The First 50 Years: Agricultural Engineering
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South Dakota State University Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Publications Engineering 4-1975 The irsF t 50 Years: Agricultural Engineering Henry H. DeLong South Dakota State University Follow this and additional works at: https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/abe_dept-pubs Part of the Agricultural Education Commons, and the Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons Recommended Citation DeLong, Henry H., "The irF st 50 Years: Agricultural Engineering" (1975). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 1. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/abe_dept-pubs/1 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Written, edited and designed by Henry H. Delong, Professor Emeritus Agricultural Engineering Departmenf · Published by the Agricultural Engineering Department South Dakota State University SOUTH DAKOJJ\ ST.ATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY April 1975 Chapter I honor of being the firs t Agricultural tha t fa rm mechanization wa s ma king great Engineer from Sta te wa s for Lee Minnium, strides, and tha t the Agricultural Engi who came in the fa ll of '25 and graduated neering Depa rtments were being formed in with the class of '29 . the La nd Grant Colleges. Where and how did Agricultural Engineering There were other problems arising tha t start? Its beginning in institutions can called for engineering on the farm . W�t Introduction be tra ced to the first depa rtments at Iowa la nds needed to be dra ined . Dry land State, Ka nsas State , and the Univers ity of needed irrigation . Farm buildings needed In the sununer or fall of 1924 a news Nebraska . Other ea rly departments were ventilating , and to be designed to store story wa s relea sed to the papers of South formed at Minnesota , Illinois , Wisconsin, and move feed more ea sily. Wa ste products Dakota . It to ld of a new department and and Cornell in New York. All departments from the livestock enterprises increased new course of study at South Da kota State came after the turn of the century . There disposa l problems as the size of operation College, Brookings, South Da kota . This wa s a need felt by many people in ma ny increased. story described subjects to be given places tha t farming wa s ra pidly moving about farm ma chinery and tractors , farm into an era of mechanization; and that Improvement in living in the fa rm home buildings and utilities, land dra inage or farming wa s becoming much more technical called for modern wa ter systems, better irrigation, and perha ps some other items . in many ways. These concerns came as a lighting , improved hea ting , and sewage natural consequence of the beginning of disposa l. There were many attempts to The story was eagerly read by a Spink the era of fa rm mechanization about 1830 . bring modern services to the fa rm through County boy by the name of Henry DeLong individua l farm electric or gas gener who had gradua ted from high school the Invention followed invention ra pidly ators . previous June and who planned to go to after 1830; with the first steel plow, college if he could. Pa rt of the prepa r the reaper, the first drills and planters, ation wa s to work on the home fa rm in the the mowers , ra kes, the ha rvester, the So, all of a sudden, there were a host of summer and to pick corn ·by ha nd method binder. All speeded up farm work by the new things to teach. The depa rtments came for a steady six weeks during the fa ll appl ication of anima l power to mobile on demand; and in qu ite a va riety of ways . months . The first week of Janua ry 1925 ma chines; and also to stationary machines Perha ps the first need wa s adult education wa s the time to ta ke the tra in to Brook like the early threshers and ba lers . Such via the Extension Agricultural Engineer. ings and enroll at South Dakota State machines were complimented by much human But in the College or University the de College at the beginning of the winter muscle power on the forks and shovels; pa rtments developed one or more of the qua rter. and by the wa lking and shocking and lift following things: (1) A ma jor leading to ing by people . a B . S . degree in Agricultura l Engineering; Com pared to 1975 standa rds the campus wa s sma ll in 1925 ; but it 1 ooked ve ry large Then came steam power applied to thresh (2) Service courses in the College of and complicated to a fa rm boy. Henry ing and breaking prairie sod from 1890' s Agriculture and many times enough for a proceeded to locate Mr. R. L. Patty , new to the 1920 ' s . Steam power ga ve way to ma jor in Mechanized Agriculture; (3) Short head of the Agricultural Engineer.ing; but clumsy gasoline and kerosene engines of courses for high school age people; and also found it a bit too soon to rea lly la rge size to repla ce the steamers . World start Agricultural Engineering . Courses Wa r I brought on a labor shortage and the (4) Resea rch projects, usually with the available seem to lead more logically to urge to increa se agricultural output, and Agricultural Experiment Station. The a degree in Agriculture with a ma jor in the sma ll farm tractor for general field Agricultural Engineering Depa rtment at Fa rm Mechanics . This wa s the firs t degree work came into prominence . It wa s in South Dakota State began its work in all for Henry--with the class of '28. The these years just preceeding the 1920's of these fields . Chapter II In the ea rl y 20's the Agricultural Engi were small; two or three, to ten wa s not neering Depa rtments across the country unusual . Service courses to the College became interested in electricity on the of Agriculture students were la rger; often farm . Individua l farm plants with gaso crowded for our fa cilities. And then the line engines and ba ttery sets were being short course students, the "Aggies" came The Beginning Of used . Also, the wind-electric plant wa s for five months during the winter and used . But central station service with these classes were la rge. It all added Our Own Department farm distribution lines had something more up to a strenuous work load. If a heavy to offer. Several experimental ru ra l test load leads to success--the opportunity for Mr. Ralph L. Patty wa s the first depa rt lines were organized over the U . S . and the success wa s there . ment head of the Agricultural Engineering one in South Dakota wa s an ea rl y one . It Department at South Da kota State Univer wa s operating in 1925 and wa s built from It wa s 1928 when the first fa rm mechanics sity. There were some interesting events Sioux Fa lls to Renner. Mr. Patty helped ma jor wa s gradua ted with a B . S . degree in that led up to his coming . He was from conduct the tests on this "Renner Test Agriculture . In 1929 the first degree in Redfield, Iowa and received his first Line" and wrote three bulletins on the Agricultural Engineering was gra nted. It college degree from Iowa State Teachers work there . must be remembered that these were ha rd College in 1907 . In 1909 he became prin years . Not only wa s there the 1929 finan cipa l of Brookings high school . He re Farm building plans were also drawn by cial disa ster yea r; but soon after there turned to college some yea rs later and Mr. Patty for the College and its Agri followed the "dust" bowl yea rs of the ea rned' his B . S . degree in Agricultural cultural Experiment Station. The brick ea rly thirties and the very low prices of Engineering at Iowa State Univers ity in horse barn, still standing , is a monument the depression yea rs . 1916. to his engineering work. The first country club house at the La ke Campbell The financies of the State government were golf course wa s designed by him; and the in critica l condition following the "Rural Mr. Pa tty came that same yea r to Brookings plans rema ined in the files for many Credits" disaster. No new buildings were yea rs . Mr. Patty loved the game of golf. to become the first Agricultural Engineer built after the Lincoln Memorial Library on the Extension Service staff. He im for ten yea rs or more following the yea r mediately began to develop a service of In 1925 the teaching department of Agri 1927 . fa rm building plans for use by farmers . cultura l Engineering wa s establ ished . The Some plans ca rried the "South Dakota" tractor mechanics and auto repa ir courses Enrollments to college surely were held title and number; others were from USDA had been given for some yea rs in the old ba ck during the depression yea rs ; but plan service.