The basic evolution of the Tractor part 1

The first powered farm implements in the early 19th century were portable engines – steam engines on
wheels that could be used to drive mechanical farm machinery by way of a flexible belt. Richard
Trevithick designed the first 'semi-portable' stationary steam engine for agricultural use, known as a
"barn engine" in 1812, and it was used to drive a corn threshing machine. The truly portable engine
was invented in 1839 by William Tuxford of Boston, Lincolnshire who started manufacture of an engine
built around a locomotive-style boiler with horizontal smoke tubes. A large flywheel was mounted on
the crankshaft, and a stout leather belt was used to transfer the drive to the equipment being driven.
In the 1850s, John Fowler used a Clayton & Shuttleworth portable engine to drive apparatus in the
first public demonstrations of the application of cable haulage to cultivation.

In parallel with the early portable engine development, many engineers attempted to make them self-
propelled – the fore-runners of the traction engine. In most cases this was achieved by fitting a
sprocket on the end of the crankshaft, and running a chain from this to a larger sprocket on the rear
axle. These experiments met with mixed success. The first proper traction engine, in the form
recognisable today, was developed in 1859 when British engineer Thomas Aveling modified a Clayton &
Shuttleworth portable engine, which had to be hauled from job to job by horses, into a self-propelled
one. The alteration was made by fitting a long driving chain between the crankshaft and the rear axle.
Traction engines

The first half of the 1860s was a period of great experimentation but by the end of the decade the
standard form of the traction engine had evolved and would change little over the next sixty years. It
was widely adopted for agricultural use. The first tractors were steam-powered plowing engines. They
were used in pairs, placed on either side of a field to haul a plow back and forth between them using
a wire cable. In Britain Mann's and Garrett developed steam tractors for direct ploughing, but the
heavy, wet soil of England meant that these designs were less economical than a team of horses. In the
United States, where soil conditions permitted, steam tractors were used to direct-haul plows. Steam-
powered agricultural engines remained in use well into the 20th century until reliable internal
combustion engines had been developed.

Joseph Fawkes appeared to have a steam plowing tractor around the same time and maybe even before according to this link. What is not mentioned is the plow was supposedly made by John Deere himself.
First steam tractor

that is a great link and I will use it in my research

1837: John Deere created the first steel plow. This plow would cut through the tough root system of prairie grass. It became popular with farmers in the Midwest. per John Deere archives

according to other sites the steel plow was invented many yrs ahead of deere's plow. In fact there are US patents for steel plows going back into the 1700's

I will be doing an other posting in the future on implements

JD wasn't the first with a steel plow. He was the first to make them commercially successful and make an impact in the history of AG. Just like Cyrus McCormick, Case, and Ford. None of them guys invented the product they are made famous for. Just had a vision.