What do a farm couple do when they retire from farm life and move to the city? They make farm machinery – but on a small scale. That’s what Loren and Sharon Olson began doing when they retired in 2000.
Loren received the best possible education in America by att`ending the Bloomingdale two-room country school located a tad east of Westby in Vernon County in southwestern Wisconsin. Loren’s mechanical ability goes back to age 15, when he built a model steam engine on the family farm outside of the farming community of Westby, Wisconsin. His older brother, Ralph, constructed model airplanes.
Loren attended Westby High School and served in the U.S. Army (where he worked on the Nike missile system) from 1957-’60. While in the Army, Loren learned electronics. After leaving the service, he worked for National Cash Register. Then it was back to the farm for Loren and Sharon.
Tackling a threshing machine
In retirement, after selling the farm and moving to Westby, Loren’s first project was a 1/8-scale model of a 1940s John Deere threshing machine complete with seven belts. It is a masterpiece, built in exquisite detail, and all parts move just as they do on the full-size threshing machine. “The hardest part was getting that half-bushel bucket to dump properly,” he says.
Grain, separated from its stalk, moves up an elevator from the bottom of the threshing machine into a counterweighted half-bushel bucket. When the bucket trips, it moves a series of gears in a readout mechanism recording the amount of grain threshed.
The threshing machine is powered by one of Loren’s model steam engines, usually the Case 65hp 1920s model. A combination of bits of shredded paper and bird seed is placed on the feeder apron. Seconds later, the shredded paper emerges from the blower pipe and the seeds come out an auger.
The intricate detail in the blower pipe inspires awe. If you know your threshing machines, you know the blower pipe must pivot, extend, raise and lower. Overlapping sections of sheet metal must be machined precisely to permit a smooth movement of the blower pipe. “That was not easy,” Loren says. “It took a lot of tinkering to get it just right.
Working hay press based on 1910 model
We know about hay balers. Balers have been around since the 1930s. What about an earlier version, namely a hay press? Loren made one and it is a beauty. “I saw a hay press at Fountain City, Wisconsin,” he recalls. “It was a 1910 machine. I did meticulous measurements and made a working model.”
Mounted on big steel wheels, the hay press sports a reciprocating plunger run by a series of gears. Hay is pitched into the feeding compartment, which is on a separate set of wheels. The feeding apparatus could be attached to the back of the hay press for transport from place to place.
On the full-size hay press, once the bale reaches the correct length, a wooden block (with channels for baling wire or twine) had to be introduced into the bale chamber to hold the bale shape and provide a means of tying the bale. A man on each side of the press passed pre-cut pieces of wire through the channels in the block and around their side of the bale as it moved through the bale chute. Once the end of the bale cleared the bale chamber, the other end of the wire was passed through the next block and secured. On the Olson mini-hay baler, common kite string is used.
“We use dry grass for hay and make a 3-inch bale,” Sharon explains. “The small bales are in demand as table decorations at weddings, banquets, and holiday decorations. One of Loren’s steam engines runs the hay press.”
Tiny little saw; tiny little logs
A miniature working sawmill saws “logs” measuring about 2 inches in diameter. Here we see another of Loren’s designs. He added a flywheel so the load is more evenly distributed once the log hits the saw blade. Unfortunately, the Olsons are reluctant to take the small working sawmill on the road these days, citing cases of youngsters, unaware of the danger, getting too close.
Loren constructed two silo fillers: a cylinder-cut and a flywheel-cut. Both can be driven by the Avery or Case steam engines in 1/8th scale.
A visitor to Loren and Sharon’s splendid home on the southwest edge of Westby will find a well-equipped machine shop in the basement, complete with a turning lathe, metal cutting band saw, sander and soldering equipment. A welder is housed in a metal outbuilding.
Loren uses 22-gauge mild steel sheet metal plate and #6 and #8 screws for a good deal of each project. “I use friction tape for belts,” he says. “You know friction tape is pretty sticky. I just put a little talc powder on the belt. Works great.”
Measure twice, cut once
I asked Loren how he gets the size right. “I make very careful measurements of the actual machine,” he said. “Then I scale everything down, say 1/4th or 1/8th. The mini version should look just like the real full-size machine.”
Loren’s machines use a lot of gears, with many different sizes and varying number of teeth, all made in the basement workshop. “That is not an easy task,” he says. “I made this big board about 4 feet on a side and put a tape measure as the circumference of a large circle. There’s quite a bit of math involved. The number of teeth, size of the gear and the spacing must all be correct.”
I asked about the chains that run the dump bucket on the threshing machine and other machines. “I couldn’t find any to purchase, so I made my own,” he says. “I use 5/8-inch lengths of fine wire for each link. I made a jig to bend the wire. It takes a whole afternoon to make a length of about 12 inches.”
Loren is quite the inventor. Working with his son, Roger Olson, and Ross Day, he developed and patented an improved shredder (now called Shredlage) with Loren Cut-style rollers. He constructed a wooden model and gave the idea to Bob A. Scherer in Tea, South Dakota, who manufactured the first working machine.
Patent US8480019B1 was eventually sold to CLAAS in Germany. According to company literature, Loren’s invention is a corn silage conditioning system in the extremely long-chop length range of 26 to 30mm. “Operating with a speed differential of 50%, the Loren Cut® rollers have a sawtooth profile into which a counter-directional spiral groove has also been cut,” the material reads. “In this way, the MCC SHREDLAGE® is able to grind the corn kernels thoroughly.”
Taking their show on the road
The Olsons have taken their farm machines to the Coulee Antique Engine Club near Westby. “I’ve displayed our machines at the show for 14 years and hope to continue,” Loren says. The annual gathering features demonstrations, food, a flea market, kid’s activities, classic cars and a tractor pull. (For more on the Coulee Antique Engine Club, see Farm Collector, April 2016.)
They’ve also demonstrated their scale-model farm machinery at nursing homes, a farm show at Baldwin, Wisconsin, and at Wisconsin Farm Days in River Falls. Closer to home, they’ve taken their machine displays to Norskedalen (Norwegian Valley), a nature and heritage center dedicated to preserving, interpreting and sharing the natural environment and cultural heritage of the area surrounding Coon Valley in southwest Wisconsin.
Loren readily admits that he wouldn’t be able to do the shows alone. “It’s just too much work,” he says. “My wife helps and we enlist the help of a sturdy neighbor, Owen Gluch. Some of the machines weigh over 50 pounds. Owen helps with moving and setting up and taking down and also helps run the machines.”
Sharon often contributes to Loren’s enterprise, like when she found webbing that was ideal for belt material. On another occasion, in conversation with friends, Sharon learned of glass tubing used in hospitals. The glass tubing provides a visual display of the steam engine boiler’s water level.
Loren is the consummate craftsman with a sharp eye for detail. Each of the dozen machines he has created is a showcase of elegant and superb workmanship. Loren and Sharon keep active and have made their retirement years productive by creating and sharing their miniature masterpieces that spark reminiscences and bring joy to others. FC
For more information: Loren and Sharon Olson, 700 Pine Place, Westby, WI 54667; (608) 634-3628 or (608) 632-5077 (cell); lorensharonolson@gmail.com.
Larry Scheckel grew up on a 238-acre farm in Crawford County in southwest Wisconsin, one of nine children. He attended a one-room country school for eight years, then Seneca High School, went off to the military, taught high school science for 38 years, and has authored nine books, including Seneca Seasons: A Farm Boy Remembers, Country School Days, and Murder in Wisconsin: The Clara Olson Case. Larry and his wife Ann, live in Tomah, Wisconsin. Contact him at 1113 Parkview Dr., Tomah, WI 54660; (608) 372-3362; lscheckel@charter.net.