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Re: A Real Stupid Mechanical Question
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Posted by Gerald on June 29, 1999 at 08:19:43 from (208.142.211.160):
In Reply to: A Real Stupid Mechanical Question posted by Aaron on June 28, 1999 at 17:56:53:
It was a design decision. Likely in some cases left over from the earlier steam tractors where the driver rode standing up, controlling clutch, gears, throttle, steam expansion ratio, whistle, engine direction, and implement controls with hand levers. Sometimes it seemed most logical to put the brake pedals when they were introduced at opposite sides of the work platform so that the driver doing a straight stop need both feet for the brakes and a hand for the throttle, one for steering, and one for the hand clutch. Sometimes (like the Ford 9N) there was a big hunk of machinery between the brake pedals so they were hard to connect together for straight stops and I'm sure the left brake pedal never needed the same motion as the adjacent clutch pedal. After a decade of sliding tractors sideways, Ford put the brake pedals together on the right so that by stradling them you could stop closer to straight. Eventually the pedals were supplied with some sort of a latch to hitch them together so there was a foot free for clutching the same time as stopping straight. Gerald
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