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When tractors were introduced, farmers quickly found that engine driven tractors were more economical to use, as compared to keeping animals for tillage, and tractors began selling widely. In many cases agricultural machinery dealers received cattle for the barter for tractors and they in turn sold the cattle in the meat market. Farmall was one of the early tractors and its name was the most familiar and famous name in tractor history. Niceties were minimal on tractors as they were made to be work horses. Many of them did not even have a fuel gauge. A tractor or tractors have been a must for farm owners as they are most useful for cultivation, but tractors are also used in construction, in excavation, and in manufacturing and industry. Farm size, availability of labor and custom services, crop selection, and cultural practices, such as choice of tillage system, all affect the selection of an optimum equipment set and, ultimately, the number of tractors necessary to farm. Although demand for tractor power generally increases with farm size, many commercial farms operate efficiently with a single tractor. Tractors are designed to operate at different travel speeds, but the final drives are not designed for all possible torques theoretically available. The engine may range from about 12 to 120 horsepower or more and tractors over the years have been typically offered in the range of 20 to 400 horsepower. Engine power is transmitted to a gearbox typically having 4 to10 speeds (these transmissions are manually switched via a control lever to determine how fast the tractor can go) and through the differential gear to the two large rear-drive wheels. Some farm tractors can reach speeds up to 25 miles per hour, but slow speeds are necessary to give the farmer more control while doing field work. Additional weight and ballast can be added to farm tractors for help in reducing wheel slip when pulling heavy loads. Insufficient ballast can cause increased fuel consumption and excessive wheel slip. Also, tractors use large tires to avoid compressing the earth and digging in. Only the rear tires really need to be large and unless the tractor has four wheel drive the front tires can be small and smooth. Tractors used on ground with irregular contours have front axels so mounted that their left and right front ends rise and fall independently of each other. However, soil contour can induce tractor and machine vibrations, which can reduce driver's comfort and his capability in controlling the linked machinery. Usually tractors are used to pull, but in some cases, push objects and are designed to pull either large loads using slow speeds or lighter loads at higher speeds. Field speeds up to 10 mph are may be used, but rangeland applications usually vary from 2 to 5 mph. Tractors are generally classified as two-wheel drive, two-wheel drive with front wheel assist, four-wheel drive (often with articulated steering), or tracked tractors (with either two or four powered rubber tracks). The hitching point for tractors is below the rear axles in order to prevent roll over. Unfortunately, some people have attached to a point above the rear axle in an attempt to get more weight/traction on the drive wheels but this can lead to disaster. When a tractor is used to free and tow a stuck vehicle, the vehicles should be hitched front-to-front with the towing tractor in reverse. This method minimizes the risk for rollover by transmitting all the engine power of the towing tractor through the chain to the other vehicle. A drawbar or three-point hitch is used to attach most farm implements to the rear of the tractor. The three-point hitch which allows the operator to lift the implement being towed and which transfers the weight and stress of an implement to the rear wheels of the tractor, has been standard since the 1960's and was invented by Harry Ferguson in 1926. Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
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