TRACTOR TRIVIA and other interesting stuff 3/14/2024

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Bates Steel Mule

 

Many early tractors were a bit strange looking by today’s standards and the Bates Steel Mule was no exception. The Steel Mule Tractor was designed at the dawn of the industrial age and tractors were designed to pull any horse-drawn implement the farmer owned.

In 1913 the Joliet Oil Tractor Company began production of their first tractor, The Steel Mule. The tractor was powered by a four-cylinder 13-30 gasoline engine coupled to a transmission with two forward speeds and one reverse. Sounds rather conventional so far, but rather than driving large steel wheels the Steel Mule had a single centered crawler track at the rear to move the tractor and two front wheels for steering and stability. One very unconventional but useful feature was the front wheels that could be adjusted up or down to keep the tractor level while working on a hillside.

The driver could sit on the installed seat or utilize the telescopic steering shaft to operate the “Mule” from the seat of the implement being towed.

Steel Mules were exported to England and Ireland by 1916 priced at £500, ($ 36,740 in US dollars today) and were shown at the Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland's tractor trials in October 1917

A half-century later a somewhat similar propulsion design was used on the 1953 Endless Tread Garden Tractor.

In 1919 the Bates Machine & Tractor Company introduced a more conventional half-track design known as the Model D with two rear tracks, it sold for $ 1,500. Three different engine manufacturers were used, Midwest Engine from 1921 to 1925; Beaver Engine from 1926 to 1928; and LeRoi engine was used from 1929 to 1937.

Bates also produced a kit to convert a Fordson tractor to a half-track tractor to increase traction and reduce soil compaction.

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The Steel Mule abit ahead of times ya think?  

 

Edited March 14 by WHX??