In a wrench pinch
I've shown this wrench for 10 years to people at the Tri-state Gas Engine and Tractor Show in Portland, Ind., and also at the Franklin County Antique Machinery Show in Brookville, Ind. No one knows anything about it, and none of my antique wrench books show it.
The wrench is 5 inches long, and the lever on top only goes down 1/4 inch and pushes the round top prong up. The bottom prong is part of the wrench and doesn't move.
The only name on it is "Intertype." There are no other markings or date on it. What was it used for? Is the name I found on it the company name or just a wrench name? Any information about this wrench would be appreciated.
Plow politics
I found a few catalog pages from the #27 McCormick-Deering catalog after the company's buy-out from its competitors in the plow business. It sort of discounts Sam Moore's assertion that breaking plows always "threw left or right" in "Plowing through plows" (Farm Collector, July 2003). There were many plows that would break in the middle or center, and others that could be changed at the end of the furrow and then return back across the field in the same furrow for terracing on hillsides. They also plowed out "headlands" at the end of fields and out to the fencerow. Some farmers always "threw out" toward the fence, which made the dirt pile up in the corners. I also enjoyed the articles about the early Ford cars (Farm Collector, September 2003). I still have my Uncle Tim's original bill of sale for 1916-1917 Ford touring car for $370.30. - O.M. Ramsey, 8114-1A Bridgeway Circle, Fort Wayne, IN 46816; (260) 447-2099
Follow-up
Occasionally Farm Collector will print answers to readers' questions when information is available from knowledgeable sources.
Question from September 2003 Farm Collector. I just purchased a horse-drawn mower in good condition. However, I can't identify the manufacturer. Several areas on the mower I find a cross cast in the metal. Does anyone know what brand of machine I have purchased?
Richard Butts, 4369 Seidel Place, Saginaw, Ml 48603
Answer: Your mower was built by the Milwaukee Harvester Co. of Milwaukee, Wis. About 1850, Israel Love built a few reapers in Beloit, Wis. Love took on several partners during the next few years including a man named Gustave Stone. Eventually Love left the company, and Stone and L.H.
Parker formed the Parker & Stone Co. to build reapers. Business was mediocre until 1875 when John Appleby began to build twine-tie grain binders in the Parker & Stone factory.
The twine-tie grain binder caught on, and by 1884, the firm moved to Milwaukee, was renamed the Milwaukee Harvester Co. and built and sold many mowers and binders. The Milwaukee mower was unusual because it was driven by a flat-link chain rather than gears like most other mowers.