Locotractores: libros - historia, tipos y técnica (2/2)

In more than 140 superlative images of traction engines in settings which recall their original glory, Paul Stratford captures the essence of these magnificent machines.This large format pictorial album is intended as a tribute the traction engine manufacturers and to those who have laboured long and hard to preserve and restore some of these remarkable engines.

Developed in the late 1850s, the traction engine revolutionized the agriculture industry. James H. Maggard, an authority on steam power, wrote The Traction Engine for the "rough and tumble engineers" tasked with operating these machines in the field.
That was not an altogether easy task, even for a seasoned professional. Breakdowns, boiler explosions, and injury could result, if one was inattentive.

This reprint of the 1900 edition of the book features expanded chapters on the subject of threshing machines and the new internal combustion engine models. Illustrated throughout, and featuring a highly readable text, this is a wonderful book for anyone who is a fan of steam technology.

Thomas Aveling, a farmer and self-taught engineer, became the 'father of the traction engine'. This resulted from efforts to improve agricultural machinery. After success with steam ploughing, his conversion of the portable steam engine, making it self-propelling, produced the first commercially successful traction engine.

Establishing a factory in Strood, Kent in 1861, Aveling's need for finance lead to a partnership with Richard Porter in 1862. This was an ideal relationship that freed Aveling to concentrate on the engineering aspects of the firm. Aveling's innovations included numerous patents covering improvements to engine layout, to steering and to geared drive.

The product that brought the firm international recognition was the steam road roller marketed in 1867. As the world's most prolific manufacturer, Aveling & Porter became synonymous with the road roller. Profitable as a firm until the failure of the Agricultural and General Engineers combine, the firm was to be resurrected as Aveling Barford at Grantham in 1934.

An eminent early preservationist, John Crawley was able to amass an enviable photographic archive of steam traction engines and road rollers in their working days, of which this Aveling & Porter selection formed just a part.
Organiser of over eighty steam rallies, John saved up to thirty steam traction engines for preservation from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, at a time when they were considered not much more than worthless scrap. Indeed, he became the first owner of no fewer than twenty-two of them.

Utilising this incredible and unique collection of images, most of which are previously unpublished, Colin Tyson tells the story of this important manufacturer and iconic British brand.

Aveling & Porter as a firm are justly famed for their steam road rollers, the basic design continuing for 50 years, whilst other manufacturers made rollers, some in high numbers,it is the Aveling with which the public identify as the humble road making steam engine which came down every road and street,until superseded by modern technology.
This book describes the history of the company and its products.