HOW DIESEL CHANGED FARMING
When Caterpillar delivered its new 60 diesel crawler for testing at the University of Nebraska tractor test facility on June 14, 1932, diesel fuel was so hard to find that No. 2 furnace oil was used instead.
As Test No. 208, the Cat 60 was the first diesel tractor tested under the Nebraska Tractor Test Law. An International Model 284 was the last tractor to be tested at the University of Nebraska using other than diesel fuel (gasoline) in Test No. 1277 on May 24, 1977. During the intervening 45 years, evolving technology advanced use of the more fuel-efficient diesel engine for agricultural tractors, as well as for equipment in most other industries.
The diesel internal combustion engine differs from the gasoline engine in that, in the diesel, compressed hot air ignites the fuel rather than a spark plug (compression ignition rather than spark ignition).
Dr. Rudolf Christian Karl
