The Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum is a
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
dedicated to preserving and documenting the history of
Nebraska's tractor test law, operated by the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Univers ...
(NU) in
Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. The Nebraska Tractor Test Law, passed in 1919 and administered by the university, requires performance testing on every tractor with forty
horsepower
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...
or more sold in the state. The facility, initially established as the
Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory The Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory (NTTL) is a program operated by the University of Nebraska in accordance with Nebraska law to test the performance of agricultural equipment that is to be sold in the United States for compliance with OECD stan ...
, was renamed for longtime chief engineer Lester F. Larsen when it was converted into a museum in 1998.
It is the only tractor testing museum and the only complete tractor test laboratory in the world.
History
The Nebraska tractor testing law can trace its roots to 1919 when Wilmot Crozier, a farmer and state representative from
Osceola
Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Asi-yahola in Muscogee language, Creek), named Billy Powell at birth in Alabama, became an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a S ...
, bought a Ford 8-16 tractor.
Crozier quickly noted the 8-16 did not perform as advertised; the tractor could pull only one plow despite claims it could pull three simultaneously. After seeking an explanation from the manufacturer, Crozier discovered the 8-16 was not made by the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
, but rather by the
Ford Tractor Company, an unaffiliated company using an employee with the Ford surname to promote its tractors. Crozier soon drafted a bill requiring the validation of claims made by tractor manufacturers, later stating that "after operating, or attempting to operate, two excuses for tractors, I finally invested my money in a machine that would really do what the company said it would. Then I began wondering if there wasn't some way to induce all tractor companies to tell the truth."
With the backing of Crozier and state senator Charles Warner, the Nebraska Tractor Test Law was passed in 1919, House Roll 85. The legislature established the
Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory The Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory (NTTL) is a program operated by the University of Nebraska in accordance with Nebraska law to test the performance of agricultural equipment that is to be sold in the United States for compliance with OECD stan ...
on the Farm Campus (now East Campus) of the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Univers ...
, the first tractor testing facility in the world. Construction was completed at the corner of 35th St and Fair St; the
Waterloo Boy Model N became the first tractor to successfully complete the testing process in 1920.
The facility was expanded in 1948.
In 1980, tractor testing was moved to an adjacent building and the original facility was declared a historical landmark by the
American Society of Agricultural Engineers
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) is an international professional society devoted to agricultural and biological engineering. It was founded in December 1907 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as the A ...
(now the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers). It was converted into a museum in 1998 and dedicated as the Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test and Power Museum in honor of Lester Larsen, who served as the laboratory's chief engineer from 1946 to 1975. Funding for the establishment and continued operation of the museum is primarily driven through private funding. The museum is part of the University of Nebraska State Museum system.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln continues to test tractors to ensure reliability standards to this day. The test track is located directly west of the museum and the testing facility is to the northwest. It has two 800-foot straightaways, though only 500 feet are used during testing, which are used to validate the tractor's drawbar horsepower. Inside the test laboratory, a
dynamometer
A dynamometer or "dyno" for short, is a device for simultaneously measuring the torque and rotational speed ( RPM) of an engine, motor or other rotating prime mover so that its instantaneous power may be calculated, and usually displayed by ...
is used to determine the "belt horsepower" of the tractor. The laboratory's original
Sprague
Sprague may refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Sprague, Manitoba, a small town near the Minnesota/Manitoba border
;United States
* Sprague, Alabama, Montgomery County, Alabama
* Sprague, Connecticut
* Sprague, Missouri
* Sprague, Nebraska
* Sprague ...
dynamometer is housed in the museum.
Collection
The museum's collection consists of forty antique and unique tractors, including the Heider Model C,
Moline Universal Model D,
Fordson
Fordson was a brand name of tractors and trucks. It was used on a range of mass-produced general-purpose tractors manufactured by Henry Ford & Son Inc from 1917 to 1920, by Ford Motor Company (U.S.) and Ford Motor Company Ltd (U.K.) from 1920 to ...
1920,
Allis-Chalmers Model G,
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
8N, and
John Deere 820. The museum is also home to the Waterloo Model N (the first tractor to pass the test), and the
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
8-16 (the unreliable tractor which led to the creation of Nebraska's tractor law).
References
{{Coord, 40, 49, 56, N, 96, 40, 07, W, type:edu_region:US-NE, display=title
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Museums in Lincoln, Nebraska
Tractors
University museums in Nebraska
Agriculture museums in the United States
Industry museums in Nebraska