A useful piece of equipment on the farm
This page from a 1946 Ferguson System bulletin shows a Ferguson transport box kind of like the one shown in the photo Lenny Cornwell sent in for “Unknown Ford Utility Box.” However, the Ferguson box is all steel.
We had a Ford tractor/Ferguson System with the transport box on our farm in northwest Iowa near Terril for many years. We also had a power jack (shown in the same bulletin at left). I think ours was bought in 1946-’48. We used the transport box for many years on our dairy farm. It was a very useful piece of equipment. In another letter to the editor, another reader mentioned a wood transport box. That made me think someone made one out of wood. My dad sold his transport box at his farm sale in the mid-1970s.
The Harry Ferguson and Ford relationship is another interesting story. The Ferguson part of it was the hydraulic systems and implements it was used on.
Al Henn, Cherokee, Iowa
Old washing machines and Hanomag tractors
The November 2023 issue of Farm Collector brought back many memories. My mother had a Montgomery Ward & Co. washing machine. The wringer gear housing and shaft were slightly different from the one pictured in Sam Moore’s column. I can still hear the 2-cycle engine popping away.
Bob Hunnicutt’s article on European tractor shows in the November issue reminded me of when I was stationed in Austria and Italy in 1952-’53. I saw Hanomag tractors there, all with 3-point hitch and rubber tires, and I also saw 1-bottom plows. The trucks had small boxes, probably just 6 or 7 feet long. They pulled trailers, usually three at a time. I saw one truck pulling four trailers. Each trailer had a large drum. On the front and rear axle, cable wrapped around the drum. Both axles pivoted by the cable. It was quite a sight to see, coming down through the Alps.
Royce Levin, Kensington, Kansas
Remembering a homemade utility box
Regarding the utility box on the back of the Ford 9N: My uncle, Russell Eichor, Paris, Missouri, made one of these many years ago. Maybe this is where he got the idea for making it, but he was pretty creative. He had it mounted on the back of an unstyled John Deere Model B. Since he didn’t have a pickup, he used it a lot as a light hauler. I was only about 10 or so at the time but I think he must have rested it on the drawbar and slid two posts mounted along the side under the axles. I think he probably ran a bolt through the bottom of the box. I do remember I loved that little Model B though (and still do).
John Orton, Moberly, Missouri
Carburetor mystery solved
In the McCormick Deering Sewing Tool? letter collection, reader Ray Waldner, Hitchcock, South Dakota, asked for help from readers in identifying the use of a specific carburetor he’d found. Ray said recently a Wisconsin man identified it as being part of a 1-1/2hp Fairbanks, Morse & Co. Model Z engine. The engine ran on kerosene, but gas was used to start it.
