Clarksville, Iowa, or 409 E. Harvard St., Apt 7, Glendale 5,
Calif.
My experience in steam threshing started August 5,1896. I hauled
water 41 days with a team of horses as tractors were used but very
little at that time. This was in the days of hand feeding. A very
few self feeders were used at that time because they were not
in 1896, one of the feeders quit and I took his place as I had
learned to feed while hauling water. I fed a 34 x 50 inch Rumely
Separator, powered by a 12 HP Rumely Engine for 40 days, making 81
days threshing in all in 1896. We finished the fourth day of
December.
On December 3rd. a blustery snow storm came with a strong
northwest wind. This filled the stacks full of snow and as the
weather warmed up the next day, we were wet from head to foot from
feeding by hand.
The next two or three years I hired out to feed at $1.50 per day
and would thresh from 55 to 65 days. By this time the self feeders
were improved and being put on some machines.
In 1898 I fed a 36′ x 56′ Advance Separator for 60 days,
pulled with a 16 HP Advance Compound Engine. This machine was
bought new the year before and had an advance self feeder on it,
but was taken off in 1898 and fed by hand. Then it was put back on
in 1899.
I hired out and worked at threshing 6 or 7 years. Then in 1903 I
bought a three year old Port Huron Complete Outfit with a Pella
attached swing stacker, made at Pella, Iowa and a Monarch self
feeder made at Cedar Falls, Iowa. The engine was a 18 HP Compound,
carrying 140 lbs. of pressure. I used this engine about 27 seasons,
but only kept the separator 3 years then I bought a new Gaar Scott
Separator and ran it many years. During that time I bought a
36′ x 56′ Red River Special which had been run 24 days. It
was powered by a 22 HP Compound Minneapolis Engine, which was a
return flue. Soon after I traded the old 18HP Port Huron for a
22×45 HP Twin City Gas Tractor which I never liked as it was too
slow on the road and the bevel gear that drove the belt pulley was
very noisy. I had been running two outfits for several years and
finally found a 16 HP Compound Port Huron Steam Engine which had
been used a few seasons. Then I bought a 32 x 52 Red River Special
Separator with a Garden City feeder with a 14 ft. carrier.
I had traded the Minneapolis Engine in on a 19 HP Port Huron
Compound and ran two complete outfits for 28 years, when the
combines had taken a good share of the threshing and I sold the 32
x 52 separator and also sold the 16 HP engine and tank wagon to
three different parties and continued to run the 19 HP Port Huron
Engine and the 36 x 56 Red River Separator till August 24, 1950
when I finished my 55 years of threshing. My last 2 or 3 seasons
threshing was only from 6 to 8 days run. I still have the 19 HP
Longfellow and 36 x 56 Separator with 14 ft. Garden City feeder.
They are both shedded in Clarksville, Iowa. The separator is ready
to run any day and was always housed and canvassed nights while
threshing. It also has a good set of belts.
I have had the whole outfit at a couple of centennials and
operated it with separator belted at Clarksville and Allison, at
the Butler County Fair Centennial.
At Allison I took off the grain spout and fastened it on the
underside of the cross conveyor, then cut a 4x 10 inch hole in the
side of the separator, directly over the sieve and ran the oats in
above the sieve, using one bushel of oats, rotating it around from
the weigher to the sieve, and during the show I tallied up 300
bushels, which was a pretty good yield from 1 bushel.
I want to mention one of the most peculiar breakdowns that I
ever had or heard of while threshing. This happened one afternoon
when the band on the left hand end of the cylinder broke and went
out under the beater. It was bent in the shape of a hairpin. I was
standing on the engine platform, looking right at the separator man
at the time, who was standing on the separator just back of the
cylinder. The clatterment was terrific. I instantly closed the
throttle, hooked the reverse lever up on center and grabbed the
clutch lever and pulled it on gradually. In a very few seconds I
had the whole machine stopped without throwing any belts or doing
any damage whatsoever. The broken band, bent like a hairpin, only
got about 3 feet back of the beater. If I should have been on the
ground or away from the engine, or if I had been inexperienced, the
broken band may have got back to the blower fan and have done much
more damage.
The noise was so loud that every team around the machine ran,
but no damage was done by that. Now to the cause of the break. It
was very easily understood after looking at the weld. It was welded
by a blacksmith, no doubt, 50 years or more ago. The same as all
wagon tires were welded at that time (lap welded) and the inner
part of the lap, not being hot enough, never stuck and was black
when it came into. The very out edge, about 1/16 of an inch, had
stuck where it was last hammered and with years of use it wore
thinner and finally gave way. As my other machine was pulling to
the shed at this hour, I called them and had them pull over and
finish the job. I pulled the machine home and at once loosened the
feeder and took the cylinder out and took it to a blacksmith and he
rounded the band and welded it, then heated it and drove it on as
it was done years before.