LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Maker wonders what his miniature depicts
I recently became infatuated with a machine displayed in a jigsaw puzzle picture and decided to see if I could reproduce it in an operating miniature. I installed a small crank on the drive roller of the treadmill in order to drive the gear train (three sets of gears that make an 8:1 ratio) and it pulls the barn quite easily. I call it a pre-steam or diesel heavy puller. I asked one Amish elder what it is called and he didn't know. He asserted that he had seen various treadmill power units but had never seen anything like this.
When I was a child, my dad and some neighbors moved a barn and pulled some Osage orange stumps with a capstan that was nothing more than a heavy square platform with a cable drum, mounted in a vertical position, around which a cable was wound.
They would haul the capstan out to the end of the cable, the other end of which was attached to the barn and then anchor the capstan firmly to the ground. A long, boom pole was fastened to the top of the cable drum, and a horse, Old Molly, was hitched to the pole. Molly walked around and around the thing, winding up the cable and quite easily moving the barn. It took about eight hitches to move the barn a quarter of a mile.
-Jack Woolard, 1009 Morningside Dr., Blmmfield, IA 52537
1934 egg grader information sought
This is a picture of a 1934 Philadelphia egg grader. It is missing the trays that collect the different-sized eggs after they trip the scales. I am looking for someone with a similar grader with trays, a photograph or picture, or a copy of an owner's manual, as I want to restore mine to its original condition. Thank you.
- Paul Gerst, 17110 White Oak Ave., Lowell, IN 46356; e-mail: PRGerst39@aol.com
How did they do that?
Last June, I was in Lebanon, Tenn., at the Wilson Co. fairgrounds and saw five left-hand plows, four of which were Olivers and one a Vulcan. Two of the Olivers were sulkys. What was the purpose of these? Is it possible that the right-hand plow would plow across the field and then the left-hand plow would plow back down the same furrow, allowing the horses to be rested at each end?
- Mel Larson, 23460 Rum River Blvd., St. Francis, MN 55070; e-mail: meljo@pro-ns.net
Thanks to readers
I would like to thank Farm Collector and all who wrote or called to tell me what I had was a harness horse. I got 44 letters and 8 telephone calls! It was quite interesting.