John Scott

John Scott, an agricultural college lecturer, recognised the potential of the tractor. His ideas were ahead of his time and his tractors met with little commercial success despite that fact that they had many innovative features.

• In 1906 John Scott told a farmers' club meeting in Scotland that the time was approaching when the work on a farm would be done in half the time required with horses.

• John Scott displayed his first tractor at the 1900 Royal Show. It featured a cultivator/drill combination which was mounted on the rear and was powered by a chain drive from the tractor's rear axle.

• In 1904 John Scott designed a tractor with a power take-off which would drive a front mounted mower or reaper.

• The farming community struggled to gain acceptance of these features and indeed they did not become commonplace in tractors for many years.

Sources of Information

From 1890 to the Present Day Farm Tractors by Michael Williams published in 2005 by Silverdale Books ISBN 978-1-84509-251-1