What does the term "horsepower" refer to?
build these competencies
a growing population and Canadian farm mechanization
As Canada’s population grew, farmers were encouraged to produce more crops. The size of farm fields increased with this growing demand for food. As a result, farmers required machines that were more efficient than horse-pulled ploughs.
Farmers, engineers and innovators responded to this need. For example, a company based in Hamilton, Ontario called Sawyer-Massey was the first to build gas-powered tractors for the west.
The early gas or kerosene tractors borrowed from steam engine designs, using their wheels, drive gears and steering gear. Two examples of the Sawyer-Massey tractors were called the 20-40 and 25-45 models. The model numbers referred to the amount of horsepower.
- The 20-40 and the early 25-45 tractors used a tank-type radiator in which engine exhaust was ducted into a stack on the top of a square cooling water tank.
- As the exhaust escaped upwards, cooler air was pulled into the water tank. The cooler air was drawn upwards through an exhaust stack.
- Along the way, the air was directed through baffles. Hot coolant from the engine trickled over the baffles.
- This design cooled the water, although it lost a substantial amount of the cooling water along the way.
These early tractors provided more power and allowed farmers to work larger farm fields more quickly. However, the steel wheels resulted in a very bumpy ride and the open platforms meant that farmers experienced heat and dust while ploughing.
Find out more about other Sawyer-Massey tractors used in the Canadian prairies on the Manitoba Agricultural Museum at http://mbagmuseum.ca/brands/sawyer-massey/.
This photo shows a farmer ploughing with four-horse team near Munson, Alberta in 1914.
The tractor in this photo is one of these early tractors – the 20-40 Sawyer Massey. It was being demonstrated in a field in north Calgary in 1918. The video from the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum describes the history of this tractor.
Information on farm mechanization from Manitoba Agricultural Museum (April 17, 2019). The McCrindle Sawyer Massey 25-45 gas tractor. Manitoba Co-operator: Online. www.manitobacooperator.ca/country-crossroads/mccrindle-sawyer-massey-25-45-gas-tractor/ and Canada Agriculture and Food Museum. Sawyer-Massey Tractor 20-40. Ingenium Canada: Online. https://ingeniumcanada.org/agriculture/artifact/sawyer-massey-tractor-20-40
Canadian combines
The combine in this photo was one of the largest built up to 1930. The video from Agriculture Canada describes how much time combine harvesters saved the average farmer with current machines, compared to those used 150 years ago.
What parts and functions can you identify in the machines that are shown in the photo and video?
Photos: CU187758, CU196722 and CU1195565 Courtesy of Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary
The combine harvester “combined” reaping, threshing and winnowinginto one machine. The combine made important improvements in the process needed to harvest a crop. It reduced the labour required and allowed crops to be harvested much faster.
Early combines used a sickle to cut the stalks, a reel to push the grain onto a platform and an apron or drape to move it to a threshing cylinder.
In the late 1800s, steam engines were used to power the combines.
By the early 1900s, combines were pulled by tractors and used an engine to provide power to the threshing machine.
Combines today are made up of over 20 different moving parts that pull in the crop, cut and gather the stalks, separate the grains from the stalks and push the grain into a bin. The stalks are then pushed back onto the ground. The grain is then loaded into a truck.
A HARVEST BRIGADE
Another important combine harvester was also developed in Canada by Massey-Harris in Ontario. Massey-Harris received permission to produce this combine from the War Production Board by proposing that 500 be used to form a “Harvesting Brigade.”
These 500 combines would harvest crops across North America. The Brigade began harvesting in the southern United States and moved northward, harvesting more than a million acres to provide more food for the war effort.
Information on Canadian combines from Canadian Agriculture and Food Museum. Massey-Harris “No. 21” Combine Harvester. Ingenium Canada: Online. https://ingeniumcanada.org/agriculture/artifact/massey-harris-no-21-combine-harvester
mechanization in the food system
Agricultural mechanization today ranges from the simple and basic hand tools that are still used to more sophisticated and automated equipment.
What type of mechanization would each stage in the food system depend on?
