Most 3PH hydraulic systems are put together in a similar fashion. There is a cylinder that looks like a can, open at one end closed at the other.
Inside the cylinder is a piston. As hydraulic fluid is feed into the closed end of the cylinder it pushes the piston in the opposite direction which is connected ultimately to the lift arms
outside the tractor.
This cylinder arrangement is called a single acting cylinder in that it can be powered in only one direction. Gravity moves it the other direction when you operate the lift control lever to release the fluid in the cylinder.
I guess some tractors do have double acting cylinders, powered in both directions. The 3PH as we have it today was invented by Henry Ferguson. It was designed to transfer the pull on the tractor from the drawbar to more towards the middle of the tractor. Early tractors without the "modern" 3PH arrangement had a bad habit of rearing up as the immplement met more resistance from the ground.
The Ferguson 3PH placed more weight on the tires as the immplement, then it was mostly for plowing, dug into the ground. This arrangement also allowed the immplement to "float" better over hard objects in the ground.
If you could put donward pressure on the 3PH it would reduce the weight on the rear tires giving you less traction. I agree sometimes it would be nice to put a little more pressure on the 3PH.
Randy