Among the large number of machines used in the national economy, tractors occupy one of the first places. They help to mechanize processes in agricultural production, serve for loading and unloading operations, for transport purposes, digging ditches, removing stumps and many other works.
The founder of our state, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, attached great importance to the tractor as the main source of mechanical energy in agricultural production.
Until the twenties, despite the fact that tractors of various types were already produced, there were practically no theories of their design. Articles about tractors, mainly of a descriptive nature, appeared in foreign and domestic magazines. In 1927, the book "Tractors, Construction and Calculation" by Evgeny Dmitrievich Lvov was published, which became a desktop for engineers and scientists in our country and abroad. This book is original in that. time, from a scientific point of view, the issues of theory and design of the tractor were treated. Therefore, ED Lvov is deservedly recognized as the founder of the new discipline "Tractor Theory".
Among other Soviet scientists who have enriched the science of tractors, a prominent place is occupied by Vasily Nikolaevich Boltinsky, who wrote the book "Autotractor Engines", which examines the theory and design of internal combustion engines for tractors and automobiles.
The history of domestic tractor engineering goes back to the depths of the 18th century.
1791 year. The famous self-taught mechanic Ivan Petrovich Kulibin invented a three-wheeled "wheelchair-scooter" with two driving and one steering wheels. In this wheelchair, the inventor used a number of mechanisms and devices that are found in a modern tractor: gearbox, steering, roller bearings, brakes, flywheel, etc.
1837 year. Dmitry Andreevich Zagryazhsky created a propulsion device that is fundamentally different from wheels. It should be considered that this mover was a prototype of the future caterpillar.
1879 year. Fyodor Abramovich Blinov, a peasant from the village of Nikolskoye, Volsky district, Saratov province, received a patent for "A car with endless rails for transporting goods on highways and country roads." This design, even more than the Zagryazhsky propulsion unit, approaches the design of the caterpillar tracks of modern tractors.
1888 F. A. Blinov built a caterpillar tractor driven by two steam engines, and demonstrated it in 1889 at the Saratov exhibition, and in 1896 at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition.
A 5 m long frame housed a steam boiler, two steam engines, a booth and tanks for fuel and water. Rotation from each machine was transmitted through gear transmissions to the drive wheels, which meshed with the tracks of the tracks.
Due to the imperfection of the design, the Blinov tractor did not become widespread, but had a great influence on the further development of the domestic tractor industry, which was delayed due to the lack of a workable internal combustion engine.
1903 year. A talented student of F. A. Blinov, Yakov Vasilyevich Mamin, designed an internal combustion engine that ran on heavy fuel. In this engine, the designer made an additional chamber with a heat accumulator in the form of a plug-in copper igniter. Before starting the engine, the igniter was heated from an external source of heat, and then, for the rest of the time, the engine worked by spontaneous combustion, using crude oil as fuel.
Mamin received a patent for the engine in 1903. This circumstance gives the right to assert that a compressor-less high-compression engine running on heavy fuel was first built in Russia.
1911 year. Ya.V. Mamin made a tractor with an 18 kW engine of his own design and gave it the name "Russian Tractor-2". After testing and minor alterations, a tractor with a 33 kW engine was created. More than 100 such tractors were produced at the Balakovo plant until 1914.
In addition to the Balakovo plant, shortly before the First World War, several factories in Russia (in Rostov-on-Don, Kichkass, Barvenkovo, Kharkov, Kolomna, Bryansk, etc.) started producing tractors. But their role in the history of pre-revolutionary tractor construction is small. The tractor-building industry practically did not exist. In 1913, there were only 165 tractors in tsarist Russia. Until 1917, about 1,500 tractors were purchased abroad and imported to Russia.
From the first days of Soviet power, the question of the development of the domestic tractor industry has been sharply raised.
The year is 1918. At the Petrograd Obukhov Plant, the production of caterpillar-wheeled tractors similar to the American Holt tractor with a 55 kW engine began. But due to the civil war, the plant was only able to produce the first tractors in 1921.
1919 year. Continuing work on the design of new models of tractors, Ya. V. Mamin created the "Gnome" tractor with an 11.8 kW oil engine and a two-speed gearbox providing travel speeds of 2.93 and 4.27 km / h.
Improving the design of his tractor, Y. V. Mamin in 1924 built a new tractor with an 8.8 kW engine in two versions: the "Karlik-1" tractor (three-wheeled, with one gear forward, with a speed of 3 ... 4 km / h) and "Karlik-2" (four-wheeled, with one gear and reverse).
1920 year. On November 2, V. I. Lenin signed the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars "On a single tractor farm." This decree laid the foundation for the creation of a unified tractor economy in our country, the organization of repairs and the supply of spare parts, as well as the organization of test stations, training courses for instructors, foremen and tractor drivers.
1922 year. At the Kolomensky plant, under the leadership of one of the founders of the domestic tractor industry and the founder of the science of tractors, Yevgeny Dmitrievich Lvov, a tractor of the original design "Kolomenets-1" was developed and then manufactured. The tractor was also produced by the Bryansk plant.
In the same year, under the leadership of engineer A. A. Ungern, the Zaporozhets tractor was designed and then built at the Krasny Progress plant in Kichkass. In order not to use a differential, which is difficult to manufacture, the designers limited themselves to one driving rear wheel. An 8.8 kW two-stroke engine with an ignition ball was fueled by crude oil. The tractor had only one forward gear, developed a speed of 3.6 km / h, the power on the hook did not exceed 4.4 kW.
The year is 1923. At the Kharkov steam locomotive plant, the production of Kommunar tracked tractors with a 36.8 kW engine and a three-speed gearbox, which ensured a speed of 1.8 to 7 km / h, began.
Almost all tractors produced at that time were technically imperfect, and their engines were weak and insufficiently economical. They needed a modern, economical tractor. And while the development of a domestic model was getting better, it was decided to turn to foreign experience. The choice fell on the simplest and cheapest American Fordson tractor.
1924 year. In Leningrad, the first tractor named "Fordson - Putilovets" rolled off the assembly line of the Krasny Putilovets plant. The tractor had a 14.7 kW carburetor engine powered by kerosene, a three-speed gearbox, developed a speed from 2.3 to 10.8 km / h, and the hook power reached 6.6 kW. It was produced until April 1932.
The growing agricultural production required more and more tractors. The need arose for the construction of specialized tractor factories.
1925 year. The tractor department was organized in NAMI, which in 1946 was transformed into the Scientific Research Tractor Institute (NATI).
The year is 1928. By the decision of the Soviet government, approved in November by the Plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), construction of a plant (STZ) began in Stalingrad for the production of a wheeled tractor, the prototype of which was the American tractor "International 15/30".
The year is 1929. The Council of People's Commissars decided to build a tractor plant in the city of Chelyabinsk in the Urals.
1930 year. On June 17, the first STZ-15/30 tractor with a carburetor engine running on kerosene was removed from the assembly line of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. A three-speed gearbox made it possible to get speeds from 3.5 to 7.4 km / h. The engine power was 22 kW, and the tractor power on the hook was 11 kW. The wheels had steel rims with stars.
1931 year. On October 1, the Kharkov Tractor Plant (KhTZ) was commissioned, producing tractors KhTZ-15/30, similar to the STZ-15/30 tractors. Both models were produced until 1937.
1932 year. On April 20, the Stalingrad Tractor Plant reached its design capacity: 144 tractors were assembled.
1933 year. On June 1, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant went into operation, producing powerful general-purpose S-60 tracked tractors. The tractor was equipped with a 44.2 kW carburetor engine running on naphtha. A three-speed gearbox made it possible to obtain speeds from 3 to 5.9 km / h and develop a hook power of 36.8 kW. The prototype of the tractor was the American Caterpillar tractor. The tractor was produced until March 31, 1937.
1934 year. At the Kirov plant in Leningrad (the former Krasny Putilovets plant), instead of the Fordson-Putilovets tractor, the production of an improved Universal tractor began, the American Farmall tractor being taken as a prototype. The "Universal" tractor had a 16.19 kW engine powered by kerosene and a three-speed gearbox, developed a speed from 3.4 to 7.2 km / h and a hook power of 7.36 kW. The plant produced this model until 1940.
1937 year. The Stalingrad and Kharkov Tractor Plants switched to the production of general-purpose STZ-NATI and HTZ-NATI tracked tractors. These tractors had a 37 kW carburetor engine powered by kerosene and a four-speed gearbox that allowed speeds from 3.82 to 8.04 km / h. The hook power was 25 kW. Since the models of tractors produced by both factories did not differ in design, they were called the combined brand SKHTZ-NATI. From 1938 to 1941, KhTZ, in parallel with the SKHTZ-NATI tractors, produced some of the KhTZ-T2G tractors with gas-generating plants that ran on wood fuel.
The tractors SKHTZ-NATI in 1938 at the International Exhibition in Paris received the highest award - "Grand Prix".
At the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant in 1937, the production of general-purpose C-65 tracked tractors (instead of the C-60) with a 47.8 kW M-17 diesel engine began. The three-speed gearbox provided speeds from 3.6 to 6.97 km / h. The hook power was 36.8 kW. The plant produced these tractors until 1941.
In May 1937, at the International Exhibition "Art and Technology of Modern Life" in Paris, the S-65 tractor, assembled at a pilot plant, was awarded the highest award - the "Grand Prix". The S-65 tractor was the first domestic diesel tractor. With this model, the transition of the tractor fleet of the USSR to diesel tractors began. Starting in 1938, the tractor began to be exported.
1940 year. The USSR came out on top in the world in the production of tracked tractors. Over 40% of the world production of them fell on the share of the Soviet Union.
1942 year. The construction of the Altai Tractor Plant (ATZ) began in Rubtsovsk, where the equipment of the Kharkov Tractor Plant was evacuated. Eight months later (August 24), the first ATZ-NATI tractors rolled off the assembly line of the plant.
1943 year. A decision was made to restore the destroyed factories STZ and KhTZ and build new ones in Lipetsk (LTZ) and Vladimir (VTZ).
1944 year. On January 20, the Altai Tractor Plant produced the first thousand ATZ-NATI tractors, which it produced until 1952. In total, the tractor plants in Stalingrad, Kharkov and Rubtsovsk produced 210,744 ASKHTZ-NATI tractors.
In December of this year, ATZ manufactured the first prototype of the DT-54 tractor, which was a general-purpose caterpillar tractor with a 39.7 kW diesel engine. The tractor had a five-speed gearbox providing travel speeds from 3.59 to 7.9 km / h. The hook power was 26.5 kW. STZ and KhTZ switched to the production of this tractor in 1949, and ATZ in 1952. The DT-54 tractors were reliable in operation and easy to maintain and operate. They have won recognition not only in our country, but also abroad. These machines have been exported to 36 countries in Europe and Asia.
1945 year. The first stage of the newly built Vladimir Tractor Plant (VTZ) was put into operation. The plant resumed production of Universal wheeled tractors and continued to produce them until 1955. In total, the Vladimir and Kirov factories produced 209,006 of these tractors. The Universal tractor was the first Soviet tractor to be exported in large quantities abroad.
1946 year. After the Great Patriotic War, instead of the S-65 tractor, the Kirovsky plant, evacuated from Leningrad to the Urals, produced the S-80 tractor with a KDM-46 engine with a power of 59.9 kW. After 1958, the S-80 tractor was replaced by the T-100, T-100M tractors and other modifications.
1947 year. The first general purpose KD-35 crawler tractor rolled off the assembly line of the newly built Lipetsk Tractor Plant, which had a 27.2 kW diesel engine, developed a speed from 3.81 to 9.11 km / h and had a hook power of 17.66 kW. The plant produced this model until 1956.
1953 year. On October 14, the first MTZ-2 wheeled tractor with pneumatic tires rolled off the assembly line of the Minsk Tractor Plant. The tractor engine had a power of 26.5 kW. The five-speed gearbox made it possible to obtain a driving speed from 4.56 to 12.95 km / h. The hook power was 17.66 kW. The plant constantly improved the quality and increased the number of tractors produced. Tractors "Belarus" received 19 medals at international exhibitions and fairs (16 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze). Since 1985, the plant has begun production of a more powerful tractor - MTZ-100 with a 73.6 kW diesel engine.
1960 The production of tractors in the USSR surpassed the production of tractors in the USA or the three European countries taken together - England, France and the Federal Republic of Germany.
1965 year. The March Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the 24th Congress, the CPSU set before the Soviet tractor builders the task of not only increasing the number of tractors produced, but also significantly improving their design, quality, reliability, and quickly moving to the production of energy-intensive machines.
1977 year. Tractor builders of the Soviet Union produced the ten millionth tractor. The honor of assembling this jubilee tractor was given to the firstborn of the Soviet tractor industry - the Volgograd Tractor Plant.
1988 year. One hundred years since the invention of the world's first caterpillar tractor by Fedor Abramovich Blinov.
1998 year. One hundred and ten years since the invention of the world's first caterpillar tractor by Fedor Abramovich Blinov.
The present and future of agricultural production in Russia is inextricably linked with its equipment with high-performance modern technology.
The invention of tracked vehicles has become a significant event in human life. combines power, performance and mobility. The traction force of this type of transport is used to transport various agricultural equipment. Logging work, land reclamation or sowing activities - all this is not complete without a caterpillar tractor. Moreover, the tractor engine is used to operate trailed and attached equipment in agriculture.
The history of the creation of the first tracked tractors
The older brother of the first tracked tractor was the tracked vehicle of the English designer John Gitkotom, which was created to drain swampy areas. The engine of this car did not run on steam. Of course, it was far from perfect due to its oversized size and noisy work.
In 1837, Dmitry Zagryazhsky, an engineer from Russia, developed and described a model of a tracked vehicle powered by steam. Zagryazhsky at that time served on a warship as a staff captain, he sent his invention to obtain a patent for a tracked vehicle.
In 1857, another, now an American prototype of a tracked tractor, was created, its main purpose was agriculture. Californian engineer Miller took as a basis the layout of his English colleague Gitkot, the creator received a special prize for his invention. But later this model did not take root.
tracked tractor F.A. Blinova
In 1888, another caterpillar tractor was designed, a simple Saratov peasant F.A. Blinov. The project was a vehicle on two tracks, each of them had to be controlled separately by two different helmsmen. The engine was put into operation by means of a special mechanism of gears, the engine also worked with a pair. The maximum speed that this device could develop was 3 km / h, which is approximately equal to the average speed of a cart pulled by bulls. Later, Blinov made changes to his project, trying to simplify the tractor control system, but still the vehicle was not in demand.
In 1897, the first patent was obtained in Germany for an internal combustion engine (ICE) that ran on gasoline. Its main advantage over its steam counterpart is its more economical fuel consumption and increased power output. The invention of the first internal combustion engine is credited to Rudolf Diesel.
The first internal combustion engine in Russia was created in 1903, it ran on gasoline-type fuel. I'M IN. Mamin designed a tractor with an internal combustion engine on a caterpillar track. At this time, Russia was a predominantly agrarian country, mechanical engineering was undeveloped, so the machine did not start production in line.
Tractor construction in the USSR
After the revolution in Russia, the industrial equipment of the economy was finally developed. In 1918, a decree was issued, according to which the production of the first tracked tractors was launched. In 1924, the first tractor rolled off the assembly line at the Obukhov Machine-Building Plant in St. Petersburg; it proudly bore the name "Bolshevik".
The Bolshevik was based on the model of the American Holt tractor. All the flaws in the project of the American prototype were finalized, and the design of the tractor itself has undergone some changes. Later "Bolshevik" was modernized on the basis of Russian tanks.
The S-60 tractor was produced under the name "Stalinets"
Mass production of tracked tractors was launched in the USSR in 1933. The first S-60 tractor was produced at the Chelyabinsk tractor-building plant under the name "Stalinets", and later the Kharkov and Stalingrad tractor-building plants took up the creation of tracked vehicles. By this time, tractor construction in the USSR had reached an unprecedented level: half of all tractors in the world were produced on the territory of the USSR.
During the Great Patriotic War, when workers in production and agriculture were sorely lacking, the question arose about the need to increase the productivity and cross-country ability of tracked tractors. In 1942, the construction of the Altai Tractor Plant was started, and six months later, the first copy of the DT-54 began to surf the expanses of the Soviet Union. It was the DT-54 tractor that served the agriculture and industry of the USSR for the next 40 years without any additional modifications.
The Kirov plant in the city of Leningrad produced the famous KT-12 tractors, which were later discontinued in 1951, modified and released already on wheels under the famous name "Kirovets".
The Lipetsk and Vladimir tractor plants also contributed to the development of tractor construction in the USSR by releasing the KDP-35 and T-38, T-40 models.
Tractor construction today
The main emphasis on the development of tractor construction in the USSR was made in the post-war period. The sixties of the twentieth century were the time of maximum growth for this industry. During this period, technically equipped machines with improved cross-country ability and productivity were designed, created and put on stream. The Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, which produced the universal model S-100, is deservedly recognized as the leader among the manufacturers of tracked tractors. This machine was in demand in several sectors of the economy, in agriculture, it was used in land reclamation, skidding, as well as in the industrial sector.
After modernization, the tracked S-100 model was replaced by the more advanced T-100 and T-130 models. And in 1988, the plant in Chelyabinsk released the popular and currently relevant model of tracked transport T-170. The main advantage of the T-170 over other tractors is its increased production capacity while maintaining a low cost.
Another well-known brand of a caterpillar tractor, which is produced in Volgograd - DT-75. This model withstands high competition among other Russian-made tractors. The main areas of use of this model are farming, as well as industry.
Its improved analogue now bears the name, this model has a number of competitive advantages: high performance, compliance with international and European quality standards, economy in fuel consumption, as well as safety for the environment.
For the purposes of work in the field of logging, tractors of the Altai Tractor Plant are actively used. In 1969, the first tractor TT-4 was produced, it and its modification LTH-4 are used for skidding work to this day. TT-4 is today recognized as the leader among similar tractors of this level.
Tractors of this class are also produced by the tractor plant in Onezhsk. The first tracked vehicle rolled off the assembly line of the plant in 1956 under the trademark TDT-40, and sixteen years later the 100,000th piece of equipment was solemnly produced. Today, the vehicles produced at this plant are used by the rescue and fire services, these vehicles are named "Onezhets-300".
The tractors of the USSR were the first machines, the production of which was given great importance. Special equipment was supplied to collective farms, whose task was to fulfill the food program. The first tractors ensured high productivity in agricultural work. Despite their low power, they coped well with the assigned tasks. Tractor drivers in the union were revered people, they were considered literate and educated.
In the early 20s of the 20th century, the production of a Russian tractor was started at the Krasny Putilovets plant in Leningrad. The design of the Soviet machine was based on the American model, which is in high demand abroad. Therefore, Fordson is the prototype of subsequent wheeled Soviet tractors. The designers of the plant were required to improve the foreign model as soon as possible.
The car was frameless, with a transversely mounted 4-cylinder engine. Crude oil was used as fuel. Weighed about 2 tons, developed a speed of up to 3 km / h. It was used mainly for agricultural work and for moving goods. This was the beginning of the mass production of wheeled tractors.
The first tractor in the USSR was produced in 1923. It was a universal machine that was in demand by collective farms and industrial enterprises. Soviet tractors largely determined the success of the first five-year plans, whose task was to raise the national economy. All models of special equipment were used to perform a wide range of works:
- plowing fields;
- towing heavy loads at sawmills;
- on the construction of roads and buildings;
- in public utilities.
Minitractors were produced in small batches, since their design was constantly being improved.
Since 1923, for 6 years at the tractor plant in Kolomna, the production of Kolomnets 1 tractors was carried out. It was almost a complete analogue of the American Mogul. But the Soviet designers abandoned several units of the foreign machine and thereby facilitated the design of the Russian one. This provided her with a higher speed.
The Kolomna model had a frame frame, was equipped with a two-stroke single-cylinder engine with a capacity of 25 liters. with. The power plant was placed vertically, the radiator cooling system was replaced by a cooling tower. A total of 500 cars of this model were produced.
In 1923, the production of tractors Zaporozhets was launched at the Krasny Progress plant. It was a lightweight model specially designed to work with a two-furrow plow. A distinctive feature of the machine is that it was made from inexpensive and affordable materials. The engine was fueled by crude oil. To start, it was required to heat the ignition head. The car had 3 wheels - 2 front and 1 rear. The unit could reach a speed of no more than 3.6 km / h.
RELAY OF LENIN'S THOUGHT
Contemporary agrarian policy is the Leninist strategy and tactics of the Party in the field of agriculture under the conditions of 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 a subject that embodied the history of the movement of one of the many Leninist ideas.
In this series of brilliant predictions and plans for the world, and dreams of universal literacy, and faith in the moral improvement of man. In our days, Lenin's GOELRO plan is being implemented into a grandiose reality, tangibly and substantively telling us about the path taken by a brilliant idea.
Lenin's view of the tractor is one of such brilliant predictions.
“If we could give tomorrow 100 thousand first-class tractors, supply them with gasoline, supply them with machinists (you know perfectly well that so far this is a fantasy), then the average peasant would say; "I am for communion" (that is, for communism) ".
Civil War. Devastation. Hunger. Time is driving events. The village is not keeping pace with life. The land is waiting for the master's hand.
We look into the past. Let's learn amazing facts.
An open military intervention by the Entente, the invasion of the Austro-German troops into the Ukraine. And among urgent matters, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin finds time to receive in the Kremlin the inventor and designer of tractors, Ya. V. Mamin. Later, in 1922, the Collegium of the People's Commissariat for Land gives him a significant amount of money for the additional equipment of the Balakovo plant and sends him to Germany to purchase the necessary machine tools.
On October 22, 1921, a new electric plow was tested at the Butyrsky farm near Moscow. Vladimir Ilyich is walking next to the plow. Members of the "Electroplug" commission ask him to move away: it is possible that the cable or the plow may break, losing stability, and jump out of the furrow. But persuasion works badly ... Lenin spent the whole day before dark on Butyrskoye field and, according to one of the members of the commission, left unhappy. The design of the plows and the entire plowing system did not satisfy him.
On November 29, 1921, Lenin receives delegates to the I provincial agricultural congress in the Kremlin. He listens attentively to the complaints of the peasants that during the war the land was neglected, there are a lot of virgin lands and bushes overgrown with arable land, it is difficult to plow with a plow. Vladimir Ilyich speaks prophetic words: “Yes, the plow will not feed us. The industry begins to produce agricultural machines - plows, seeders, reapers. We are thinking, first of all, to supply rental points with them in order to be able to serve more farms. 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 in a socialist way.
In museums, we see photographs of those years - the village meets the first tractor, an amazing "mechanical horse" that does not even require straw - hums, snorts, but plows. The roar of the engine of the first tractor heralded the beginning of the technical revolution in the countryside.
In 1923, as a response to Lenin's appeal, a commission of the Supreme Council of the National Economy was created, which established that the country needed 220 thousand tractors with a capacity of 20 liters each. with. Of the wheeled tractors, the American Fordson and Titanium are planned for development, and the American Holt and the German VD are planned for caterpillar tractors. Calculations, however, show that the mass production of tractors can be quickly set up only at the Putilov plant ...
The people wholeheartedly accepted Lenin's ideas for a radical reorganization of the country's agriculture. Far from large industrial centers - in Kichkas of the Zaporozhye province, in Balakovo of the Samara province, in Kolomna - the sprouts of local initiative have arisen.
The telegram was very significant:
We, workers and employees of the state plant No. 14 in Kichkas, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Communist Party, with great solemnity, helmet a labor gift - a peasant tractor of the first release, designed by our technical leaders. We are proud to devote our strength and labor to communist construction, making the labor of workers and peasants easier ... "
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 tractor construction. And on his last trip from Gorki to Moscow on October 19, 1923, he attended the first agricultural and handicraft-industrial exhibition of the USSR, at which 75 Russian tractors were exhibited. Vladimir Ilyich went up to the Zaporozhets, read the rating plate, 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 kind of power lies in them ...
Gleb Maksimilianovich Krzhizhanovsky, in his memoirs about 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 and foremost an incessant fighter, then there is no doubt that in Vladimir Ilyich there were tremendous opportunities for technical creativity.”
"Zaporozhets", "Gnome", "Dwarf", "Kolomenets-1" are the first-born of Soviet tractors. Dozens, hundreds of machines are not yet mass production, but they also taught a lot, educated the first cadres of tractor builders, pointed out mistakes, and rightfully entered the history of domestic tractor construction.
In 1973, a holiday was held at VDNKh of the USSR, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first agricultural and handicraft exhibition of the USSR. At the entrance to the anniversary pavilion "Mechanization and Electrification of Agriculture" stood the legendary "Zaporozhets", constantly surrounded by visitors. As a memory of the first steps of tractor construction, as a symbol of the movement of Lenin's idea!
Behind the back path in 50 years. Let's look around.
On October 1, 1924, the first serial "Fordson-Putilovets" rolled off the assembly line of the Putilov plant. The slogan "From handicraft production to mass tractor construction" began 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 vehicles left the assembly line of the plant. "Fordson-Putilovets" has fulfilled its task, but the country is passing to the stage of complete collectivization, huge areas of land are being developed. We need new tractors, new specialized factories.
1930 year. The Stalingrad Tractor Plant named after Dzerzhinsky (until 1961 - STZ) is commissioned. It manufactures tracked and wheeled universal tractors.
1931 year. A specialized plant is created in Kharkov - KhTZ. And already in 1932 the enterprise was awarded the first Order of Lenin.
On August 10, 1930, the ceremonial laying of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant named after V.I.Lenin takes place. On November 7, a pilot plant is put into operation, from the gates of which a new tractor comes out three months later. June 1, 1933 ChTZ goes into operation. A year and a half later, the workers of the plant celebrate their first anniversary - the 10,000th tractor comes off the assembly line. Until March 31, 1937, the country received 69 thousand C-60s. Soon, at the international exhibition in 1937 in Paris, they were awarded the highest award - the "Grand Prix".
Let us recall the famous STZ-KhTZ 15/30 tractors. How much land have been plowed by 397 thousand of these machines with a capacity of 32.5 liters. with.! And wheeled, row-crop "Station wagons"! Before the war, they were produced by the Kirovsky plant in Leningrad, from 1944 to 1955, the Vladimir Tractor Plant took over the baton. 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 him. And twenty years later, our country was the first in the world to switch the entire tractor industry to diesel.
And the old man KhTZT-G is a tractor on a gas generator, with bizarre turrets. How much fuel he helped save in a difficult time for the country!
Tractors as milestones in the history of the country, in the destinies 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 liters. with.; 1940 - 531 thousand units; 1945 - 397 thousand units; 1953 - the beginning of the development of virgin lands - 744 thousand pieces; 1960 - 1090 thousand pieces. The power of the tractors increases to 100 hp. with.
1965 year. March Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee. Measures have been developed for the consistent and unswerving implementation of the Party's agrarian policy. The instruction of Vladimir Ilyich has not been forgotten that the main thing in the socialist reorganization of the entire way of life in the countryside is "the material base, technology, the use of tractors and machines in agriculture on a mass scale, electrification on a mass scale."
The army of tractors participating in the reconstruction of the village 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 construction, behind "horsepower", behind speed and design, there is a lot, which is what a person who builds a new world lives on. This is bread, prosperity, and politics. It is also a striving for peace, for only a very kind and strong people can forge swords into plowshares. It is symbolic that the first path of the STZ stands now in the Museum of the Revolution in Moscow next to the legendary cart, as if emphasizing all the versatility of the revolutionary struggle ...
Let's remember: STZ-NATI - the owner of the "Grand Prix" at an exhibition in Paris in 1937 - he began to develop virgin lands. Let's say a good word about the "Kirovtsa" - 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 one of the most durable tracked tractors worth mentioning? Its 130 liters. with. since 1969 they have been plowing heavy lands - virgin, fallow, artificially irrigated - Siberia, Kazakhstan, the Far East.
Now more than 2.5 million tractors of 24 brands are working in the fields of the country. The capacity of mobile technical equipment exceeds 400 million liters. with. I just want to "l. with." transfer horses to live and see this huge herd. But only one "Kirovts", which has been produced since 1933, there are 215 such "horses". And with the K-701 there are even more - 309! It is interesting to put Zaporozhets and K-701 next to each other. Our firstborn could hide behind the wheel of a modern tractor "accelerator".
But life hastens us, inexorably urges us on, not giving even an hour of respite, as Leonid Brezhnev said in one of his speeches. We need new and latest technology.
Time demands new speeds from the tractor, more power than before. And science is developing the foundations for increasing the operating speeds of inn units up to 9-15 km / h. The industry is ready for the production of high-performance tractors T-150 / 150K, MTZ-80/82, DT-75S, K-701, which will form the basis of scientific and technical re-equipment of agriculture. Their introduction makes it possible to increase the productivity of MTP by 1.5 times. Science is moving forward again and is developing a fundamentally new technology for the cultivation of agricultural crops using energy sources with a capacity of up to 500 liters. 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 traversed, survey the existing and think about the future. Moreover, the topic of the conversation is connected with the name of V.I. Lenin and is inseparable from his name.
When you find yourself in the Central Museum of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in Moscow, pay attention - there are models of tractors in different halls: STZ - 1930, DT-54A (millionth VTZ tractor), DT-75M (one and a half million), "Kirovets". There is a model of an auto-plow of the "Russian Fowler" type, a model of a tractor - a gift to the museum from the winners of the labor shift in honor of the 24th Congress of the CPSU, young followers of the twice Hero of Socialist Labor PN Angelina.
And now we know that these exhibits are not accidental, they are directly related to Ilyich. Just like the Zaporozhets, a model of which is also in the museum and which we are talking about in this issue of the magazine.
V. KRYLOV
SECOND BIRTH OF THE TRACTOR
Almost a hundred years ago, in 1882, an agricultural machinery plant was built on the shores of the then full-flowing Tokmak. 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, working people around them - lived poorly, worked honestly.
From the early spring of 1904, workers at the Fuchs plant went on strike, and in May they helped the striking Korcha. In Bolshoi Tokmak there was a party organization, proclamations of the RSDLP were circulated. It was here that the famous appeal of the Potemkin heroes was published underground; the years of the first revolution, the Stolypin reaction, the civil war are firmly connected with the names of the revolutionaries Pyotr Moiseenko, P.M. Nikiforov, the red commander P.E.Dybenko, a Bolshevik who later became the first Soviet director of the plant, I.T.
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 of themselves - among other pressing matters they prepared and sent a train of bread to the starving laboring 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 Fuksa and Kiranon factories in the 22nd year merged into one, which received the name "Red progress".
The years passed. The first five-year plans. War. The plant works for the defense of the country. The principle of solidarity - for everyone, for everyone - lives in the hearts.
Recovery. Transition to the production of diesel engines. The plant is growing. Remembers the past. To forget nothing: no heroes, no achievements. This is his character. Memorials in honor of the first revolutionaries and plaques of honor of the foremost contemporaries, the book "This is how traditions were born", the museum of the plant appear ...
At the S. M. Kirov diesel plant, 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, "Zaporozhtsy" of the first issue will stand in the Gorki near Moscow, the Ulyanovsk Memorial and the Leningrad branch of the Central Lenin Museum. All the youth of the plant competed for the right to travel to these wonderful places for the solemn installation of hand-made exhibits.
And how did you compete? Actually, the assembly of models began in the factory workshops of vocational schools - here are the guys who decided to master the profession of a turner, a gear cutter, a locksmith, a pattern-maker, and, having mastered it, work at a factory (the enterprise, by the way, is a huge and has long been producing not agricultural implements, but powerful diesel engines , turbines are very sophisticated modern products).
In his free time, each participant produced one of 3500 tractor parts in his workshop free of charge. And the assembly was supervised by an old master, one of the eye-catching protagonists of the initiative, Evgeny Grigorievich Shchurov. He was an apprentice at the factory when he was making "Zaporozhets", he worked here, taught young people in the factory FZU, then vocational school, retired, but not for long: he returned for the cause. He, an eyewitness, recalls: a prototype of the design of engineer L. A. Unger was created nearby, at small Kichkassk state factories and transferred to Krasny Progress for serial production.
What did he look like? Pretty funny these days. Less Fordzone. The tractor driver sat high, as if on a bicycle. The similarity 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, in the fields of the Petrovsk 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-catching distinguishing feature of the tractor was that it ran on crude oil, and not on gasoline, like the European ones (the cylinder, from which the fuel flowed by gravity into the engine, was attached to the wing). It was easier and cheaper. The well-known Soviet mechanical engineer L. K. Martens already in those days, speaking of 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 it is always difficult to revive what has disappeared. Only "Zaporozhets" serial production number 107, kept by the Chernigov Museum, has survived to this day. They began to search. And good luck. A photo from the family archive, which shows the first tractors in the factory yard, awaiting dispatch, was brought by a worker - the son of the worker who took the picture. They also found other photos of tractors, "brothers" of the Chernigov exhibit, which had not 12, but 18 horsepower, and a slightly different appearance. They decided to return to the model first.
Shore for history, - says Shchurov and holds out a folder with documents, structures, working drawings, painstakingly recreated from descriptions and photographs.
His phrase sounds meaningful and proud. Yes, he has the right to say so ...
In the twenty-second workshop and others, only individual parts are made according to our drawings, but they come here to see what is obtained as a whole, - continues Evgeny Grigorievich. But then his assistant in the assembly for this day, the Komsomol member Stanislav Dubinin, comes up. In his hands is 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 earlier movement: to restore and preserve the history of the plant for posterity.
Another old-timer, the main character of this factory epic, is Nikolai Petrovich Sosna. This man began in Tokmak as a correspondent for a Zaporozhye newspaper. Interested in the history of the city and the plant; being a journalist, he has collected and is still collecting extensive and curious material.
Of course, Pine is associated with the assemblers of the first tractor. They go to him for advice. Nikolai Petrovich - 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 Boris Nikolaevich Kiba (30 years at the plant, 12 helping the museum), and the former secretary of the Komsomol committee Sergei Ivakhnenko, and guides, students of Nikolai Petrovich, young workers Lyudmila Ovcharenko, Irina Marusina ... 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 also want to give a tractor to their technical school, where it began to acquire a second life. They are also going to put it at the entrance - look, they say, incoming guests, from which our plant began in the early 20s ...
The current secretary of the Komsomol committee Nikolai Krivtsun said that the committee took over the reins of this kind of competition. The results were summed up every month. 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 had brought something new to the common cause.
Now the names of the winners have already been announced. In the year of the recent Lenin's jubilee, they themselves took their gifts - models of the first domestic tractor - to Ulyanovsk, Leningrad and Gorki near Moscow.
L. SERGEEVA
THIS WAS THE "ZAPOROZHETS"
The prototype tractor "Zaporozhets" was created at small Kichkassk state-owned agricultural engineering 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 Bolshetokmak State Plant No. 8.
The ignition of the mixture in it occurred from the ignition head, which was heated to heat for 15-20 minutes before starting the engine. The ignition moment was regulated by supplying water to the cylinder, the engine was cooled with water.
The gearbox, enclosed in a dense metal case, protected the gears from dirt and dust. Instead of ball bearings and babbitt bushings, bronze bushings were used. In case of wear and tear, they could be made in any workshop. Power from the engine to the wheels was transmitted through a rawhide friction clutch.
The tractor moved only at one speed - 3.6 km / h. True, within certain limits, it was nevertheless changed by the impact on the pendulum regulator of changing the number of revolutions.
Tractor business in the young Soviet Republic was just emerging, there was no question of highly qualified mechanics, the base of operation and repair was limited to a rural smithy. 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 poods of black oil per tithe, freely removed a 65 square vershok layer of soil at a plowing depth of up to four vershoks. The tractor could plow 1.5-3 dessiatines of land per day (depending on the depth of plowing). "
"Zaporozhets" decided to improve and provide its production with drawings and models. 10 tractors of the modernized design were built.
The sample arrived at the Krasny Progress plant in Tokmak on September 29, 1923. Here it was planned to master its serial production. The Zaporozhets traveled almost 90 versts from the village of Kichkas on its own without the slightest damage. On the way for the peasants, the plowing of the land with a "mechanical horse" was demonstrated several times ...
"The competition" Zaporozhets "of the first release and the tracked tractor" Holt "of the Obukhov plant in the fields of the Petrovsk Agricultural Academy in the fall of 1923 were held in favor of the domestic firstborn. On plowing a tithe of land at a four-vertex depth, the 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, productivity and traction efforts, the state plant N14 was awarded an Honorary Diploma of the 1st degree.
The demand for the Zaporozhets tractor was great. It especially increased after the tests carried out together with the American "Fordson" in the spring of 1925. Plowing a tithe of land "Zaporozhets", which already had 16 liters. with., finished 25 minutes earlier. The oil consumption was 17.6 kg. Fordson burned 36 kg of kerosene. In all respects, the pet of "Red Progress" looked better than a foreign colleague.
The course of further events was not in favor of "Zaporozhets". The direction of mass production has won. By this time, the horizons of the first five-year plan had already cleared up, the country was faced with daunting tasks, and large enterprises were needed.
The construction of the Zaporozhets tractors continued until the end of 1926. More than 500 of them were produced. (according to some sources - up to 800 pcs.). But for a long time this unassuming "three-wheeler" rumbled in the fields of the first collective farms, helping the peasants to go to "commune".
For example, the remarkable tractor driver and mechanic MI Roskot from the Chernihiv region worked on the Zaporozhets # 107 tractor from 1924 to 1958. During the years of the Nazi occupation, he disassembled the tractor, hid the components and parts securely. After being released. "Zaporozhets" came to the aid of the devastated land.
