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
