As I am going through ETR500 I realize some of the creative things in the past that I’ve seen and never really considered it a business idea. Most were inventions born out of creativity and necessity.
The main idea that comes to mind was my grandfather’s reverse loader tractor design from the family farm. What he did was take an old John Deere tractor and reversed the entire engine and transmission on the frame. The thing to keep in mind was that back then(1970’s) you could still get tractors that were two wheel drive with much smaller front wheels that would steer the tractor only. The problem with small front wheels is that with a front scoop loader there was a lot of weight on them which was not good for the tractor and made loading chores take longer than you wanted. Also, the turn radius was never good for tight places like the insides of barns or feed lots.
What my grandfather was able to do was to reverse the engine and transmission on the tractor frame making the back(where the larger drive wheels are) the front. This allowed more weight in the bucket which was now over the larger axle of the tractor. Now with the smaller steering axle the back of the tractor he was able to have a tractor with a much smaller turning radius for the tough to get to places on the farm. He was able to shorten his daily chores by 2 hours a day.
In the end, my grandfather made about 4 of these loaders for the local farmers. Basically it was the front runner to the skid steer loader you see made by companies like Bobcat today. He never did patient the idea. I never remember him wanting to. He was really just looking for a way to solve a problem on the farm and make his day easier.
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