This fantastic machine was at the Newark Vintage Tractor Show today. It is a Hornsby Ackroyd Oil engine tractor of 1896 and it is claimed to be the oldest internal combustion engine powered agricultural tractor. It was made in Grantham, Lincolnshire in England by R. Hornsby & Sons in co-operation with Herbert Ackroyd Stuart who developed the first vaporising oil engines.
As can be seen from the photograph, Hornsby had experince and expertise in designing and building steam traction engines. The Hornsby Ackroyd Oil engine tractor is basically a large hot bulb engine mounted on a traction engine chassis.