A farmer on a tractor . . . notice anything unusual?
And these flags and a grandstand? Well, tugboats have their competitions, and so do farmers. They compete in
restorations like this century-old Case and this
or this A. B. Farquahar. But like 18th century farmers had horse competitions and some lobsterman race their work equipment,
a farm tractor does only pull such implements as plows. Nor is the end of the field always the destination.
Check out this Oliver or
this Cockshutt or
this John Deere.
Here’s some background on tractor pulling. Will Van Dorp took all fotos yesterday at the Pageant of Steam held near Canandaigua sponsored by NYSEA . For the sound of a steam engine pulling a competition sled, click here. But if you choose to click on ONLY ONE link here, click on this one for sounds and smoke generated during the last three fotos above. Horsepower equal to an average sixth boro tugboat and screaming like rockets. Here are some “puller profiles.”
No need to remind you that the sixth boro’s tugboat race happens in about two weeks!! Anyone know what would happen if there were a pull-off between a 1000 hp. tractor on a dock and a 1000 hp. tugboat each at an end of a long wire?
2 comments
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August 15, 2011 at 10:58 am
Fjorder
WWII Packard marine diesel + tractor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpcmqf43JuI
August 15, 2011 at 11:27 am
Les Sonnenmark
Tractor vs. tug? This depends on the details of both machines, but the tractor is the likely winner. The 1000 hp tug could produce a maximum of 30,000 lb bollard pull (rule of thumb is maximum 30 lb per hp), assuming it had a proper Kort-type nozzle propeller, when its engine got up to maximum torque. The 1000 hp tractor could easily weigh 100,000 lb; with typical tractor tires on a hard pavement surface the friction holding it from sliding would be about 75,000 lb (rule of thumb coefficient of friction for tractor tires is 0.75). So the tug wouldn’t budge the tractor. Could the tractor pull the tug against its own forward thrust? That tractor could easily produce 100,000 lb drawbar pull when its engine got up to maximum torque in lowest gear. Since the tug’s engine has to spin up a lot more inertia (gearbox, shafting, propeller and entrained water) than the tractor’s, the tractor’s engine will get up to speed sooner (assuming the clutch is allowed to slip sufficiently). Therefore, the tractor wins.