The Darby Steam-Digger, a light

traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, 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 the prime function of any ...

, was invented circa 1879 by

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

Thomas Darby Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

and built at Lodge Farm

Pleshey Pleshey is a historic village and civil parish in the Chelmsford district, in the county of Essex, England, north-west of Chelmsford. The Normans built a motte-and-bailey castle in the late 11th century; the motte is one of the largest of its ...

, near

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Robert Hasler, seen driving the Digger, helped to build this first prototype. In 1900 the company moved to a 6 acre site known as Stileman's Works in

Wickford Wickford is a town and civil parish in the south of the English county (England), county of Essex, with a population of 33,486. Located approximately 30 miles (50 km) east of London, it is within the Borough of Basildon along with the orig ...

, Essex. In mid-1906 the works and its contents were auctioned under the order of the executors of the late T. Dowsett (who was the first mayor of Southend, and an extremely wealthy man). This sale included 6 traction engines and 21 Darby Land Diggers.

First Version

In effect the machine was an early

tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

designed mainly for ploughing, and could accomplish an hour (1 m²/s) to a maximum depth of 14 inches (360 mm). This first digger was constructed on pedestrian principles and had six "feet" and really did walk over the fields. Unfortunately it jumped too much to be really successful. The digger was later modified to have wheels in place of the legs. This machine pre-dated the

Ivel tractor Daniel Albone (12 September 1860 – 30 October 1906) was an English inventor, manufacturer and cyclist. He invented the first successful light farm tractor, and the Ivel Safety bicycle. Childhood Born 12 September 1860 at Biggleswade, Bedfords ...

built by Dan Albone of Biggleswade in 1902 which he started designing in 1896.Classic Farm Tractors, by Micheal Williams, The Ivel tractor is generally considered to be the first British tractor with an

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal comb ...

. Robert Hasler was born in Pleshey in 1856; he worked as an engineer for Thomas Darby for 26 years, then became the village

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

(following his father) until he retired in 1925. At the age of 19 he was badly kicked by a horse, and this necessitated one of his legs being amputated.

Second version

The second version was known as the Darby Broadside Digger which was a larger machine which had eight legs and wheels and a double boiler having a smoke-box and chimney at each end.

Third version

The third version was more like a conventional traction engine with the Digger attached behind - it had spades that actually dug into the ground and turned the soil over. This was built by Coopers of King's Lynn. One is thought to survive but it is hidden away. The factory is still known as " The Digger."

References

{{reflist

External links

Reading University MERL project
Photo in the MERL Library data base Steam road vehicles Tractors

First Version

Second version

Third version

See also

References

External links