LETTERS

It is amazing how canvases, concave and cylinder teeth have been
done away with. When one reflects that a thinner and more
continuous stream of grain enters the machine, one realizes that a
rasp like arrangement suffices for threshing out the spikes.

Heading wheat or combining it is quite a contrast to the first
harvesting we did on that farm. Then I, as an early teenager walked
barefoot in the stubble beside the mowing machine driving the
horses. Father sat on the mower raking the cut grain from the
sickle bar on to a platform he had attached to the bar. When it was
full he pushed it off to form windrows. Because of dry weather the
crop was severely stunted, we threshed only 50 bu. i.e. 1 bu. to
the acre. We needed the seed and had no money to buy it in 1895.
The only thing we had was our labor, hence such harvesting, it took
a week or ten days.

DIEDRICH L. DALKE Alexandria, Virginia

THE GRAIN HEADER IN MONTANA

The picture in the September-October issue of the Album, of a
grain header at work, takes me back to the many years I spent
dry-land farming in southeast Montana, with spring wheat as our
principal crop. The last nine of these years I owned and operated a
12 foot McCormick header.

The header had many virtues as compared to the binder. Imperfect
yes, but another link in the evolution of the farmer.

The header was faster and more trouble free than the binder thus
lowering harvesting costs. It saved more grain; it eliminated part
of the hand labor; and since it concentrated the grain by reducing
the quantity of straw handled it speeded threshing tremendously and
increased the daily profits of the thresherman.

For the information of those people who never saw one operate,
the header was essentially a machine that clipped the near ripe
heads of grain as short as possible and elevated them by canvasses
in a continual stream into header barges (wagons with grain tight
floors) towed alongside by a team of horses. One man
‘stacked’ the headed grain in the barge, another drove.
When loaded the heads were hauled to a central location and stacked
for curing and to await threshing. (Generally three barges kept a
header busy.)

The header itself was carried on three wheels; two up front that
supported the main weight of the machine, and a third at the end of
a long pole that extended to the rear. This third was known as a
’tiller’ or guide wheel. A shaft extended upward from it
through the operator’s platform, in a ‘straddle stick.’
As the operator pivoted the ‘stick’ sideways with, his legs
he steered the header. Four horses, two on each side of this long
guide pole pulled, or in effect since they were coupled behind the
heading and elevating platform, pushed the header forward into the
uncut grain.

The era of the grain binder, the header, and the steam threshing
rigs is long gone, and today the combine has virtually eliminated
the drudgery and the hand labor connected with the older ways, but
somehow the glamour and thrills are gone also.

H. K. PETTERSON Trenton, Missouri

LETTER

I have worked or operated many types of steam tractors. I am a
retired New York Central engineer from 1909 to 1955. So much for
the build up, will get on with other business.

About thirty years ago I decided to build a stationary steam
engine. Made up set of patterns and got in touch with Hunt-Spiller
Foundry, South Boston, Mass., makers of locomotive castings for
locomotives. Sent patterns to them and they sent patterns and
castings back. Might say they were perfect. No sand holes or scale
to get under. This is perfect running outfit and powerful also.

Engine is 2′ bore by 3 ¹/₈‘
stroke, ball-bearing, all bearings are double ball N.D., ten in
all. Valve and piston rod of stainless. Other pins and crank shaft
of drill rod. The oil pump is gear driven from crank shaft which in
turn drives governor which is fly ball operating shuttle on oil
line. All bearings with separate ¹/₈‘ oil
line. Screen covered sump milled in bed casting for oil pump
section. Chain sprocket on crank shaft to drive same size on
eccentric crank and! shaft through ‘ pitch diamond chain. Valve
D. slide set to cut off half stroke exhaust on center with
¹/₆₄‘ lead. Ports milled in. Piston 3
piece plus 2 ¹/₈‘ face by 2′ cast
iron iron rings. Moving parts enclosed in plate glass case, crank
and top side. Oil seal next to fly wheel balanced to correspond to
rest of moving parts. Wheel 10′ diameter by 1 face heavy rim.
Base 19′ long by 8’. Boiler welded steel pipe. Tested 1400
lbs. ³/₈‘ thick, 16-1′ flues,
4-1′ flues rolled and beaded both ends. Fire box 9′
diameter. 7’ flue sheet to grate. Water space around fire box
⁵/₈‘. Fire door has
⁵/₈‘ washer to fill space between fire
box and outer shell. ⁵/₈‘ fill in bottom
mud ring. All joints 60 for welding by expert locomotive boiler
welder. Hydraulic tested to 400 lbs. Pop set to 125 lbs. and super
heater made of 6’ welding cap. Placed in hood above boiler with
steam connections from there. Mounted on suitable base on hard
rubber ball swivel castors. Has pint hydrostatic sight feed
lubricator in steam line to supply both engine and pump.

Feed pump 2′ bore steam end by 1′ bore water end.
Stainless ⁵/₁₆‘ rod 2’ stroke. Piston
3 piece plus 1 ¹/₈‘ by 2’ rings.
Water and packed hydraulic packing in bronze cylinder. Intake and
discharge valves milled in brass housing. Main steam D. slide valve
over milled ports operated by built up spool of 5 pieces plus 4
rings ¹/₈‘ by 1’. This in turn
operated by D. slide from rocker. This arrangement gives positive
reverse enabling pump to throttle very slow. Has built on
¹/₈‘ plunger lubricator for steam and
which works very efficiently. Ash pit enclosed with 2-60 C. F. M.
centrifugal blowers hooked together on ball bearing counter. In
turn driven by ¹/₄₀h.p. motor through 3 speed
rheostat using Pocohontas stoker coal. Gets away from all but
little smoke. Has more B. T. U. than most soft coal and keeps Anna
Mae from mopping out flues so often.

I mentioned earlier this was powerful outfit and want to back it
up. As an illustration will take 2′ bore any stroke with 2
cycle gasoline explosion each revolution and with 4 cycle 1
explosion each 2 revolutions. With steam 2 explosions each
revolution.

I have many recollections on railroading. A friend lent me about
25 of your Albums that are good reading. One of them,
September-October 1952, Page 19 shows merry-go-round engine. I can
recall two similar makes at Hardin County Fair. This outfit
attended this fair several years and shipped the whole outfit in
boxcar, engine as well as rest of merry-go-round. This is where I
spent some time at the Fair. I think crew came in car also. The
engineer always looked like he had slept under merry-go-round
engine. After watching this outfit everyone looked like coal
miners. The engineer always told everybody to get back when he
started it as exhaust would throw much water out of the stack.

This boiler is a little too small for this size engine. Figure
on selling this one and replacing it with a little larger size,
same type.

R. P. CHRISTENSEN Box 522, West Lafayette, Ind.

LETTER

Here is a picture of my engine that I built. This is scale of a
16 hp Advance, has a 4 x 5 bore and stroke and weighs I ton
empty.

I started my career as an engineer over 45 years ago and I sure
enjoy reading of the experiences of the engineers, some of them not
such good places to eat and sleep. I too have gone through
this.

I have never tried to keep an engine hot on straw, but did you
ever fire on sour Maple, Quakenasp or green Elm? Try it sometime! I
think I had more steam in the firebox than I did in the boiler.

The cold mornings when I had to crawl in the firebox to roll the
flues then try to get a fire started and be ready to go when the
men arrived for the day’s work but somehow when I look back
over the years I have a tendency to overlook the bad spots and
remember only the good.

The early mornings when you could hear the whistles from all
points of the compass, as the different engineers called the crews
to work and the whistles on the railroads, how I used to love to
hear them, but today I would rather hear a cow bawl than the horns
on the glorified trucks they have on the railroads today.

MILBURN C. LAKE 60455 Sumption Trail, South Bend 14, Indiana