The _antique_turbine_tractor

Someone said the I H gas turbine tractor was fired up yesterday or today and running around the Half Century Progress grounds. Can anyone confirm this tractor was at HCOP ? Think it has an aircraft turbine engine, only 2 were built in 1961. Did any of you see that tractor @ HCOP ? Maybe the only tractor on the grounds without a gas or diesel i c engine. This is an internet picture, not able to attend.

Rumor has it it will be at Junkshow in 3 weeks.

Thats a beautiful machine ,I attached a YouTube link
Ih turbine link

The one I saw at HCOP Friday was a blueish color. It was not running when I saw it.

A good friend of mine hand built this HT340 replica. It is powered by an aircraft aux power unit turbine that drives a hydrostatic transmission.

It actually ran quite nicely, though the exhaust roared even at idle. And it consumed fuel (kerosene) at an alarming rate.

He sold it to a collector somewhere in the mid-west several years ago.....I have no idea its whereabouts now.

Tractor was running and moving at HCOP show.
Saw it start when it was parked in front of
the Mecum auction tent. Not quite as loud
as the Detroit repowered creations on the grounds,
believe IH prototype has a three point hitch .

Borrowed but correct info:

The HT-340 (for Hydrostatic Turbine), a product of Internationals experimental group, was never intended to go into production and didnt. International began working on development of a hydrostatic drive tractor in the 1950s. When a 340 prototype tested well, the engineers cranked up the volume, installing a small gas turbine engine from the companys Solar Aircraft Co. subsidiary (which was named not, apparently, for an energy source but for the sunny skies in San Diego, where the company was founded in 1927).

The HT-340 made its debut on the show circuit in July 1961. But on the return trip from Lincoln, Neb., where it was displayed at the University of Nebraskas 10th annual Tractor Day, the tractor was extensively damaged in a traffic accident. Emergency repairs were made and the 340 was displayed at several events that summer.

Later that year, more extensive repairs and modifications were completed. The retrofitted prototype was unveiled in 1962 as the HT-341, complete with three-point hitch, stabilized steering, larger tires, rear lights, enhanced controls, a new fuel-filtering system and a new color scheme.

The 340 was blue and white; the 341 was red and white. The 341 was used in displays and demonstrations. In 1967, it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Couple of comments/questions: What do you do with the exhaust? Surely you don't it pointing straight out the back. Make it vertical and the roar would deafen the driver.

Considering turbines have to get their RPMs up to develop any kind of HP, seems the thing would need to be roaring at max RPM 100% of the time. That supports the fuel hungry comment.

Having a turbine car is one thing....of questionable judgement....if no one is behind you in a traffic jam.....in a tractor i'd think a bad idea.

I also saw it when it was running. I thought it really had a load whine to it.

(quoted from post at 17:32:13 08/29/21) The one I saw at HCOP Friday was a blueish color. It was not running when I saw it.

Click to expand...

That's the replica.

(quoted from post at 05:35:16 08/30/21) Couple of comments/questions: What do you do with the exhaust? Surely you don't it pointing straight out the back. Make it vertical and the roar would deafen the driver.

Considering turbines have to get their RPMs up to develop any kind of HP, seems the thing would need to be roaring at max RPM 100% of the time. That supports the fuel hungry comment.

Having a turbine car is one thing....of questionable judgement....if no one is behind you in a traffic jam.....in a tractor i'd think a bad idea.

Click to expand...

It appears that the exhaust comes out the top of the hood near the front. Shaft power is pulled from the intake side of a jet turbine, for obvious reasons, so the engine is mounted "backwards" if I am not mistaken.

IH was going for a slick futuristic appearance, and the roar of the turbine at the show was sure an attention grabber. Noise was the least of their concerns.

Had it turned out to be a practical idea, IH would have had to do something about the noise.

Yes it was there and VERY annoying sound. It was like a mosquito following you around and buzzing in your ear.

I drove the replica briefly at the Alexander NY steam show a few years ago. It was an interesting experience.

The exhaust roar grabs attention - nothing else at a steam show sounds remotely like it. And it roars even standing still - the turbine spins at design RPM (ie full speed!) regardless of ground speed/load.

Overall an impractical - but totally cool - tractor!!

Mounted backwards......well that explains that and makes some sense except the intake sucks in the dust from the vehicles
movement. I think the designers were correct in throwing the sketches in the trash and going after a design more adapted to the
task.

This one is HT-341, owned by the Smithsonian and on loan to this Museum in Penfield, IL.

I get the idea of experimental,showing lively engineering work for IH advertizing purposes, I saw an Allis Chalmers fuel cell tractor at the Waterloo Dairy Cattle Congress show and that was a crowd draw.
BUT, how on earth could one handle all that air in a typically dusty work environment?