# JOHN DEERE TRACTOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT "MEN, IDEAS AND TRACTORS" 56924

This John Deere film from 1961 "Men, Ideas and Tractors" shows how new tractors are designed, built, and tested before being approved for mass manufacturing. The design and early manufacturing stages occur at John Deere’s Waterloo, Iowa operation ( 00:09 ). Engineers meet to compare designs and work out issues for the new generation of tractors (in this case, it is the 2010, 2010U, 3010, and 4010 models). Electronic computers are used to help work out problems ( 01:17 ), like gear design. Pattern makers take the designs from the engineers and make wood patterns ( 01:50 ), which are then used to make casting molds. The parts are then subjected to one or more tests, including crank shafts tested with extreme vibrations ( 02:39 ) and reflectoscopes locating defects ( 03:30 ). The wood models then become tractor mockups ( 04:28 ), engines are tested and data is collected ( 05:05 ), and other tests are applied to the tractor. Prior to field testing, the experimental tractor is tested against extreme temperatures ( 08:51 ). The tractors move into field testing at the Waterloo testing grounds, where engineers test turns, suspension, towing, and more, carefully recording the data from each test. On one test track, a truck that’s been converted into mobile laboratory is hitched to tractor so engineers can record data on the go ( 10:37 ). A Divco panel truck, such as that used by the Helms Bakery in Los Angeles, is towed behind the tractor as a data gathering vehicle. From Waterloo,…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/56924MenIdeasAndTractors)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/56924MenIdeasAndTractors?play=1)