|
|
South
Carolina:
Clemson
cut-away tractor display to be shown at John Deere
By
Alex Hill
Clemson University
CLEMSON, S.C. (November 7, 2007) – Students in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life
Sciences (CAFLS) at Clemson University, will have their cutaway tractor
displayed at the John Deere Commercial Products facility in Augusta, Ga.,
during winter break.
Students in the agriculture mechanization and business department have been
working on the project for two years and have put more than 2,000 hours of
their time into the display.
The cutaway is a full-scale model that demonstrates how the components of a
tractor and engine work
together. Prior to beginning work on the cutaway tractor, it was a perfectly
good tractor in working order. The cuts that are made on a tractor are
carefully planned in order to provide "windows" through the engine,
transmission and axle housings so that the inner workings of the tractor
components can be seen.
“A 12-volt gear motor is now used to turn the entire engine on the tractor,"
said Kendall Kirk, lecturer in the agricultural mechanization and business (AGM)
program at Clemson. "Maintaining the parts in motion, in addition to
providing the largest possible viewing windows, is the biggest challenge.
The entire tractor and engine has to be disassembled in order to perform the
cuts and then reassembled with working parts, which provides an additional
challenge in making sure that the cuts did not eliminate the ability to
fasten the parts and pieces back together.”
The tractor was on display at the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition in
Moultrie, Ga., in October. It will be
on display at the CAFLS Alumni tailgate in Fike Recreation Center on Nov. 10
and will travel to Augusta to be exhibited at the John Deere Commercial
Products facility during the latter half of December. The tractor also will
be displayed in several other local and regional engine and tractor shows.
“I have been going to engine tractor and agricultural machinery shows for
several years, and I have seen engine cutaways at several shows, however
they were all still models, with no moving parts. I have heard of a full
tractor cutaway, but never seen one at a show, and it also did not have a
working power train with moving parts like the cutaway that the AGM students
developed,” said Kirk.
The students involved include Mike Brown, a senior from Kingstree; Will
Brown, a freshman from Kingstree; Nathan Crumley, who graduated in August
2006, from Gainesville, Ga.; Jeremy Hamilton, a sophomore from Dorchester;
Brian Henderson, a senior from Ninety Six; Russell Henderson, a senior from
Johnston; Frank Morelli, who graduated in December 2006, from Aiken; Russell
Nafziger, a sophomore from Greenville; Wes Porter, a senior from Pickens;
Chase Reinhardt a senior from Rock Hill; Tyler Seagroves, a sophomore from
Myrtle Beach; and Michael Steele, a senior from Ridge Spring
|
