When engines were invented in the early nineteenth century, they were quickly adapted for use in farming—at first just to drive farm machinery, using the engine to move other equipment, but not itself.
When steam-traction engines were introduced in 1868, they were used only on the roads to haul timber and other heavy loads around. Gradually, however, they came to be used in the fields, dragging plows behind them. One of the biggest obstacles facing the traction engines was their wheels. On soft soil, thin wheels just sank, so the wheels were fitted with wide metal tires to spread out the weight. These wheels lacked grip and got people looking for other ways to spread the weight. In 1904, Benjamin Holt (1849-1920) tested the first tractor with tracks instead of wheels and went on to form a company that became Caterpillar. In 1932 the metal tires were replaced with rubber ones, increasing grip and decreasing weight.
Engine-wise, the Charter Gasoline Engine Company created a gasoline-fueled engine in 1887 that they adapted to drive a traction engine. In 1892, American inventor John Froelich built his own version in Iowa and his design became the first successful gasoline tractor—and father to many others. Froelich's success made other companies follow suit. Hart-Parr, founded at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1897 before moving to Iowa in 1905, became known as the "Founders of the Tractor Industry" because their factory was the first to be used continually and exclusively to make tractors. In 1906, their sales manager decided "traction engine" was too long and vague a description and shortened it to "tractor."
