The Threshing Machine King
(Page 3 of 4)
Depending upon the horsepower provided, the great behemoths might weigh from a few tons up toward 20 tons. Some special-built engines weighed over 20 tons — a few manufactured by J.I. Case for hauling ore in mining communities, for example. In size and appearance, many of these steam traction engines were near-rivals to the old steam locomotives. The mammoth size of some engines generated problems: When moving from farm to farm, the huge implements routinely caused bridges to collapse.
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An interesting highlight in the story of steam traction engines is the account of how Henry Ford in 1875 at age 12 was moved by the sight of one of the behemoths.
“I remember that engine,” Ford wrote years after the stirring event, “as though I had seen it only yesterday, for it was the only vehicle other than horse drawn I had ever seen. ...”
The rest is history: from that day forward, Henry Ford’s great interest was to make a self-propelled machine which would travel the roads of America.
Advertising, circus style
Ultimately, some 30 firms produced giant steam traction engines. That competition brought interesting advertising and promotional gimmicks. Wall hangers or posters (often hung in the farm kitchen), advertising in farm journals, and flyers which were distributed by hand, were common advertising promotions. Much less conventional and highly innovative was the use of great railroad “Specials,” long trains of flatcars loaded with farm machinery. Considerable advance publicity and advertising announced the proposed route of the Specials. It seems likely this was an idea inspired or borrowed from the circuses of the day.
Had he still been living, P.T. Barnum would surely have been green with envy at the colorful and flamboyant sales ballyhoo used by the J.I. Case Threshing Machine Co. The implements on the Case Specials were steam traction engines and threshers equipped with wind stackers, en route from the factory out to the dealers. Some of these trains consisted of as many as 25 flat cars — not the standard 35-footers but cars 50 feet in length, another innovation borrowed from the circuses and sideshows.
The J.I. Case special cars were painted red, white and blue, and on one flatcar was a calliope with a musician at the keyboard. Crossing the farm belt with the strains of such hits as “Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder” and “Over the Waves” blaring across the countryside, smoke belching from the locomotive engine, and flags and banners flying from the gaudily decorated cars of farm machinery, the Specials were the next best thing to having the circus come to town. The advance advertising insured that a crowd of country and city folks were on hand when the train pulled into the station. As the calliope rendered a lively number, a tall man dressed as Uncle Sam stepped out on the rear platform of the caboose. As the kids watched the immense figure in open-mouthed wonder, the tall individual dipped into a basket and scattered advertising buttons out over the crowd.