Austin Tractors
Tractors
outside North Works
Herbert Austin was a member of a committee, set up by the
government to look at producing a UK tractor, as at that time they
were been imported from America and not really suited for the small
farms in England. To supply the UK with tractors in WWI, Henry Ford
agreed to place all his patents and some of his staff at the
government's service free of charge. His only proviso was that the
tractors should not be sold. All parts of these machines were
produced in the United States and shipped to England for assembly
at the government workshops in Manchester. This all took time, so
Austin took the opportunity of selling American products because,
at that time, his works were only producing for the Ministry of
Munitions.
When the Fordson MOM tractor was available in 1918 and became very
popular, it was time for Austin to bring out his own version. So
using the Heavy 20 engine which could be ordered as either a petrol
only engine or as a dual petrol/paraffin version. The dual system
was common practice for tractors, which meant they had two fuel
tanks both connected to a two-way tap. When starting from cold you
would use the petrol, when the engine had warmed up you could turn
the tap so that it was now running on paraffin. The reason for this
was the fact that there was no tax on paraffin. The engines were
considered to be more powerful at 26.5 HP @ 1,000 RPM (petrol
version) and also more refined than the Fordson, but did not have
the reliability. When running on paraffin the power output was
reduced to 23.7 HP @ 1,000 RPM. It was launched in 1919, with
production building up slowly so that in week ending 12th June 1920
sixty six tractors had been produced. Approximately 1,500 tractors
were built that year at a selling price of £300 to £360. The
America Fordson was been imported and sold at roughly the same
price, but they were subject to a import tax of 33%, this duty was
removed allowing the Fordson to under cut the Austin considerable.
Austin had to follow suit and slashed price to £225 and then to
£195 but the boom, as far as he was concerned, was at an end. As
demand for tractor in France was high, but the Government imposed
heavy duties on imports.
Austin decided to purchase a factory over there at Liancourt,
Paris. These premises were taken over in August 1919, and were soon
capable of producing 21,000 tractors a year. French agricultural
experts singled the vehicle out for special praise, which no doubt
helped sales, the main components coming from Longbridge. In 1926
the catalogues were showing a price of £225 for the normal tractor
or £285 for the 20 ton road-haulage version. But sales did not
increase as projected, so around 1932 production ceased at
Longbridge but continued in France. In fact tractors from the
French factory were imported in to the UK in small numbers up to
1939, but in about 1951 the factory closed down. The main reason
for its demise was that it could not compete on price compared with
the Fordson.
It appears that around 1918-9 an American tractor company called F
C Austin Co (Inc) Chicago was taken to court by the Austin Motor Co
because of using an allegedly deceptive name.
Specification
Engine – Four cylinder vertical side valve engine rated at 26.5 hp
@ 1000 rpm.(petrol) Water cooled with radiator fan and pump. High
tension magneto.
Gears – 2 forward and 1 reverse final drive. Spur wheel gear in
rear axle housing. Belt pulley
Wheels – 10” rear flat steel wheels with cross over flat spokes,
cast iron fronts, swinging drawbar. Independent rear wheel
brakes.
Longbridge
Built Tractor
(Inserts show
the various tasks it was used for)
Brass
Austin Badge
French
versions
This
shows an early version similar to the UK, although the rear driving
wheels have paddles fitted to the outside to get more grip in
softer ground.
This
one has been converted for mainly road use, towing a trailer etc.
Its has headlights and a very comfortable drivers seat, you will
also notice that the seat is a double one (back to back) for a
passenger, along with a grab handle at the side. It still shows the
original Austin Logo on the engine side cover, radiator and rear
wing, but the radiator cowl is now more rounded.
This
is a later farm version which has now got smaller wheels on the
front axle. With the later radiator cowl, but no Austin name on the
radiator and the word AUSTIN in bold on the side engine
cover.
Scorton
Show, North Yorkshire. Sept 2007.
____________________________
Austin
12 Tractor ?
This Tractor
which is on display in Guernsey was built by the De Garis Brothers
Eustance and Fred during at the end of 1943-44 and was taxed in 3rd
February 1944. It was built up from various components, as at this
time parts were vary scarce. The engine and gearbox were from a
Austin 12 coupled to a Vulcan Bus rear axle which had rear wheels
from a German truck. The chassis came from an unknown lorry, front
axle was a Citroen 12 with front wheels off a Morris 8, cooling was
by means of a Citroen radiator. It was used during the occupation
for Ploughing, Carting Seaweed etc. Mowing. It could also be made
to drive a circular saw by jacking up one rear wheel and putting a
belt on the rear wheel.
On Liberation Day 9th May 1945 it towered a trailer to transport
people from the country area into the town. It remained in regular
use doing various tasks until 1988
__________________________
Now
the BMC Mini Tractor
December
1st 1965 saw "MINI" mechanization day. Nuffield tractors introduced
their new "Mini" following five years of research and
experimentation. The tractor was not well received, it was
introduced at a time when tractors were getting larger and in fact
the ten was by now classed as small. The Mini measured a mere 8ft
2.25 inches long and 3ft. 8.5 inches from the ground to the bonnet
top, it weighed in at 2,098 lbs.
A large amount of the development was done by "Harry Ferguson
Research" of Coventry. The engines were dveloped at Longbridge, the
petrol version was a modification of an existing engine, that would
produce torque at a lower rev band and across a wider rev range.
The diesel version was a completely new engine, with new block,
head, crankshaft etc. A diesel engine needs a very high compress
ratio to make it work efficiently, this engine had a compress ratio
of 23.6 : 1 which was high even by diesel standards. In the
development stage the engines were sent to Harry Ferguson Research
at Coventry, who installed them in the tractor, and ran them on a
rolling road. The picture below shows the engine on test at
Longbridge coupled up to a dynamometer. This was a special test rig
that was constructed to test that the engine would not be starved
of oil when installed in the tractor, and climbing up, or
descending a steep incline.
Diesel
engine on test
The
gearbox was a three reverse nine forward gears, via a high/ medium/
low/ reverse gear lever and a 1st 2nd 3rd gear lever which had a
safety start feature. Initial production was a the Adderley Park
factory in Birmingham, but was transferred to the new Truck Factory
at Bathgate in Scotland. Sales did not reach the levels that made
it profitable, so a decision was made to see if a larger engine
come improve the sales, so in November 1968 the BMC 1,500 cc 'B'
series was installed.
Demonstrating
that this 950 cc Tractor could tow a bus
(The Tractor was then donated to Oxfam)
Engine
Petrol
948 cc Type 9TA
Compression ratio was 7.2 : 1.
Engine Diesel
948 cc Type 9T
Compression ratio was very high at 23.6 : 1.
Maximum governed light running speed 2.750 RPM
Maximum speed under load 2,500 RPM
Torque 38 lb ft at 1,750 RPM
