming away. They sound AWESOME!! Good time watching the old iron work for a bit. |
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What?? No love for. Old tractors? I went to a convention/show of a bunch of these machines when I was younger with my grandfather. At the time I was into locomotive's so I didn't have much interest in tractors. After going I can say I was impressed. The mechanics of these machines were very cool. I would do it again if I could. It was in Ohio, I believe it was in Akron or Toledo. I can't remember where as it was a long time ago |
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Quoted:
I went to a convention/show of a bunch of these machines when I was younger with my grandfather. At the time I was into locomotive's so I didn't have much interest in tractors. After going I can say I was impressed. The mechanics of these machines were very cool. I would do it again if I could. It was in Ohio, I believe it was in Akron or Toledo. I can't remember where as it was a long time ago Quoted:
Quoted:
What?? No love for. Old tractors? I went to a convention/show of a bunch of these machines when I was younger with my grandfather. At the time I was into locomotive's so I didn't have much interest in tractors. After going I can say I was impressed. The mechanics of these machines were very cool. I would do it again if I could. It was in Ohio, I believe it was in Akron or Toledo. I can't remember where as it was a long time ago More than likely it was in Greenville, they have an annual steam meet. |
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Pretty cool! But what I don't get is that a steam engine can pull a whole load of train cars but ya'll say its good that it pulled a sled a couple hundred feet? What am I missing? Dragging something through the dirt is much harder than rolling steel on steel with greased bearings. |
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The really amazing figures on steam tractors is the amount of torque they produce. Big ones like that 110 HP Case produce somewhere between 3000 and 5000 lb/ft of torque...Which, combined with weighing over 20 tons with a full boiler and coal hopper really explains how they simply never stop pulling the sled. The ones like the one features were breaking engines used for breaking fresh prairie. That particular model had a dry weight of around 17 tons. The were a massive investment at over $3000 new.
I love watching them but they do occasionally explode. High pressure steam contains an ungodly amount of energy and I would not want to be anywhere near an oil boiler like that if it did fail. |
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Quoted: this.. its like the weight behind it didnt exist. it never slowed, struggled, or bogged.. it just motored right along Quoted: Quoted: The raw power of those things amazes me. me durring the video:      110 hp, 4,000+ ft pounds of torque... |
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That reminded me of something really wacky I saw a while back. Rather than use steam to move the beast itself, this German contraption uses 2 tractors and surfs a plow between them via cables on winches. Efficiency should be high, but you do need two of them. Long but worthwhile vid. I can't embed with this machine, so feel free to do it for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkEukI6H9cA |
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I was visiting this guys car collection one time, he had a Stanley Steamer car, he told me that it developed something like 1,000 ft lbs of torque at 1 rpm, yes, that is ONE RPM! They develop a tremendous amount of torque, and that torque is constant, it doesn't change with rpm, as soon as its turning, its developing the full amount of torque. |