LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THUMBS UP FROM ELKHART
This is a letter from another satisfied subscriber. This past August, while I was attending the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association Show in Portland, Ind., a nice lady gave me a copy of Farm Collector. I purchased a subscription soon thereafter. Please keep up the good work.
I currently enjoy membership in both the Northern Indiana Two Cylinder Club, as well as the Indiana International Harvester Club, Chapter # 7.
-Dennis Myers, Elkhart, Ind.
NO GENERATION CAP HERE
-Shirley Cederburg, Pierce, Neb.
A Calculated Risk: Few safeguards on early machinery
Early mechanized equipment carried few of the safeguards common today. Operators were routinely injured - often fatally - in farm and industrial incidents. The following obituary, originally printed Jan. 12, 1911 in the St. Marys (Kan.) Star, illustrates the ever-present danger associated with early equipment.
"Charles Dimler, forty years a resident here, died after 18 days of suffering.
"Death closed a period of intense physical agony for Charley Dimler at Sylvan Grove Saturday (Jan. 7, 1911). Just 18 days before, he was a victim of one of the most unusual accidents. With one of his helpers, Charley was getting his four-horsepower International gasoline engine ready to run his well drill. This was one of the new type engines which was provided with a small pump to force the cooling water circulation instead of relying upon gravity for this purpose. Being used outdoors, the pump frequently froze, so necessitating a little task of thawing. This was done by tying a sheet of paper, soaked with gasoline, on the water pump, and lighting it.
"Charley's helper had just finished burning some paper on the pump and gone to something else when Charley came up and, not knowing what had been done, proceeded to pour gasoline onto some fresh paper. His helper turned and shouted to him, but it was too late. A concealed spark in the ashes fired the can, an explosion followed, and then the pitiful struggle to smother the flame. Eighteen days, every moment of which seemed an age, brought him intense suffering. Unable to withstand the strain, he passed away Saturday last.
"The body was shipped to the home of his brother, Michael, in this city Sunday. Funeral services were held from the Immaculate Conception Church, followed by burial in the Catholic Cemetery.