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68-479: The company was initially formed in 1878 as Hughes, Pye & Rigby manufacturing mining plant, steam engines, elevators, wool & other hydraulic presses. It was incorporated as a public company in 1887 as The Austral Otis Engineering and Elevator Company Limited and in October 1893 changed its name to The Austral Otis Engineering Co Ltd. The company epitomised the boom era. It was founded with just £600 in capital, but by

136-400: A Clayton & Shuttleworth portable engine , which had to be hauled from job to job by horses, into a self-propelled one. This alteration was made by fitting a long driving chain between the crankshaft and the rear axle. Aveling is regarded as "the father of the traction engine". Aveling's first engine still required a horse for steering. Other influences were existing vehicles which were

204-416: A plough , across a field, while the engine remained on the headland . This minimized the area of land subject to soil compaction . The winding drum was either mounted horizontally (below the boiler), vertically (to one side), or even concentrically, so that it encircled the boiler. The majority were underslung (horizontal), however, and necessitated the use of an extra-long boiler to allow enough space for

272-480: A 'spud tray' on the front axle, to store the 'spuds' which would be fitted to the wheels when travelling across claggy ground. Ploughing engines were rare in the US; ploughs were usually hauled directly by an agricultural engine or steam tractor . The first steam ploughing engine built and trialled was in 1837 when John Heathcoat MP demonstrated a steam powered vehicle he designed for ploughing very soft ground. This used

340-411: A busy route a 3-ton petrol lorry could save about £100 per month compared to its steam equivalent, in spite of restrictive speed limits and relatively high fuel prices and maintenance costs. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were tighter restrictions on road steam haulage, including speed, smoke and vapour limits and a 'wetted tax', where the tax due was proportional to the size of the wetted area of

408-404: A generator. These could be highly decorated and formed part of the spectacle of the fair. Some were fitted with a small crane that could be used when assembling the ride. About 400 were built with 107 surviving into preservation. The poor state of the roads and the larger distances involved meant road locomotives (including showman's engines) were less used in the US. In Britain the rise of

476-424: A greater range between the stops needed to replenish water. All these features are to improve the ride and performance of the engine, which were used for journeys of hundreds of miles. Most road locomotives are fitted with a winch drum on the back axle. This can be used by removing the driving pins from the rear wheels, allowing the drive train to power the winch drum instead of the wheels. James Boydell worked with

544-492: A mobile ploughing engine and were using engines at both ends of the field. Their wire drum was vertical and was mounted around the boiler of the engine. Production took place outside the UK with Kemna Bau of Germany producing ploughing engines. Use of ploughing engines declined in the 1920s as internal combustion engine powered tractors took over. John Fowler & Co. stopped producing of ploughing engines in 1935. Low prices in

612-423: A number of different types to suit these different roles. General purpose engines were the most common form in the countryside. They were used for hauling and as a stationary power source. Even when farmers did not own such a machine they would rely upon it from time to time. Many farms would use draught horses throughout the year, but during the harvest, threshing contractors would travel from farm to farm hauling

680-453: A shaft driven directly from the engine, with some form of clutch providing raise/lower control. These road locomotives can be used to load a trailer as well as to haul it to a new location. They are often referred to as 'crane engines'. A particularly distinctive form of road locomotive was the showman's engine . These were operated by travelling showmen both to tow fairground equipment and to power it when set up, either directly or by running

748-567: A steam ploughing engine, was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London . Lord Willoughby had indicated that his design could be copied freely, and Fowler had visited Grimsthorpe Castle , the estate where the ploughing engines were deployed. Between 1855 and 1857 a farmer by the name of William Smith and John Fowler developed wire driven ploughing engines that were powered by portable engines. By 1863 W. Savory and Sons had introduced

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816-428: A strong family resemblance, in both appearance and (stationary) operation, the portable engine is not classed as a traction engine as it is not self-propelled. However, it is included in this list because the traction engine is a direct descendant. A steam wagon is a steam -powered road vehicle for carrying freight . It was the earliest form of lorry (truck) and came in two basic forms: overtype and undertype –

884-598: A subsidiary of the American company. Its name was subsequently changed in September 1952 to Food Machinery (Australia) Ltd. The Austral Otis name and company thereafter ceased to exist. A two-storey brick building originally constructed in 1888 as the headquarters for Austral Otis Elevator and Engineering Company Limited survives at the corner of Kavanagh Street and Kingsway, Southbank , Melbourne . Although adapted for other uses and modified in detail, both internally and externally,

952-422: A variety of sizes, with the 6 nhp Russell being the smallest commercially made, and the large engines made by Russell , Case, and Reeves being the largest. A distinct form of traction engine, characterised by the provision of a large diameter winding drum driven by separate gearing from the steam engine. Onto the drum a long length of wire rope was wound, which was used to haul an implement, such as

1020-485: A very early form of continuous tracks , and its twin-cylinder steam engine could be either used for the ploughing winch or for propulsion. Another ploughing engine, devised by Peter Drummond-Burrell, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby , possibly designed by Daniel Gooch and constructed at Swindon Works , the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland , awarded £100 out of a possible £500 of its prize for creating

1088-706: The Bourke Street lines and La Trobe Street lines in the 1950s. The MMTB was established under the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Act 1918 (No.2995). The seven members of the Board, including a chairman and a deputy chairman, were appointed by an order of the Governor-in-Council dated 22 July 1919. The inaugural chairman was Alexander Cameron who had been chairman of the Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust . The MMTB

1156-508: The North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company commenced operating an electric tram line from the terminus of the cable tram to Essendon , the motivation being the selling of electricity to customers along the route. In the 1900s and 1910s, the government legislated for the formation of suburban electric tramway trusts to build and operate electric trams outside MTOC's exclusive licence area. These were: When

1224-465: The Second World War . Several traction engine builders (such as Aveling and Porter and Fowler ) built light railway locomotives based on their traction engines. In their crudest form these simply had flanged steel wheels to enable them to run on rails. More sophisticated models had the boiler and engine mounted on a chassis which carried railway-wagon style axles. The rear axle was driven from

1292-495: The steam tractor . This aside, American designs were far more varied than those of the British with different boiler positions, wheel numbers and piston placements being used. Additionally American engines often had higher top speeds than those of Britain as well as the ability to run on straw. Limits of technical knowledge and manufacturing technology meant that practicable road vehicles powered by steam did not start to appear until

1360-406: The threshing machine which would be set up in the field and powered from the engine – a good example of the moveable stationary engine. Favourable soil conditions meant that US traction engines usually pulled their ploughs behind them, thereby eliminating the complexities of providing a cable drum and extra gearing, hence simplifying maintenance. American traction engines were manufactured in

1428-508: The 1950s and later. All types of traction engines have now been superseded in commercial use. However, several thousand examples have been preserved worldwide, many in working order. Steam fairs are held throughout the year in the United Kingdom and in other countries, where visitors can experience working traction engines at close hand. Traction engines were cumbersome and ill-suited for crossing soft or heavy ground, so their agricultural use

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1496-434: The British steam traction engine manufacturer Charles Burrell & Sons to produce road haulage engines from 1856 that used his dreadnaught wheels which were particularly suited to bad roads or off-road use. One place where road locomotives found a significant amount of use was in hauling timber from where it was felled to timber yards. Once the timber had been moved to a road the road movements were carried out hauling

1564-523: The M&;MTB began operating buses. The MMTB ceased on 30 June 1983 with its function taken over by the Metropolitan Transit Authority . The MMTB commenced operations on 1 November 1919, taking over the cable tram network with 44 route miles of track, 539 grips cars, 485 four wheel trailer cars, 58 double bogie trailers, 11 engine sheds and 15 carriage sheds. On 2 February 1920, it took over

1632-705: The MTOC franchise expired on 30 June 1916, the entire operation of the Melbourne cable tramway system passed to the State Government . The MMTB was formed in November 1919 to take over the street tramways systems in Melbourne. It had the responsibility of operating all tramways within a ten-mile (sixteen kilometre) radius of the Melbourne GPO , the only exceptions being the lines operated by Victorian Railways . In January 1925,

1700-542: The No. 6 pumping well in 1901. When the MMBW required additional pumping engines in 1909, Austral Otis were asked to prepare plans for four new engines. While these were based largely on the successful Hathorn Davey design, Austral Otis was able to demonstrate its substantial expertise in steam engineering. The first two new Austral Otis engines were commissioned in June and July 1911, followed by

1768-533: The Otis Bros & Co. elevators. The company undertook many major contracts for mining and other machinery equipment and it was awarded prizes for its steam engines and hoisting equipment at the Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in 1888. It also built steamrollers , but only two examples of these are known in the world. Herbert Brookes came to Melbourne to improve the management of Austral Otis. He

1836-475: The Road Fund charge on road locomotives to £100 per year (equivalent to around £9000 today, 2024) provoking protests by engine manufacturers, hauliers, showmen and the coal industry. This was at a time of high unemployment in the mining industry, when the steam haulage business represented a market of 950,000 tons of coal annually. The tax was devastating to the businesses of heavy hauliers and showmen and precipitated

1904-499: The US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but if so, is an underestimate. Comprehensive information on past UK manufacturers and their production is recorded by the Road Locomotive Society based in the UK. Although the first traction engines employed a chain drive, it is more typical for large gears to be used to transfer the drive from the crankshaft to the rear axle. The machines typically have two large powered wheels at

1972-511: The United Kingdom and Irish Republic. It recorded 2,851 self moving engines and wagons, 687 portable engines (non-self moving), 160 steam fire engines existing in 2016. A new edition of the Register is planned in 2020. It was previously estimated in May 2011 by an unknown source that over 2,000 traction engines have been preserved. This figure may include engines preserved elsewhere in the world, particularly

2040-467: The aftermath of World War 2 resulted meant a few farmers purchased them and continued to use them into the 1950s. In North America , the term steam tractor usually refers to a type of agricultural tractor powered by a steam engine , used extensively in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In Great Britain , the term steam tractor is more usually applied to the smallest models of traction engine – typically those weighing below 5 tons for

2108-413: The back and two smaller wheels for steering at the front. However, some traction engines used a four-wheel-drive variation, and some experimented with an early form of caterpillar track . Traction engines saw commercial use in a variety of roles between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Each role required a machine with a different set of characteristics, and the traction engine evolved into

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2176-459: The boiler; this made steam engines less competitive against domestically produced internal combustion engined units (although imports were subject to taxes of up to 33%). As a result of the Salter Report on road funding, an ' axle weight tax ' was introduced in 1933 in order to charge commercial motor vehicles more for the costs of maintaining the road system and to do away with the perception that

2244-459: The building retains its original general appearance. A number of prominent engineers and manufacturers gained their start in the industry at Austral Otis. These include: Traction engine A traction engine is a steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus , meaning 'drawn', since

2312-404: The cable trams. The MMTB progressively converted cable tram lines to either electric trams or motor buses, commencing in 1924, with the last Melbourne cable tram ceasing operation on 26 October 1940. Most of the cable tram system was converted to electric tramways (such as the tram lines along Swanston Street and Elizabeth Street ), but the routes to West Melbourne (along Spencer Street to

2380-634: The current route 57 ), Port Melbourne (the original line on-street, not the current light rail line ), Collingwood (along Johnston Street from Lygon Street to Johnston Street Bridge ) and Carlton North (a branch off the Johnston Street line along Rathdowne Street to the end of it near the Inner Circle Line), along with the Lonsdale Street line in the city and other short sections were converted to motor buses. Trams would only ever return to

2448-511: The distinction being the position of the engine relative to the boiler . Among the firms that specialized in them in the 1900s was the short-lived Invicta Works of Maidstone, owned by Jesse Ellis . The overtype had a steam engine mounted on top of a fire-tube boiler , in a similar manner to a traction engine. The front of an overtype steam wagon bears a close family resemblance to traction engines, and manufacturers who made both may well have been able to use some common parts. The undertype had

2516-409: The drum to fit between the front and back wheels. These designs were the largest and longest traction engines to be built. Mostly the ploughing engines worked in pairs, one on each side of the field, with the wire rope from each machine fastened to the implement to be hauled. The two drivers communicated by signals using the engine whistles. Occasionally an alternative system was used where the plough

2584-453: The early years of the 19th century. In 1841, Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies produced an early traction engine. The design (which was led by a horse to steer it) failed to attract any purchasers. They tried again in 1849, this time without the steering horse, but the machine was under-built for threshing work it was designed for. The commercially successful traction engine was developed from an experiment in 1859 when Thomas Aveling modified

2652-586: The end of the 1880s it employed 300 workers, producing pumping engines, mining machinery, hydraulic lifts and huge steam engines for the city's cable trams and first electric power stations. Austral Otis tendered the Victorian Government to produce two steam traction engines after starting up in 1880 as a general engineering business, and in the late 1880s it set up a well equipped works for heavy engineering which covered about four acres. It had important agencies for machinery including Worthington pumps and

2720-428: The engine by gear or chain-drive. These unusual locomotives were sold to small industries for use in shunting and marshalling duties, although they also found favour with engineering firms engaged in the construction of mainline railways for hauling men, equipment and materials over the partly constructed line. Melbourne %26 Metropolitan Tramways Board The Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board ( MMTB )

2788-516: The engine to be single manned (up until 1923 anything above had to be manned by at least two people; a driver and steersman); used for hauling small loads on public roads. In 1923 the weight limit was raised to 7.5 tons. Although known as light steam tractors , these engines are generally just smaller versions of the road locomotive. They were popular in the timber trade in the UK, although variations were also designed for general light road haulage and showman's use. The most popular of these designs

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2856-520: The first decades of the twentieth century, manufacturers continued to seek a way to reach the economic potential of direct-pull ploughing and, particularly in North America, this led to the American development of the steam tractor . British companies such as Mann's and Garrett developed potentially viable direct ploughing engines; however, market conditions were against them and they failed to gain widespread popularity. These market conditions arose in

2924-451: The first to be referred to as traction engines such as the Boydell engines manufactured by various companies and those developed for road haulage by Bray. The first half of the 1860s was a period of great experimentation, but by the end of the decade the standard form of the traction engine had evolved and would change little over the next sixty years. As part of these improvements the steering

2992-468: The free use of roads was subsidising the competitors of rail freight. The tax was payable by all road hauliers in proportion to the axle load and was particularly restrictive on steam propulsion, which was heavier than its petrol equivalent. Initially, imported oil was taxed much more than British-produced coal, but in 1934 Oliver Stanley , the Minister for Transport , reduced taxes on fuel oils while raising

3060-529: The ground floor lobby and mezzanine. This was the first building in Victoria to have escalators installed. About 1896 the Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works (MMWB) sewage pumping station at Spotswood was being built and fitted with large triple expansion steam engines built by Hathorn Davey of Leeds , England, and Thompson & Co Worthington type triple-expansion engines installed at Spotswood between 1895 and 1897. Austral Otis also built an engine for

3128-637: The inner suburbs of Melbourne . The company carried five million passengers. By 1882 the company had over 1,600 horses and 178 omnibuses. In 1885 the company carried 11.7 million passengers. In 1885 Clapp's MOC was granted a 30-year exclusive franchise for a cable tram network in Melbourne, with no competing lines being permitted. Clapp reorganised the company as the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company (MTOC). A total of 15 lines were built, opening progressively between 1885 and 1919. The first serious electric trams in Melbourne began in 1906, when

3196-432: The prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it. They are sometimes called road locomotives to distinguish them from railway locomotives – that is, steam engines that run on rails. Traction engines tend to be large, robust and powerful, but also heavy, slow, and difficult to manoeuvre. Nevertheless, they revolutionized agriculture and road haulage at a time when the only alternative prime mover

3264-450: The remaining engines were bought by enthusiasts, and restored to working order. Traction engine rallies began, initially as races between engine owners and their charges, later developing into the significant tourist attractions that take place in many locations each year. The Traction Engine Register records the details of traction engines, steam road rollers, steam wagons, steam fire engines and portable engines that are known to survive in

3332-539: The remaining two in mid-1914. When a drought threatened water supply for Melbourne's gardens, the Dight's Falls Pumping Station located just below the tail race of the mill at Dight's Falls was erected in 1890 with 150 horsepower engines from Austral Otis. As part of its pavilion at the New Zealand & South Seas Exhibition , Austral Otis erected a timber tower 40m high, which included an elevator that travelled about 30 m. It

3400-477: The same basic machine could be fitted with either standard treaded road wheels, or else smooth rolls – the changeover between the two being achieved in less than half a day. A number of other steam-powered vehicles share design features with the traction engine, usually because the same technology was re-used in a new application. A portable engine is a type of self-contained steam engine and boiler combination that may be moved from site to site. Although bearing

3468-470: The same time. In 1896 the speed limit in the UK was raised to 6MPH and the red flag carrier requirement was dropped. Related to the steam traction engine, the steam roller was used for road building and flattening ground. They were typically designed with a single heavy roller (in practice, usually a pair of adjacent rollers) replacing the front wheels and axle, and smooth rear wheels without strakes . Some traction engines were designed to be convertible :

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3536-587: The scrapping of many engines. The last new UK-built traction engines were constructed during the 1930s, although many continued in commercial use for many years while there remained experienced enginemen available to drive them. Perhaps the first organisation to take a general interest in traction engine preservation was the Road Locomotive Society formed in 1937. From the 1950s, the 'preservation movement' started to build as enthusiasts realised that traction engines were in danger of dying out. Many of

3604-662: The six suburban electric tramway trusts, which were dissolved later that month. The MMTB also succeeded the Cable Tramway Board and the Royal Park Horse Tramway. The MMTB took over the North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company's tramways operation on 1 August 1922, and its lighting undertakings on 21 December 1922. One of the MMTB's original purposes was to decide whether or not to keep

3672-532: The steam engine mounted under the boiler, usually between the frames of the chassis. The boiler was usually mounted well forward and was often a vertical and/or water tube type. Steam wagons were the dominant form of powered road traction for commercial haulage in the early part of the twentieth century, although they were a largely British phenomenon, with few manufacturers outside Great Britain. Competition from internal-combustion -powered vehicles and adverse legislation meant that few remained in commercial use beyond

3740-412: The trunks on pole wagons . In France road locomotives were used to move mail in the 1880s. A number of road locomotives are fitted with a crane boom on the front. The boom pivot is mounted on the front axle assembly and a small winch is mounted on an extension to the smokebox in front of the chimney, the cable passing over a sheave at the top of the boom arm. The winch is powered by bevel gears on

3808-559: The use of road locomotives was held back by high tolls charged by turnpike roads. The tolls were eventually limited by the Locomotive Act 1861 . Four years later, the Locomotives Act 1865 was passed limiting engines to 4 mph and requiring that they preceded by a person carrying a red flag. The first traction engine focused on road haulage was offered for sale by Charles Burrell & Sons in 1856 and tyres were introduced around

3876-719: The wake of the First World War when there was a glut of surplus equipment available as a result of British Government policy. Large numbers of Fowler ploughing engines had been constructed in order to increase the land under tillage during the war and many new light Fordson F tractors had been imported from 1917 onwards. Road steam disappeared through restrictions and charges that drove up their operating costs. Through 1921, steam tractors had demonstrated clear economic advantages over horse power for heavy hauling and short journeys. However, petrol lorries were starting to show better efficiency and could be purchased cheaply as war surplus; on

3944-485: The world at that time. Austral Otis had a substantial part of this market. The company also made steam engines for the Melbourne cable tramway system , for gold mines and sluicing plant, and the Ballarat Woollen Mills. The Melbourne City Building was originally served internally by an early Otis hydraulic lift, while the 1932 Manchester Unity Building has a rare surviving original Otis-Waygood escalator between

4012-486: Was a government-owned authority that was responsible for the tram network in Melbourne , Australia between 1919 and 1983, when it was merged into the Metropolitan Transit Authority . It had been formed by the merger of a number of smaller tramway trusts and companies that operated throughout the city. In 1869 Francis Boardman Clapp set up the Melbourne Omnibus Company (MOC) which ran horse-drawn omnibuses in

4080-634: Was estimated to have cost about £1200 and was known as New Zealand's Eiffel Tower . The Queenscliff lifeboat shed included a slipway with roller, channel, keelway and cradle supplied by the Austral Otis Engineering Co. An unusual piece of large machinery constructed by the Austral Otis company was Big Lizzie , built for the Mount Gunson copper mine around 1912 when they needed a super heavy truck to handle swamps and to ford small rivers. It

4148-453: Was fitted with Frank Bottrill 's dreadnaught wheels which he patented in 1906. Some of the McDonald's tractors also had these wheels. The truck did not leave Melbourne for Mount Gunson South Australia until 1916. A unique contract was for the No 1 rail grinder, built in 1929 for the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board , which was used to smooth tramway tracks. Another large contract

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4216-620: Was for a dragline excavator for use in the newly opened brown coal fields of the State Electricity Commission in the Latrobe Valley , which followed a plant for making briquettes in 1893–94, for the Great Morwell Coal Mining Company near what is now Yallourn North . The Food Machinery & Chemical Corporation of USA acquired a controlling interest in the business on 30 July 1948 and Austral Otis became

4284-503: Was highly successful and by 1912 was a director of the firm. With the development of multi-storeyed iron and steel framed buildings during the skyscraper boom in the 1880s, there was created a demand for fast and reliable passenger lifts such as those of the Otis Elevator Company in the US and Richard Waygood & Co of Britain. With these came the establishment in 1889 of a reticulated hydraulic power system, one of very few in

4352-415: Was improved to no longer need a horse, and the drive chain was replaced with gears. In America traction engines fitted with continuous tracks were being used from 1869. Compound engine designs were introduced in 1881. Until the quality of roads improved there was little demand for faster vehicles, and engines were geared accordingly to cope with their use on rough roads and farm tracks. Right through to

4420-512: Was probably the Garrett 4CD, meaning 4 nominal horse power compound . Designed for haulage of heavy loads on public highways, it was common for two or even three to be coupled together to allow heavier loads to be handled. The characteristic features of these engines are very large rear driving wheels fitted with solid rubber tyres , three-speed gearing (most traction engine types have only two gears), rear suspension, and belly tanks to provide

4488-477: Was pulled between a single engine and an anchor. A variety of implements were constructed for use with ploughing engines. The most common were the balance plough and the cultivator – ploughing and cultivating being the most physically demanding jobs to do on an arable farm. Other implements could include a mole drainer, used to create an underground drainage channel or pipe, or a dredger bucket for dredging rivers or moats. The engines were frequently provided with

4556-480: Was the draught horse . They became popular in industrialised countries from around 1850, when the first self-propelled portable steam engines for agricultural use were developed. Production continued well into the early part of the 20th century, when competition from internal combustion engine -powered tractors saw them fall out of favour, although some continued in commercial use in the United Kingdom well into

4624-465: Was usually either "on the belt" – powering farm machinery by means of a continuous leather belt driven by the flywheel, a form of power take-off – or in pairs, dragging an implement on a cable from one side of a field to another. However, where soil conditions permitted, direct hauling of implements ("off the drawbar ") was preferred; in America, this led to the divergent development of

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