Some JI Case Steam Tractors

Other brands of steam traction engines

Gary Yaeger posted
150 hp Case #14,666 pulling four water filled 15 hp Case engines up "the hill" at the JI Case factory at Racine, Wisconsin.

Gary Yaeger posted
Loading a brand new 65 hp Case atop a railroad flat car at the JI Case factory at Racine, Wisconsin.

Steam Engines, Tractors, Trains, & More shared David Vanek Jr.'s photo.

At the 2016 Sycamore Steam Show.

I caught this Case working out in the field later in the afternoon (see further below).



I thought vertical tillage was a new concept. But these closeups of the implement indicate subsoiling or "deep tillage" was sometimes done during the steam era. Looking at the closeups, I believe the reason the rider is holding on the rope is to trip a release and allow the blade to come out of the ground if it hits a big rock. With lots of horsepower, you don't want to discover what will break if a big rock deep in hard ground won't move.

At the end of a pass, they spent quite a bit of time waiting.  At the end of the second pass I learned why --- they shovel more coal on the fire. I don't believe they shovel while pulling down the field. The main reason I took this picture was to record how long the harrow spike was.

The blade does leave a ridge. I think the main reason they were using a subsoil tool instead of a plow to demonstrate the tractors in field operations is that they field was rather skinny and they can do a lot more passes with the blade than they could do with the multi-bottom plow that some of these tractors could pull. Note that this is probably the only wheat field in the county. Most fields in Illinois are either corn or soybeans.

Update:

Tod Riebow shared  Gary Yaeger's photo
A 110 hp Case freighting in Browning, Montana.

At the Hesston Steam Museum 2014 Labor Day Weekend

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