It was the
intention from the beginning that the tractor should be made as a
separate undertaking from the automobile and in a distinct plant. No
plant is big enough to make two articles.
The automobile is designed to carry; the tractor is designed to pull--to
climb. And that difference in function made all the difference in the
world in construction. The hard problem was to get bearings that would
stand up against the heavy pull. We finally got them and a construction
which seems to give the best average performance under all conditions.
We fixed upon a four-cylinder engine that is started by gasoline but
runs thereafter on kerosene. The lightest weight that we could attain
with strength was 2,425 pounds. The grip is in the lugs on the driving
wheels--as in the claws of the cat.
In addition to its strictly pulling functions, the tractor, to be of the
greatest service, had also to be designed for work as a stationary
engine so that when it was not out on the road or in the fields it might
be hitched up with a belt to run machinery.
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