OK, here we go. This tractor is a Case garden tractor. In the early 80’s Ingersoll bought the garden tractor part of case. For the first 5 or so years the tractors had Case, and Ingersoll on them. Your tractor is a lot older then that. I just picked up a Case 446 it’s an 81 and it is just a case,but my 84 224 has Ingersoll, and Case on it. The way the Case tractors were named tells you about the tractor. The 44 means it is a big wheel[16” rear wheel] high ground cleance tractor. The last # is the HP of the motor. Your 442 would be a 12hp. There was also a 444 [14hp] 446 [16hp], and 448[18hp] I believe the 442’s were only made in the early 70’s. There is also a 22_ series tractor. These had small rear wheels [12”] They had a 220[10hp], 222[12hp], 224[14hp], and a 226[16hp]. I do not think they had an 18hp small wheel tractor.
Now that you know about the model brake down, I will tell you a bit about the tractor.
They are hydraulic drive. The motor drives a hydro pump, which runs a hydro motor on the two speed transaxle. Most of these tractors had hydroic lift also. You could also attach a hydraulic PTO on the back to run hydraulic attachments.[log splitter, leaf vac, tiller,etc] These are real tough tractors. Built like tanks. How do I know? I have three. A 224 with a log splitter, a 444 with a vac, tiller, and a plow blade, and I just got a 446 also with a plow blade.