913 Berry Street, Toledo 5, Ohio
I attended my first old time threshers meeting this past summer
at Montpelier, Ohio. The smoke, the steam mixed with hot oil
brought back a sight of memories. I sat in the grandstand and
talked to a man whom I believe was from near Meadville, Pa. Anyway,
we discussed an old horse powered machine which was probably the
date. He thought just possibly C. L. Cramer from Rockwood, Pa.,
might be interested to hear about it. Any news of old equipment
might interest the Album so I am sending snapshot I took of the
machine many years ago. This three horse powered platform and
tumbling shaft is gone as far as I know, but the old separator was
still in good shape as of last summer when I saw it last. But the
old barn blew down and the machine is setting outside now, and of
course will soon rot away. It is located on the Cecil Irwin farm,
Marienville, Star Route, Pa., which is actually Redclyffe, Pa.,
between Kane and Brookville, Pa. He is not interested in it and I
am too far away to move it out here.
That is Cecil on the driver’s platform and I well remember
how the cylinder would slowly come up to speed as the horses tugged
and pulled around and around in a circle, stepping over the
tumbling shaft each time they went around. The man feeding could
tell by the high pitched sound of the teeth on the cylinder going
through the concaves when to start feeding. There were five of us
taking away. The separator was just a simple thing, knocking the
grain loose from the straw only, as it spewed out onto the barn
floor it came a-kiting I can tell you! Each man or boy would take a
fork full and shake it, then toss it to the next man who would do
the same. By this time all the grain was out of the grain onto the
floor, then the straw was tossed out of the barn onto a pile. Great
guns, but that was a dirty job! Little do the folks of today know
what the pioneers and early settlers went through to make this the
greatest country in the world! The grain and chaff was shoveled
back out of the way till the field was threshed out, then the
fanning mill was hooked to the tumbling shaft and the grain was
cleaned nicely.
I have six albums full of memories – shucking out a barn floor
full of corn fodder, then bringing out the fiddle and organ, cider
and donuts and the man who found the first red ear of corn then got
to kiss the prettiest gal on the barn floor – and many more.
