Radiator Pros Brings the History of Tractor Home Again

Charles City Iowa is the birth place of the tractor by two gentlemen named Charles Hart and Charles Parr. It’s unknown whether the city was named after the double Charles’ but if not, it certainly should have been in our opinion. Although there were earlier steam powered machines, it was in 1903 that Charles and Charles released the design of the first American made tractor which was built with a two-cylinder gas engine with a hit and miss firing cycle producing a horsepower of 30 at the belt with 18HP at the drawbar. This internal combustion engine tractor weighs in at about 14,000 pounds and continues to be displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History located in Washington DC as the oldest surviving tractor of its kind.

Those in the agricultural business and construction would surely be at a loss without the invention of the tractor. The intention was to provide high torque at slow speeds for pulling plows, harrows, and other equipment allowing work to be completed smarter and therefore, harder and faster. Since 1903 companies such as Case/IH New HollandCaterpillar, and John Deere have gone on to build them into some of the most heavy duty equipment in a wide variety of sizes and strength for the many different applications and workload. With about two million farms in America at an average size of 418 acres and constant new construction, it’s probably safe to say that the range of torque and magnitude of today’s tractors are both utilized and appreciated.

Radiator Pros has worked to bring this innovative piece of machinery home to Iowa by supplying heavy duty radiatorscondensers, and compressors to keep them running at their peak performance and to tackle the most challenging jobs in the world of construction and agriculture. The word tractor derives from the Latin trahere, meaning “to pull” and do they pull! Radiator Pros is also pulling for you to keep your modern tractor pulling in the right direction!