Rt. 4, Gatesville, Texas
PART TWO Continued from May June Issue
The straw and grain pan brackets were weak, the idler on the
belt that ran the straw rack grain pan cleaning fan, cleaning shoe
beater and weightier had no bearings in it. The straw rack and
grain pan trouble was eliminated for all time by putting heavier
and longer brackets on them. The idler was fixed by putting in
roller bearings.
The case type B feeder was very satisfactory. It had two good
sensitive governors, one on the chain to bring the bundles up and
one to govern the amount to the cylinder. It had a crank on the
deck to feed the cylinder high or low due to the condition of the
straw.
The weightier, well, that is a story all in its self. It
certainly wasn’t a Garden City. It was a Case. I guess they put
it on their number one separator and came down the line with it. I
never saw one that was different and my headache with this one was
getting the grain away after the bucket had tripped. There
wasn’t enough room between the bucket and the auger, carrying
it away it depended on the condition of the grain as to whether it
handled it or not. When conditions were bad I put a man there to
watch it.
One spring I put an agitator in it run from the auger shaft. I
felt real proud. I was telling an old Case separator man about my
licking the trouble. He shook his head and said maybe when we got
started it helped, but didn’t stop all the trouble.
I pondered with the idea of putting the Garden City off the
Minneapolis on it. I could have put it on despite the fact it drove
from the top by a belt where the Case drove from the bottom off the
shaft on the auger that delivered the grain to the weigher. I
don’t remember what the hitch was. I think it was due to some
adjustment that prohibited me making the change. Boy, wouldn’t
I have had something if I could have made it.
I still thought there needed to be more space between the bucket
and auger. I was up at the Case Dallas Texas branch and was asking
if I might get some extension pipe to raise the bucket from the
auger. The boys with the white shirts and neckties were quick in
telling me I couldn’t, but had dozens of suggestions for me on
such a simple matter. They found out that I had ancestors in
Ireland and before I left I think they thought I might be a little
seasick from riding the boat over.
I got hold of the pipes off an old weigher, put fittings on
them, and raised mine seven inches. That was it. My worries were
over.
Now about the Minneapolis 17-30 Type B Tractor. Any tractor to
me is the next thing to a human being. If anything burns me up or
gets my Irish up it is to see someone abuse or mishandle a tractor
or any piece of machinery. I don’t know how many 17-30 type B
tractors the Minneapolis Threshing Co. of Hopkins, Minn., built.
This one was No. 4656 and was built in 1926 and is of course 37
years old now. I have it in a good shed together with the Case 28 x
47 separator No. 420150. Some seem to wonder why I don’t junk
them if there is anything I hate worse than a rusty Rattle Snake it
is a junkman. All I have ever seen can’t be trusted and will
steal anything they can get their hands on. I haven’t got
much and wouldn’t have anymore if I junked them.
They are paid for as they paid for themselves and made me money
besides. Junking them would be to me almost like going out and
killing some human being. While on the subject I went by to see an
old thresherman. He was showing me his 30-60 Oil Pull. It was the
cleanest old Tractor I had ever seen in some time and seemed to be
in perfect condition. While I was admiring it I told him it was
going to be worth quite a bit in the future. Later I saw him he
told me with a sheepish look on his face that he had junked it and
how much more it had weighed than he thought. He found that I had
Floyd Clymer’s album and told me to bring it to him. I
haven’t gone to the trouble yet. Let him spend some of his junk
money for one. I think he would be contributing to a good cause. I
am acquainted with an old thresherman who had a Buffalo Pitts 20 hp
Single Steam Engine he had bought new in 1912. It was the smoothest
running engine I had ever seen. I had heard that he had junked it.
On meeting him one day I was telling him how sorry I was that he
had done it. He replied that he had gotten nearly $200 for it. I
told him that I would have given him that much for it. He said,
well, we were in war and he thought it would be patriotic I
happened to know how patriotic he had been on other occasions. It
is one he could have kept from telling me as it was in the late
1950’s and the war was over. Just another case of the love of
money is the root of all evils.
(Continued next issue)
