FORDSON TRACTOR

      A hundred years ago, in 1917, Americas was engaged  in  World War I, the “War to end all wars,” 
While fighting was going on overseas, industriy and transportation advancements within  the nation were manifold. led by giants like inventor, engineer and automobile executive Henry Ford, who was busy making the famous Model-T. Upon observing that the Model-T was often adapted to farm chores, Henry Ford decided to produce a dedicated farm tractor, in a move some characterized as “emancipation of the plow horse.”  His success was shortly followed by competitors Case, Allis Chalmers, John Deere, Massey Harris and International Harvester.
The fascinating history of the Fordson tractor is in full display on Wikipedia and need not be covered here.
I have a personal aquaintance with the Fordson, as my father purchased one at the going price of $325 in the early 1920’s. It was little used at first except to cut cordwood into smaller pieces with a  circular saw that was attached to the front end. My father was not about to part with his fine team of horses. 
The Fordson became our sole power source as the horses aged. It was a fearsome machine, hard to start, hard to steer, hard to shift. It had no brakes but relied on its worm gear drive to stop when the clutch was depressed. I spent many hours of my early years on the iron seat, wrestling with the steering wheel.
The tractor was responsible for hundreds of deaths due  to its tendency to upend itself and fall on its back, killing the driver. That could occur, for instance, when a plow would strike  an immovable obstacle, like a root or a rock. Decades later, Ferguson, a Fordson manufacturer in the UK, developed a three-point hitch that solved the problem and is now standard on all tractors. I encountered the problem in two separate instances, but  was nimble enough to kill the throttle and jump free.  

The Fordson tractor was hot, odiferous, noisy and dangerous. I cannot say how happy I was when the implement dealer arrived in the farmyard with a shiny new Farmall Tractor, made by International Harvester, equipped with brakes, a muffler and a self starter. Thereupon the Fordson was parked in the rear of the implement shed, where it slouched for years, gathering cobwebs and dust.