In 1941, near Palouse, Washington, Raymond A. Hanson conceived of a self-leveling mechanism for hillside combines. On the steep hills in the Pacific Northwest, leveling is necessary to save grain because of the gravity grain separation mechanism. Before the Hanson invention, manual leveling required a person to stand on the combine platform and adjust the machine to the lay of the land - a hot, tedious job. The grain-saving attributes of Hanson's invention were probably more important than the labor saving, although both were valuable.
USA
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Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/Scoty6776 (CC BY 3.0)Image Caption: A 2011 AGCO Gleaner S77 Tritura combine demonstrates its hillside self-leveling technology
2008
Scoates Hall 1932 A Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering Named for Daniels Scoates Designer of this Building Professor and Head Department of Agricultural Engineering 1919 to 1939 Eleventh President of ASAE Teacher, Writer, Engineer Counselor to Youth, His Example Still Inspires. Dedicated by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers 1978
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Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/Ronw526 (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Scoates Hall, part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University.
1978
The Rumely Companies, which operated in La Porte, Indiana, from 1853 to 1931, produced a variety of equipment including threshers and steam engines, which helped to change the nature of American and world agriculture. The revolutionary OilPull Tractor, which was introduced in 1910, used a unique carburetion system developed by John Secor, the Company's Chief Engineer. The OilPull tractor efficiently converted a low cost petroleum product to mechanical power, greatly reducing the need for animal and steam power on American farms. Dr.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Wikipedia/BulldozerD11 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
2003
Early tractors were massive and expensive. Their steel lug wheels gave poor traction and a rough ride. Lugs were prohibited on many roads. 1926 Hoyle Pounds modified a Fordson tractor with zero pressure truck tires on special rims to improve performance on sandy soils in Winter Garden, FL.
A successful business resulted. In 1929 Hessel Roorda equipped Farmall tractors with low pressure rubber tires to pick corn in muddy fields near Rock Valley, IA. Farmers found they performed well in all conditions.
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Image Caption: A modern rubber tractor tire
1995
The First Agricultural Tractor Roll-Over Protection Structure (Rops) In The USA Resulted From Research By Lloyd H. Lamouria, Ralph R. Parks And Coby Lorensen At The Agricultural Engineering Department Of The University Of California At Davis. It Was Designed And Successfully Tested In The Summer Of 1956. It Was Exhibited And Reported At The Annual Meeting Of The Pacific Coast Section Of The American Society Of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) In December 1956. Warren I. Hanson, Safety Coordinator, N.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/BulldozerD11 (CC BY 3.0)Image Caption: Ford Tractor with fitted ROPS bar
1986
The Rain Bird horizontal action impact drive sprinkler head was invented in 1933 by Orton Englehardt, a citrus grower and native of Glendora. The design offered slow rotation and uniform watering, benefits long sought by local irrigators. Clement M. LaFetra, a friend of Englehardt, urged early patent application. A patent was awarded on December 18, 1933. Englehardt, with no entrepreneurial aspirations, assigned all rights to LaFetra and his wife Mary Elizabeth. Production began in the LaFetra family barn on October 13, 1935.
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1990
Pole Frame Building Historic Landmark Of Agricultural Engineering - In the mid 1940's, "B G" Perkins of Doane Agricultural Service introduced a new pole-frame construction along the Missouri-Illinois border. This idea revolutionized the way barns were built.
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1995
Designated a Historic Landmark of Agricultural Engineering at Oakland Manor In 1876 Francis Morris Built Brick Silos in His Barn and Introduced the Practice of Making Corn Silage in the United States. His Further Experiments Developed the Use of Earthen Trenches and Thereby Significantly Contributed to the Development of American Agriculture Dedicated by Amercan Society of Agricultural Engineers 1976
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Image Caption: A pit silo in Araguacema, circa 1964. This style of silage was originally conceived by Francis Morris in the 19th century.
1976
William J. Conroy Of Aylmer, Quebec, Received Patent No. 465,127 On The First Field Hay Chopper On 15 December, 1891. Its Sickle Cut The Crop, Which Was Elevated Directly Into A Cylindrical Curved-Bar Cutterhead. It Was Not Commercially Successful, But It Recognized The Need.
Professor Floyd Waldo Duffee, Agricultural Engineering Department, University Of Wisconsin, Built And Field Tested A Silo Filler With An Attached Hay Loader In 1926. He Presented The Specifications Of A Complete Unified Harvester To The National Asabe Meeting In 1927.
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Image Credit: Courtesy Flickr/Bob Adams (CC BY-SA 2.0)Image Caption: Claas Jaguar 870 forage harvester with pickup header
1988
Since the beginning of irrigated agriculture, it has been important to measure flows of irrigation water. Accuracy of early water measurement methods often suffered because of trash or sediment in the water, or unusual flow conditions. Ralph L. Parshall saw this problem when he began working for the USDA in 1915, as an irrigation research engineer. In 1922 he invented the flume now known by his name. When this flume is placed in a channel, flow is uniquely related to the water depth.
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Image Credit: Public Domain
1985
Innovations
This is one of the earliest uses of engineered water supply and irrigation systems in the United States. The first of eight original acequias was under construction in 1718 and two are still in operation. The remains of one are visible on the grounds of the Alamo. The Acequias of San Antonio are…
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This 50,000-ton die-forging press is among the largest fabrication tools in the world. It was designed and built for the U.S. Air Force by the Mesta Machine Company of Pittsburgh, following the discovery of a 30,000-ton press used by the Germans in World War II (later acquired by the Soviet…
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The Alaska Highway, initially called the Alaskan-Canadian (Alcan) Military Highway, provided an essential transportation link to the Yukon and Alaska during World War II. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska…
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The idea of constructing a rotating boom for
hydromechanical tests at the Alden Hydraulic Laboratory
originated with Professor Charles Metcalf Allen, head of
the lab from 1896 to 1950. The original boom was designed
in 1908 by Professor Allen, assisted by two Worcester
Polytechnic Institute… Read More
In an era when roads and canals were the most common means of overland transportation, the Allegheny Portage Railroad provided a novel alternative. The railway carried fully-loaded canal boats over the steep grades of the Allegheny Mountain. The 36-mile system rose almost 2,300 feet above sea…
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Built with a single set of tracks consisting of hardwood rails and wooden ties, and using wooden trestles to carry it over low-lying areas, the 136-mile Charleston-Hamburg Railroad was one of the longest railroads in the world when it was completed in 1833. It also became the first railroad in…
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The "Alligator" amphibian tractor is the progenitor of all amphibian assault vehicles used since 1941, a pioneer venture both in its design and the materials used in its construction. Donald Roebling, a grandson of Colonel Washington Roebling (designer of the Brooklyn Bridge), built an amphibian… Read More
This was a pioneering venture in mainline railroad electrification. It established single-phase alternating current as a technical and economical alternative to direct current. This concept exerted considerable influence over subsequent systems both in the United States and abroad. The major…
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"An essential part of the human experience is to create an aesthetic atmosphere."
The George Washington Bridge represented a departure in suspension bridge design. Chief Engineer O.H. Ammann developed a system of stiffening trusses that offered greater flexibility and saved the project…
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The Apollo lunar module (LM-13) was developed by the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. (now Northrop Grumman). The LM's main functions were to carry two astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon's surface, and then return them to lunar orbit to rendezvous and dock with the Apollo command-service… Read More
The Apollo was the vehicle that first transported humans to the moon and safely back to earth. Nine lunar flights were made between 1968 and 1972. The command module, built by North American Aviation (at the time of launch, North American Rockwell Corporation), accommodated three astronauts during… Read More
With a water table several feet below ground level, New Orleans faced a crisis after every heavy rainfall, not just through flooding but also through disease (yellow fever and malaria) caused by impure water. New Orleans was dependent on mechanical means for lifting water from its canals and sewage… Read More
Work began in 1887 on the high-level truss "Winner Bridge" crossing the Missouri River at Kansas City. The piers were completed in 1890, but for financial reasons the project was suspended. John Alexander Low Waddell, renowned civil engineer, prepared an alternate design for a lift bridge in…
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The Bonneville Dam, Columbia River Power and Navigation System consists of 55 major projects on Oregon's Columbia River and is said to be the largest hydroelectric system in the world.
The Columbia River forms part of the border between Washington and Oregon and flows inland through the…
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With its landscaped embankments, limited access, and depressed roadway, Arroyo Seco Parkway (now known as the Pasadena Freeway) became the prototype of the Los Angeles freeway system. Motorists enjoy a scenic drive featuring landscaped embankments lush with native chaparral. The curving…
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Ithamar A. Beard, an engineer of some prominence in New England, surveyed the mill brook and selected the best site for a storage dam. Contractor Simeon Cobb, knowledgeable of contemporary civil engineering practices, made major changes to the dam's original design, converting the linear dam…
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The quantities of materials used in the building are staggering: 12,000 tons of structural steel; 42,000 cubic yards of concrete - consisting of 65,000 barrels of cement and 25,000 tons of sand; 360,000 feet of piling; and 10,000,000 bricks. At the time of its construction, Atlantic City…
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The Atlas E-2 Space Booster, or launch vehicle, is a modified intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Convair Division of General Dynamics and the U.S. Air Force. The basic concept of the Atlas system was proven in its first flight on June 11, 1957, followed over the years by the… Read More
Hardy fishermen and their families have long inhabited Bailey Island, which was settled in the 1720s. Ordinarily, they did not mind crossing to the mainland in their fishing boats. But before the Bailey Island Bridge was built, during certain seasons of the year when violent storms battered the…
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Read More"The roundhouse is an amazing survivor of an important era in American engineering and architectural history. Eric DeLony, chief of the National Park Service's Historic American Engineering Record, has called it 'the most important surviving cast-iron framed building in North…
