RELAY RACE OF LENIN'S THOUGHT
Modern agrarian policy is the Leninist strategy and tactics of the party in the field of agriculture under developed socialism.
L. I. BREZHNEV. From a speech at the July (1978) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU
We will talk about the tractor. As an object that embodied the history of the movement of one of Lenin's many ideas.
In this series of brilliant predictions there are plans for the world, and dreams of universal literacy, and faith in the moral perfection of man. Lenin's GOELRO plan is being translated into a grandiose reality today, telling us in a tangible and substantive way about the path that a brilliant idea takes.
Lenin's view of the tractor is among such brilliant foresights.
“If we could supply tomorrow 100,000 first-class tractors, supply them with gasoline, supply them with drivers (you know very well that for the time being this is a fantasy), then the average peasant would say; "I am for communion" (i.e., for communism)."
Civil War. Ruin. Hunger. Time drives events. The village is not keeping up with life. The earth is waiting for the master's hand.
We are looking into the past. Let's find out amazing facts.
Open military intervention of the Entente, the invasion of the Austro-German troops in Ukraine. And among urgent matters, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin finds time to receive the inventor and designer of tractors, Ya. V. Mamin, in the Kremlin. Later, in 1922, the collegium of the People's Commissariat of Agriculture gave him a significant amount of money for the additional equipment of the Balakovo plant and sent him to Germany to purchase the necessary machine tools.
October 22, 1921 testing of a new electric plow at the Butyrsky farm near Moscow. Vladimir Ilyich walks next to the plow. Members of the Electroplow commission ask him to move away: it is possible that the cable may break or the plow, having lost stability, will jump out of the furrow. But persuasion does not work well ... Lenin spent the whole day until dark on the Butyrka field and, according to one of the members of the commission, he left dissatisfied. The design of the plows and the entire plowing system did not satisfy him.
On November 29, 1921, Lenin received delegates from the First Provincial Agricultural Congress in the Kremlin. He carefully listens to the complaints of the peasants that during the war the land was neglected, there are many virgin lands and bushes overgrown with arable land, it is difficult to plow with plow. Vladimir Ilyich says prophetic words: “Yes, the plow will not feed us. Industry begins to produce agricultural machines - plows, seeders, reapers. First of all, we are thinking of supplying rental points with them in order to be able to serve more households. Soon there will be tractors ... "
In those days, the tractor could, having come to the aid of the peasant, become a lever for the reorganization of all agriculture on a socialist basis.
In museums we see photographs of those years - the village meets the first tractor, an amazing "mechanical horse" that does not even require straw - it purrs, snorts, but plows. The roar of the engine of the first tractor heralded the beginning of a technical revolution in the countryside.
In 1923, in response to Lenin's appeal, a commission of the Supreme Council of National Economy was created, which established that the country needed 220,000 tractors with a capacity of 20 hp each. With. Of the wheeled tractors, the American "Fordson" and "titanium" are planned for development, of the caterpillar ones - the American "holt" and the German V-D. Calculations, however, show that the mass production of tractors can be quickly arranged only at the Putilov plant ...
The people wholeheartedly accepted Lenin's ideas for a radical reorganization of the country's agriculture. Away from large industrial centers - in Kichkas, Zaporizhia province, in Balakovo, Samara province, in Kolomna - the sprouts of a local initiative were born.
The telegram was very significant:
We, the workers and employees of State Plant No. 14 in Kichkas, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Communist Party, with great solemnity, are wearing a labor gift - a peasant tractor of the first production, designed by our technical leaders. We proudly give our strength and labor to communist construction, facilitating the work of the workers and peasants ... "
The first domestic tractor "Zaporozhets" No. 1 - a gift to Lenin. The first link on the way to turning an idea into reality!
Already seriously ill, Vladimir Ilyich is keenly interested in how things are going in the tractor industry. And on his last trip from Gorki to Moscow on October 19, 1923, he visits the first agricultural and handicraft exhibition of the USSR, which exhibited 75 Russian tractors. Vladimir Ilyich approached the Zaporozhets, read the rating plate, and gently ran his hand over the radiator. I listened to the conversation of the peasants, who asked the guides how much the cars cost and what strength they contain ...
Gleb Maksimilianovich Krzhizhanovsky in his memoirs of Lenin noted the speed with which Vladimir Ilyich understood very complex technical issues. “If it is true,” he said, “that a true technician is, first of all, an incessant fighter, then there is no doubt that in Vladimir Ilyich there were enormous opportunities for technical creativity.”
"Zaporozhets", "Gnome", "Dwarf", "Kolomenets-1" - the firstborn of Soviet tractors. Dozens, hundreds of machines - this is not mass production yet, but they taught a lot, brought up the first cadres of tractor builders, pointed out mistakes, rightfully entered the history of domestic tractor building.
In 1973, a holiday dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first agricultural and handicraft exhibition of the USSR was held at the VDNKh of the USSR. At the entrance to the anniversary pavilion "Mechanization and electrification of agriculture" was the legendary "Zaporozhets", constantly surrounded by visitors. As a memory of the first steps of tractor construction, as a symbol of the movement of the Leninist idea!
Behind the back is a journey of 50 years. Let's look back.
On October 1, 1924, the first production Fordson-Putilovets rolled off the Putilov factory assembly line. The slogan "From handicraft production to mass tractor construction" begins to be implemented. In the first year, 74 tractors were produced, in the next - 422. In 1932 - 32 thousand tractors! In total, from October 1924 to April 1932, 49,568 cars rolled off the assembly line of the plant. "Fordson-Putilovets" fulfilled its task, but the country is moving to the stage of complete collectivization, huge areas of land are being developed. We need new tractors, new specialized factories.
1930 The Stalingrad Tractor Plant named after Dzerzhinsky (until 1961 - STZ) is put into operation. It produces tracked and wheeled universal tractors.
1931 A specialized plant is being created in Kharkov - KhTZ. And already in 1932 the enterprise was awarded the first Order of Lenin.
On August 10, 1930, the solemn laying of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant named after V.I. Lenin takes place. On November 7, a pilot plant was put into operation, from the gates of which a new tractor came out three months later. On June 1, 1933, ChTZ enters service. A year and a half later, the workers of the plant celebrate their first anniversary - the 10,000th tractor rolls off the assembly line. Until March 31, 1937, the country received 69 thousand S-60s. Soon, at the international exhibition of 1937 in Paris, they were awarded the highest award - the "Grand Prix".
And let's remember the famous STZ-KhTZ 15/30 tractors. How much land was plowed by 397 thousand of these machines with a capacity of 32.5 liters. With.! And wheeled, tilled "Universals"! Before the war, they were produced by the Kirov Plant in Leningrad, from 1944 to 1955 the Vladimir Tractor Plant took over. It was the first Soviet tractor to be exported abroad.
And the first diesel S-65! World recognition came to him even before he was put into mass production. In 1937, the dieselization of the domestic tractor fleet began with it. And twenty years later, our country is the first in the world to convert the entire tractor industry to diesel.
And the old man KhTZT-G is a tractor on a gas generator, with fancy turrets. How much fuel he helped to save in a difficult time for the country!
Tractors as milestones in the history of the country, in the fate of people, in the movement of human thought towards progress. Let's compare.
1928 - on the fields of the first cooperatives 27 thousand tractors with an average power of 20 hp. With.; 1940 - 531 thousand pieces; 1945 - 397 thousand pieces; 1953 - the beginning of the development of virgin lands - 744 thousand pieces; 1960 - 1090 thousand units. Tractor power increases to 100 hp. With.
1965 March Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Measures have been worked out for the consistent and steady implementation of the party's agrarian policy. Vladimir Ilyich's instruction that the main thing in the socialist reconstruction of the entire way of life in the countryside is "the material base, equipment, the use of tractors and machines in agriculture on a mass scale, electrification on a mass scale" has not been forgotten.
The army of tractors participating in the reconstruction of the countryside grows from 1,613,000 in 1965 to 2,334,000 in 1975.
No, the tractor is not just a powerful unit, not only a complex system of cast iron and steel. Behind their design, behind "horsepower", behind speed and design, there is much that a person who builds a new world lives on. This is bread, welfare, and politics. This is also a desire for peace, for only very kind and strong people can reforge swords into plowshares. It is symbolic that the first tract of the STZ is now in the Museum of the Revolution in Moscow next to the legendary cart, as if emphasizing the versatility of the revolutionary struggle...
Recall: STZ-NATI - the owner of the "Grand Prix" at an exhibition in Paris in 1937 - he began the development of virgin lands. Let's say a kind word about Kirovets - KD-35. In 1947, its designers were awarded the State Prize. The tractor turned out to be a rare long-liver - until 1973, its main components remained on the T-38 and T-38M. Isn't the Altai T-4A worthy of mention - one of the most enduring caterpillar tractors! Its 130 liters. With. Since 1969, heavy lands have been plowed - virgin, fallow, artificially irrigated - Siberia, Kazakhstan, the Far East.
Now more than 2.5 million tractors of 24 brands are working on the fields of the country. The capacity of mobile technical facilities exceeds 400 million liters. With. So I want "l. With." translate into live horses and see this huge herd. But in the Kirovets alone, which has been produced since 1933, there are 215 such "horses". And with the K-701, even more - 309! It is interesting to put Zaporozhets and K-701 next to each other. Our first-born could hide behind the wheel of a modern tractor "acceleration".
But life hurries us, inexorably urges us on, without giving an hour of respite, as L. I. Brezhnev said in one of his speeches. We need new and latest technology.
Time requires new speeds from the tractor, more power than before. And science is developing the foundations for increasing the working speeds of tavern units up to 9-15 km / h. The industry is ready to produce high-performance tractors T-150/150K, MTZ-80/82, DT-75S, K-701, which will form the basis of the scientific and technical re-equipment of agriculture. Their introduction allows to increase the productivity of MTP by 1.5 times. Science is moving forward again and is developing a fundamentally new technology for cultivating crops using energy tools with a capacity of up to 500 hp. With. The relay race of Lenin's idea continues!
And, thinking about how best to fulfill the plans of the XXVI Congress of the CPSU, it makes sense to look back at the path traveled, to survey the present and think about the future. Moreover, the topic of conversation is connected with the name of V.I. Lenin, is inseparable from his name.
When you find yourself in the Central Museum of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in Moscow, pay attention - in different rooms there are models of tractors: STZ - 1930, DT-54A (millionth VTZ tractor), DT-75M (one and a half millionth), "Kirovets". There is a model of a Russian Fowler-type autoplough, a model of a tractor - a gift to the museum from the winners of the labor watch in honor of the XXIV Congress of the CPSU, young followers of the twice Hero of Socialist Labor P. N. Angelina.
And now we know that these exhibits are not accidental, they are directly related to Ilyich. Just like the Zaporozhets, whose model is also in the museum and which we talk about in this issue of the magazine.
V. KRYLOV
THE SECOND BIRTH OF THE TRACTOR
Almost a hundred years ago, in 1882, a factory of agricultural machines was built on the banks of the then full-flowing Tokmok. To cultivate the fertile Zaporozhye lands, tools were needed. Actually, there were two factories: German and Austrian subjects, Fuchs and Kleiner. The workers—Ukrainians, Russians, Germans, the working people of the surrounding area—lived poorly and worked honestly.
From the early spring of 1904, the workers of the Fuchs factory went on strike, and in May they helped the striking Korça. There was a party organization in Bolshoy Tokmak, and proclamations of the RSDLP were distributed. It was here that the famous appeal of the Potemkin heroes was clandestinely printed; the years of the first revolution, the Stolypin reaction, the civil war are firmly associated with the names of the revolutionaries Pyotr Moiseenko, P. M. Nikiforov, the red commander P. E. Dybenko, the Bolshevik, who later became the first Soviet director of the plant, I. T. Leppik ...
The workers did not appear for mobilization in the "volunteer" army of the whites, they supported and finally established Soviet power. Having expelled the "black barons" from their land, the inhabitants of the town continued to think not only about themselves - among other pressing matters, they prepared and sent a train of bread to the starving working Moscow ... Of course, the popular movement did not end with the establishment of power, it only gained strength. The name of the city changed, the plant changed and grew. Once the largest enterprises of Tokmak - the Fuchs and Kiranon factories in the 22nd year merged into one, called the Red Progress.
Years passed. First Five Years. War. The plant works for the defense of the country. The principle of solidarity - for all, for the sake of all - lives in the hearts.
Recovery. Transition to the production of diesel engines. The plant is growing. Reminisces about the past. Do not forget anything: no heroes, no achievements. Such is his character. There are memorials in honor of the first revolutionaries and the Board of Honor of the leading contemporaries, the book "This is how traditions were born", the museum of the plant ...
At the diesel plant named after S. M. Kirov, an initiative arises: to restore the very first, "23rd year of birth" domestic tractor. This "Zaporozhets" of the first batch in the same year was sent to Moscow for the first agricultural and handicraft-industrial exhibition, the predecessor of our VDNKh.
It was decided: by the 110th anniversary of the birth of Ilyich, the first issue of the Zaporozhye Cossacks will stand in Gorki near Moscow, the Ulyanovsk Memorial and the Leningrad branch of the Central Museum of V. I. Lenin. All the youth of the plant competed for the right to travel to these wonderful places for the solemn installation of exhibits made by their own hands.
And how did you compete? Actually, the assembly of models began in the factory workshops of vocational schools - students study here who decided to master the profession of a turner, gear cutter, locksmith, pattern maker, and, having mastered it, work at the factory (the enterprise, by the way, is huge and has long been producing not agricultural equipment, but powerful diesel engines , turbines are very complex modern products).
In their free time, each participant made one of the 3500 tractor parts in his workshop free of charge. And the assembly was supervised by the old master, one of the eye actors of the initiative, Evgeny Grigoryevich Shchurov. He was an apprentice at the factory when he made the Zaporozhets, worked here, taught young people at the factory FZU, then vocational school, retired, but not for long: he returned for the sake of business. He, an eyewitness, recalls: a prototype of the design of engineer L. A. Unger was created nearby, at small Kichkas state factories and transferred to Krasnoye Progress for mass production.
What did he look like? Pretty funny these days. Less Fordzone. The tractor driver sat high, as if on a bicycle. The similarity also lay in the fact that the tractor was three-wheeled, with one driving rear wheel, and only this wheel had 218 parts. When cornering, the car did not yet have sufficient stability, sometimes it overturned, but it was easy to operate.
Its properties were demonstrated at an agricultural exhibition in Moscow, which was examined by V. I. Lenin, on the fields of the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy, and abroad, in Persia, at the first agricultural exhibition in Tehran. Then the Soviet exhibits were awarded a gold medal, diplomas, certificates of honor. Young Soviet technology aroused admiration among the Persian peasants.
The eye distinguishing feature of the tractor was that it ran on crude oil, and not on gasoline, like European ones (the cylinder from which fuel flowed by gravity into the engine was mounted on the wing). It was easier and cheaper. The well-known Soviet mechanical engineer L. K. Martens already in those days, speaking about the Zaporozhets, argued that “the future Russian tractor should be a simple, cheap and durable machine that runs on oil, not gasoline” ...
The old master and young workers are passionate about restoring the Zaporozhets for the future. But to revive the disappeared is always difficult. To this day, only the Zaporozhets serial issue No. 107, kept by the Chernihiv Museum, has survived. They began to search. And good luck. A photo from the family archive, which shows the first tractors in the factory yard, waiting to be shipped, was brought by a worker - the son of the worker who took the picture. We also found other photos of tractors, the "brothers" of the Chernigov exhibit, which no longer had 12, but 18 horsepower, and a slightly different appearance. From them decided to return to the model of the first.
I save it for history, - says Shchurov and holds out a folder with documents, designs, working drawings, painstakingly recreated from descriptions and photographs.
His phrase sounds meaningful and proud. Yes, he can say that...
In the twenty-second workshop and others, only individual parts are made according to our drawings, and people come here to see what is being done as a whole, - Evgeny Grigoryevich continues. But then his assistant for assembly for this day, Komsomol member Stanislav Dubinin, comes up. In his hands he has a radiator just made of brass, as in ancient times.
The assembly of the first tractor (both the process itself and the competition for the right to travel to Ulyanovsk, Moscow, Leningrad) is only a stage in the movement begun earlier: to restore and preserve the history of the plant for posterity.
Another old-timer, the main protagonist of this factory epic, is Nikolai Petrovich Sosna. This man started in Tokmak as a correspondent for a Zaporozhye newspaper. He became interested in the history of the city and the plant; being a journalist, he collected and still collects extensive and most interesting material.
Of course, Sosna is associated with the assemblers of the first tractor. They go to him for advice. Nikolai Petrovich is the founder and public director of the factory museum. Many of its exhibits and finds helped to recreate the first tractor. And the very idea of reviving the car was born among the activists of the museum. These are veterans, such as, for example, Boris Nikolaevich Kiba (30 years at the plant, 12 helps the museum), and the former secretary of the Komsomol committee Sergei Ivakhnenko, and guides, students of Nikolai Petrovich, young workers Lyudmila Ovcharenko, Irina Marusina ... There are all new documents, evidence of past years.
The factory workers decided to make several copies of the first model. One, together with copies of the found documents, will be transferred to the new city museum of local lore; the other is left in the factory. They want to donate a tractor to their technical school, where it began to take on a second life. They are also going to put it up at the entrance - look, they say, incoming guests, how our plant began in the early 20s ...
The current secretary of the Komsomol committee, Nikolay Krivtsun, said that the committee took over the reins of this peculiar competition. Every month the results were summed up. In the factory newspaper Kirovets, from issue to issue, materials were published about some leader in the assembly of a historical tractor, it was said that it was he who introduced the new to the common cause.
Now the names of the winners have already been announced. In the year of the recent Lenin jubilee, they themselves took their gifts - models of the first domestic tractor - to Ulyanovsk, Leningrad and Gorki near Moscow.
L. SERGEEVA
THIS WAS "ZAPORIZHET"
A prototype of the Zaporozhets tractor was created at the small Kichkas State Agricultural Machinery Plants No. 14 and No. 11 under the guidance of engineer L. A. Unger. The tractor was built on the basis of a 12-horsepower two-stroke single-cylinder oil engine "Triumph" produced by the Bolshoi Tokmak State Plant No. 8.
The ignition of the mixture in it occurred from the ignition head, which was heated to a heat for 15-20 minutes before starting the engine. The moment of ignition was regulated by the supply of water to the cylinder, the engine was cooled with water.
The gearbox, closed in a dense metal case, protected the gears from dirt and dust. Instead of ball bearings and babbit liners, bronze bushings were used. In case of wear, they could be made in any workshop. Power from the engine to the wheels was transmitted through a friction clutch lined with rawhide.
The tractor moved only at one speed - 3.6 km / h. True, within certain limits, it nevertheless changed by affecting the pendulum regulator of a change in the number of revolutions.
Tractor business in the young Soviet Republic was just in its infancy, there was no question of highly qualified mechanics, the base for operation and repair was limited to a rural forge. Even an illiterate peasant could easily master the work on such a simple machine as the Zaporozhets and take care of it like a “mechanical horse”. The test report of the prototype (summer 1922) stated: “A tractor with a 12-horsepower engine, consuming about two pounds of black oil per tithe, with a plowing depth of up to four inches, freely removed a layer of land of 65 square inches. The tractor could plow 1.5-3 acres of land per day (depending on the depth of plowing).
"Zaporozhets" decided to improve and provide its production with drawings and models. 10 modernized tractors were built.
The sample arrived at the Krasny Progress plant in Tokmak on September 29, 1923. Here it was envisaged to master its serial production. Almost 90 miles from the village of Kichkas, the Zaporozhets made its way on its own without the slightest breakdown. Along the way, the peasants demonstrated several times the plowing of the land by a “mechanical horse” ...
“Competitions of the Zaporozhets of the first release and the tracked tractor Holt of the Obukhov Plant on the fields of the Petrovsky Agricultural Academy in the fall of 1923 were held in favor of the domestic first-born. For plowing a tithe of land at a depth of four inches, Zaporozhets spent an average of about 30 kg of oil. Holt tractor - 36 kg of kerosene. For the original design of the tractor in relation to the conditions of the USSR, with good assembly, performance and traction, the state plant N14 was awarded an Honorary Diploma of the 1st degree.
The demand for the tractor brand "Zaporozhets" was great. It especially increased after tests carried out together with the American Fordson in the spring of 1925. Plowing the tithe of the land "Zaporozhets", which already had 16 liters. s., finished 25 minutes early. In this case, the oil consumption was 17.6 kg. Fordson burned 36 kg of kerosene. In all respects, the pet of Krasny Progress looked better than its foreign colleague.
The course of further events was not in favor of Zaporozhets. The direction of mass production won. By this time, the horizons of the first five-year plan had already cleared up, the country faced grandiose tasks, large enterprises were needed.
The construction of Zaporozhets tractors continued until the end of 1926. More than 500 pieces were produced. (according to some reports - up to 800 pieces). But for a long time this unpretentious "three-wheeler" rumbled on the fields of the first collective farms, helping the peasants to go to the "commune".
On the tractor "Zaporozhets" No. 107, for example, a wonderful tractor driver and mechanic M. I. Roskot from the Chernihiv region worked continuously from 1924 to 1958. During the years of Nazi occupation, he dismantled the tractor, safely hid the components and parts. After release. "Zaporozhets" came to the aid of the devastated land.
March 27, 1878 Russian peasant F. Blinov * applied for a patent for his invention of the "car with endless rails" (the world's first caterpillar tractor).
The first caterpillar tractor was built in Russia by a native of the village of Nikolskoye, Volsky district, Saratov province, peasant Fyodor Abramovich Blinov, and on September 20, 1879, he already received patent("privilege") on a "wagon with endless rails for transportation of goods on highways and country roads".
The introductory part read:
« Privilege issued from the Department of Trade in 1879 to the peasant Fyodor Blinov, for a special arrangement of a wagon with endless rails for transporting goods along highways and country roads…»
Blinov's tractor had a steam engine and a two-track steam system. All units were mounted on the frame. The vertical boiler was located in the central part of the frame. Crude oil was used as fuel. Two tanks: for fuel and water, were fixed on the front of the frame. The power unit consisted of two low-speed steam engines, providing direct and reverse motion when switching the rocker mechanism. Blinov's original two-track undercarriage system consisted of two caterpillar belts, a pair of driving and a pair of guide wheels, as well as two wheels located between them and performing the functions of road wheels and supporting rollers. The axles of all wheels had a rigid connection with the frame.
Two people served the tractor: the driver controlled the course from the booth, and the driver serviced the boiler and steam cylinders. The driver's seat was located behind the boiler.
A sample of Blinov's tractor has not been preserved to date, the model was made according to the drawings made under the guidance of Y.M. Mamin, a student of F.A. Blinov.
However, this tractor did not become in demand either in industry or in agriculture, and things did not go beyond the prototype of tractors in Russia.
* (1827 - June 24, 1902) - Russian self-taught inventor. Born in 1827 in the village of Nikolskoye, Volsky district of the Saratov province. Parents were serfs. Having received "freedom", Fedor worked as a barge hauler, and why as a fireman, assistant driver and driver on a steamer.
The very first tractor in the world, at least its likeness, appeared in the 19th century and worked, of course, on a steam engine.
For example, the English scientist and inventor William Howard used in 1850 locomobile for plowing agricultural land. By the end of the 19th century, about two thousand such units were working on the lands of Great Britain.
Engineer John Froelich, originally from Iowa (Clayton County, USA), designed in 1892 And patented the first tractor whose engine ran on petroleum products.
The first tractor in the world on caterpillar tracks and powered by a steam engine was invented by the Englishman John Gitkot, who was also the inventor of the industrial loom.
In 1832 he patented his invention, and in 1837 a working copy appeared tractor designed for plowing and draining swampy areas.
American W. P. Miller in 1858 invented and designed a caterpillar tractor, participated in the agricultural exhibition city of Marysville, California, for which he received an award and recognition for an incredible invention.
Unfortunately, the inventions of Miller and Gitkot not further developed.
In 1901, inventor Alvin Orlando Lombard built the first recognized as practical tracked tractor - Lombard Steam Log Hauler.
Crawler Tractor - Lombard Steam Log Hauler
In the Russian Empire, in 1837, the peasant Dmitry Zagryazhsky announced for the first time about a self-propelled carriage with movable tracks, that is, on caterpillar tracks.
He described his self-propelled tractor as follows:
“Near each ordinary wheel on which the carriage rolls, an iron chain is circled, stretched by hexagonal wheels located in front of the ordinary one. The sides of the hexagonal wheels are equal to the chain links; These chains replace to some extent the railway, presenting the wheel always with a smooth and hard surface.
The very first Russian tractor caterpillar steam engine was designed by a peasant Fyodor Abramovich Blinov from the village of Nikolskoye, Volsky district, Saratov province.
IN 1879 he received a patent on "a wagon with endless rails for the transport of goods on highways and country roads."
First working prototype tractor appeared in 1888. A ready-made steam plant of the required dimensions did not exist then, and Fedor Abramovich independently made it from the iron of a steamer that had burned down not far from Balakovo.
Later he made second copy of the steam plant, giving out about 40 rpm and a power of 10-12 hp. The speed of the tractor did not exceed the speed of the bulls - three miles per hour.
The principle of operation of the tractor was that it used two steam plants- one for each track. Blinov demonstrated his tractor at the Nizhny Novgorod fair (1897) and in Saratov (1889), but the tractor did not arouse interest industrialists and did not receive further development.
In 1896, inventors Charles Parr and Charles W. Hart designed a two-cylinder gasoline engine. IN 1903 their company produced 15 units tractors.
The #3 six-ton tractor he built is one of the oldest tractors in the US and is currently in in storage at the Smithsonian National Museum American History in Washington, DC.
As a power plant on the tractor, a two-cylinder gasoline engine was used with a disgusting ignition system at that time. Engine power at idle was 30 hp, and during work - 18 hp.
One of the earliest workable tractors was the Ivel tractor, designed by Dan Elborn in 1902.
During production, about 500 powerful and light machines were produced.
Tractor IVEL
In 1912 the Holt-Parr Company starts mass production caterpillar tractors. By and large, it was a half-track tractor, since the metal bands were worn only on the rear support wheels.
In 1913, at the All-Russian Exhibition in Kyiv, where the Holt tractor was shown, Russian engineers revealed its shortcomings, as a result of which the tractor was completely transferred to a caterpillar track.
In 1917, the Soviet government drew attention to the importance of using agricultural tractors and allocated money for their construction, despite the difficult years.
At the direction of V. I. Lenin, in 1918, the preparation for mass production tractors.
In 1919, the designer Ya. V. Mamin built the Gnome tractor with an 11.8 kW oil power unit.
In 1922, the production of tractors "Kolomenets-1" developed by E. D. Lvov began. Under the guidance of engineer L. A. Unger, in 1922-23, the Zaporozhets tractor was created.
"Kolomenets-1"
In 1924 at the Kharkov Tractor Plant (KhTZ) mass production begins tractor "Kommunar", which was copy of the German tractor Hanomag WD Z 50.
In addition, in 1924, the production of Karlik tractors based on the design of Ya. V. Mamin began. The tractor was produced in two versions:
- tractor "Karlik-1" - three-wheeled and with one forward gear;
- "Karlik-2" - four-wheeled, with one gear forward and reverse.
Tractor "Universal" was the first Soviet tractor exported abroad.
Not to say that I would be a true fan of the tractor. But I have great respect for any heavy equipment, and I have separate warm feelings for tractors. He is beautiful, rumbles pleasantly and has many benefits: for example, you can follow him on a bicycle and ride forty kilometers an hour without stress. In general, I love the tractor. Therefore, an unplanned visit to the Tractor History Museum in Cheboksary caused me a special thrill. Here I was lucky twice: firstly, we were not going to stop by the capital of Chuvashia, but we had to visit it on the way from Nizhny Novgorod on one trifling business case, and secondly, we ended up in a museum that had not yet been officially opened, and we were allowed to the wording "okay, come in, since you've arrived." We went in and were pleasantly surprised. In contrast to the Nizhny Novgorod technical museums, which were rather based on enthusiasm, which we walked around in droves during that trip, here good financial injections were clearly added to the enthusiasm: they obviously invested quite a lot in the interior. Actually, a rather big sign on the facade of the museum spoke about the non-poverty of the museum. And the interior is finished quite modernly, reproductions of old Soviet posters with tractors hang in the lobby, everything is decorated in a restrained and pleasant way.
The exposition is to match: slender, neat, well-lit shelves with exhibits - from the tools of ancient farmers to futuristic sketches, light boxes, shelves with models, books, albums, and a lot of historical material, photographs and posters. Too bad our spontaneous visit didn't include excursions; a detailed story of the guide would add cognitive value to this cultural trip.
Museum dioramas deserve special mention. Nicely made, good quality. Covering times from the distant past to the present and even the future. Here, for example, "The evolution of the plow and traction force": 
Fragment of the interior of the forge: 
Closer to our times. Locksmith workshop: 
"In the Diamond Quarry" 
"In the ancient forests". Pathetic name :) 
(Un)probable future. "Cetra Tractor on Mars" 
A separate song - models and layouts. There is an incredible amount of them here! In the first halls devoted to history, there are not so many of them, but towards the end of the exposition, rows of racks are waiting, densely packed with a variety of models - not only tractors, but also excavators, bulldozers, cranes, dump trucks, combines. Real abundance in 1:43 scale! There are so many “models” that I couldn’t photograph them all, and grumbling about the blatant lack of spirituality in relation to visitors, I limited myself to a panorama, into which all the racks still did not fit.
But the most "delicious" is found at the end. In the last hall, it would be more accurate to call it a hangar - a large, spacious, bright hangar, there is a collection of real tractors, from ancient rarities to modern designs. Two dozen wheeled and tracked vehicles, beautifully restored and painted in elegant colors. A feast for the eyes!
The oldest exhibit is the Fordson-Putilovets, the first-born of the Soviet tractor industry, copied from the American Fordson F, produced in the USA since 1917. Fordson was one of the most popular, simple and cheap light tractors in the world at that time. "FP" was produced at the Putilov plant in Leningrad from 1924 to 1932. It was the first tractor in the world to have a frameless design and the first to be mass-produced.
The simplicity of design, ease of operation, low cost and low metal consumption made the Putilovets the most popular Soviet tractor of its time, and its production was constantly increasing, reaching tens of thousands of units per year. But the simplicity and cheapness of the design had a downside. Far from perfect was the ignition system, which gave the factory workers a lot of trouble. Repair of some components of the structure was difficult. The 20-horsepower engine lacked power, and under heavy work conditions, it overheated due to the design features of the lubrication system. Ford's design was designed for a much more gentle operation in medium-sized farms, and not for shock work on collective farm fields. Finally, the absence of wings on the rear wheels turned into inconvenience for the driver: not only could they easily throw mud at him, the open spurs of the wheels could also injure him (Apparently, this drawback was subsequently eliminated. The museum exhibit has wings, they are also found on some historical photographs).
In the early 30s of the XX century, Putilovets was replaced by a more technically advanced STZ (SKhTZ) -15/30. The history of its appearance is curious. Already in 1925, when the production of "FP" in Leningrad had just begun, the authorities started talking about the need to build a specialized plant for the production of tractors. Since there was practically no experience of own tractor building in the USSR, they again decided to take a foreign design as a basis, but this time on a competitive basis. Five young engineers were given the task, at their own discretion, to take as a basis the project of any foreign tractor and present it to the commission for protection. In the summer of 1926, the commission chose the International 10/20 project of the American firm McCormick Deering. A year later, an industrial assignment was approved for the construction of a plant in Stalingrad with an annual production of 10,000 tractors of this type, and a year later it was decided to double the design capacity of the plant.
Tractor McCormick Deering International 10/20:
But in the meantime, the McCormick Deering International 15/30 tractor won the first place at the international testing competition, and the factory project was redesigned again: now it was supposed to produce 40,000 International 15/30 tractors annually! The first STZ-15/30 left the gates of the largest tractor plant in 1930, and the STZ reached its design capacity only in 1932, having overcome "childhood illnesses" with great difficulty. By this time, the production of a tractor of the same design was also established at the Kharkov plant, where it received the designation SHTZ-15/30.
The design of the STZ-15/30 was more advanced than the Putilovets. More powerful engine (30 hp), lubrication system with oil pump and filter, oil air cleaner. The engine was started manually, with a "crooked starter", and the collective farmers in their own way deciphered the abbreviation KhTZ: "hell start the tractor." On the assembly line, 15/30 lasted until 1937, when both plants that produced it were redesigned to produce the STZ-NATI caterpillar tractor. In 1948-50, the tractor was produced by the Second Automobile Repair Plant in Moscow. In total, almost 400,000 of these tractors were produced.
"Fordson-Putilovets" and STZ-15/30 were suitable for arable work, but were not suitable for tilled. For a row-crop tractor, the wheel arrangement must exactly correspond to the distance between the rows, which varies by one and a half meters for different crops. A row-crop tractor, in addition, must be reliable in control and not “scour” when moving from side to side, and the height of the ground clearance must take into account the height of the cultivated plants - and this is only a small part of the basic requirements for such machines. In the early 1930s, designers tried to create a row-crop tractor based on the Putilovets and STZ-15/30, but tests showed that such measures were indispensable, and the specialists of the Scientific Auto Tractor Institute (NATI) were instructed to develop a row crop.
Again, the American McCormick Farmall was taken as the basis, as the most successful design of that time. When adapting the universal American machine to Soviet realities, engineers faced a number of problems. For example, it turned out that it was not possible to create a universal tractor suitable for processing all crops cultivated in the Union. Therefore, for the first time in world practice, two modifications of the tractor were simultaneously developed at once - three- and four-wheeled (U-1 and U-2). In the 1940s, the U-3 and U-4 appeared to work with cotton.
Museum U-2: 
The tractor, largely unified with the STZ-15/30, was named "Universal" and was mass-produced from 1934 to 1940 at the Krasny Putilovets Leningrad plant. From 1944 to 1955, the pioneer among domestic row-crop tractors was produced at the new tractor plant in Vladimir. By the way, "Universal" became the first Soviet tractor, which was exported abroad.
The three-wheeled U-4, designed for the installation of cotton pickers, received pneumatic tires for the first time in the USSR: 
At the end of the 30s, the question arose of the production of a medium tractor, which would take an intermediate position between the low-power STZ-15/30 and the heavy STHZ-NATI with a power of 52 hp. The history of the appearance of such a model stretched for a decade and a half - the first prototypes of a machine of this class were developed back in 1932-33. at the Kharkov Tractor Plant, but there they soon took over the production of the STHZ-NATI already mentioned above, and continued the development of a medium-power tractor at the Kirov Plant, where from 1936 to 1939 they created eight modifications based on the Caterpillar R-2. But soon the outbreak of World War II interrupted design research until 1943, when specialists were recalled from the front and entrusted with the development of a medium caterpillar tractor, which could be used both as an arable and row-crop tractor, and for the production of a tractor the plant in Lipetsk was reconstructed. In December 1944, the first batch of K-35s with a ZIS-5T gasoline engine was sent to the Crimea and the North Caucasus. Modified according to the test results in the second half of 1946, they were tested in Armavir, after which they were approved for mass production, and the creators of the K-35 were awarded two state awards - for the tractor and separately for its diesel engine. In 1950, a modification of the KDP-35 appeared - "Kirov Diesel Row".
KD-35 was produced, except for Lipetsk, at the Minsk MTZ and in Brasov (Romania). It turned out to be a long-liver: it was produced until 1960, and many of its units were used on the T-38 / T-38M that replaced it on the conveyor until 1973.
The T-38 eliminated all the shortcomings of the KDP-35. The designers increased the reliability and service life of the undercarriage, used centralized lubrication of the rollers, which reduced their maintenance time by several times, increased the smoothness of the ride, and improved stability. To perform general-purpose work, a second, wide pair of caterpillars was attached to the tractor.
The first Soviet small-sized tractor, KhTZ-7, produced from 1950 to 1956 in Kharkov. Designed for light agricultural work in vegetable growing and horticulture with trailed and mounted agricultural implements. It had a 12-horsepower gasoline engine. The design made it possible to adjust the ground clearance, track width, work in reverse mode, for which the position of the controls and the driver's seat changed. Through the power take-off shaft, stationary machines could be driven to the drive pulley. The rear wheels could be filled with water to increase traction.
In my opinion, KhTZ-7 is one of the most beautiful exhibits of the museum.
KhTZ-7 evolved into diesel DT-14, and that, in turn, into DT-20. Produced from 1958 to 1969. The DT-20 was very versatile - it also had adjustable ground clearance and track width, the driver's workplace was transformed to work with front-line agricultural machines in reverse, and even the wheelbase could change.
Perhaps the most dandy coloring can boast of one of the two presented in the museum "Vladimir" T-28. If the first one, of an inconspicuous blue-gray color, modestly nestled in the corner behind one of the Universals, then the second one stands in the very center of the hall and attracts attention with a bright and contrasting purple-yellow color. Stilyaga, not otherwise! The time of its release just coincided with the heyday of this youth subculture in the Union: 1958-1964. The design of the T-28, which became a further development of the T-24, was so successful that the Vladimirets was awarded the first prize and the Grand Gold Medal at the World Exhibition in Brussels.
In 1946, in Minsk, on the basis of the 453rd aviation plant, a new tractor-building enterprise was created - the Minsk Tractor Plant, MTZ. Starting with the assembly of plows first, and then starting engines, the plant soon began production of KD-35 tractors. And since 1953, the MTZ-1 and MTZ-2 of their own design went into the series. A few years later, as a result of a thorough modernization, the MTZ-50 tractor appeared, one of the most successful and widespread tractor designs in the USSR. It's no joke - constantly changing, "fifty dollars" rolled off the assembly line for 23 years - from 1962 to 1985, after which it was produced for some time in limited quantities for export, and in the 90s, having experienced another reincarnation, returned to the market under the brand name "Belarus- 500". The total number of produced MTZ-50s is more than 1,250,000 pieces.
The tractor was equipped with a 55 hp diesel engine, the transmission had 9 forward speeds and 2 rear ones.
Several modifications were produced. For example, the all-wheel drive MTZ-52, the leading front axle of which is automatically activated depending on road conditions.
And this is the cotton-growing version of the MTZ-50X with a double front wheel. Produced jointly with the Tashkent Tractor Plant.
An experimental tractor of the Lipetsk Tractor Plant with all driven steered wheels, a central cab, an engine located above the front axle. The permanent drive was front, the rear axle was connected automatically when the front wheels slipped. The tractor did not go into the series.
Caterpillar high power tractor DT-74, designed for agricultural, land reclamation and road construction works. Produced at the Kharkov plant from 1960 to 1984.
The most massive caterpillar tractor in the USSR is the DT-75, which has gained fame for its good performance and low cost compared to its counterparts. It has been produced in various modifications since 1962 to this day - of course, constantly being modernized - in Volgograd, from 1968 to 1992 it was also produced in Pavlodar under the brand name "Kazakhstan". Those of the modifications in which the enlarged fuel tank was located to the left of the driver's cab, and she herself was shifted to the right of the longitudinal axis of the tractor, received the nickname "postman". This cabin appeared in 1978. The museum DT-75, painted in authentic red, has a "postman's" cabin. The tractor was awarded the Gold Prize at the Leipzig International Fair in 1965.
DT-75M early release with old cab: 
And this, in my opinion, is the main show-stopper of the entire museum: the arable tracked "Altai" T-4, produced at the Altai Tractor Plant from 1964 to 1970, and until 1998 as the T-4A. In the museum, apparently, there is a transitional model - with a new cabin from the T-4A, but an old-style engine hood. T-4(A), common in the virgin lands of Siberia and Kazakhstan, were powerful and adapted for hard work on irrigated soils. They were not very pleasant in operation - the caterpillar design was unreliable, the tractor was difficult to maintain, and in summer and autumn, due to the low (only 9 km / h) speed, the T-4s were idle, because they were not suitable for work of this period.
But all this is not so important. The most important thing is what exactly this museum "Altai" is. It is, in fact, cut along. As in a visual aid, in a drawing in a textbook or on a poster, the interior of the tractor, its components and parts are shown in section; you can look inside and get an idea of \u200b\u200btheir device. Well, how can you not admire?!
Two modern "babies" come from Kurgan. Quite familiar to the city dweller is the “multi-purpose utility construction machine” MKSM-800 ...
And a KMZ-12 mini-tractor. Both machines are designed to work with a variety of attachments - from cargo forks to concrete mixers.
But on the open area of the museum are the largest exhibits. Here is another veteran of Soviet construction projects, the Chelyabinsk "weaving" T-100. On board it is written S-100, although the cockpit with a beveled "forehead" is clearly from the "teshki"; Wikipedia tells us that "the T-100 tractor was often traditionally called the S-100." Produced from the mid 60s to the late 70s. In 1968 he received a gold medal at an international exhibition.
ChTZ T-170, a descendant of the "hundred part", which went into series in 1988. By this time, its design was already quite outdated compared to foreign counterparts. For example, friction clutches were inherited from the Stalinist S-80 of the 1946 model. The advantages of the T-170 include simplicity of design and low cost compared to analogues.
The most important giant of the exposition is the heavy industrial tractor Chetra T-330, "Cheboksary". The firstborn of the Cheboksary Tractor Plant appeared in the mid-1970s and was then a completely modern unit. A rare solution for bulldozers used on it is a cab shifted forward, which improves visibility. The dimensions of the tractor are really impressive: length - 10.4 meters, height - more than 4! And it looks impressive: in front - a bulldozer blade with a human height, behind a predatory sting hangs a ripper. Brutal handsome man!
Excellent museum. A pleasant combination of love for your work and financial support. Not every technical museum is so lucky. In addition to the traditional exposition, they say, there is also an interactive part - virtual tours of the country's factories and 3D design modeling for everyone. With all this, ticket prices are quite democratic: an adult ticket costs 25 rubles, photography, it seems, another 50. Only the situation with the website is not entirely clear: it looks clearly unfinished. But this, perhaps, is not a very significant "fly in the ointment." Considering that this museum is the only one of its kind, it definitely becomes a must-visit.
