SOOT IN THE FLUES

This Bicentennial – of our 4th of July –
The Glorious 4th – it’s real name,
Let’s keep its traditions with honor and fortunes –
So it will live on – enduring fame.

E. R. WOLF, Climax, Michigan 49034 is seeking information on a
Lodge & Shiple lathe. He needs to know gear combinations on
4′ lead screw. (Help him if you can, because I surely don’t
know the answer.)

HOWARD CLAYTON, R.F.D., Delta, Utah 8462 requests: ‘I need
special information on an 1892 Russell 12 HP steam traction engine
or thereabouts. I need to know colors, engine specifications,
repairs, etc. And I also have a wooden wheeled portable horsedrawn
steam engine made by the Ames Company. The boiler and engine were
made by the Oswego Iron Works of Oswego, New York. Any information
you can supply me as to this engine would be greatly
appreciated.’ (I feel sure some of our readers will send you
some data, Howard. Good Luck!).

MELVIN E. THIEMANN, 326 Robin Road, Paris, Texas 75460 has
QUESTIONS–

‘I am thinking of working up a program to use as educational
purposes for F.F.A. groups etc. if enough information can be
gathered. I would appreciate some answers to a few questions that I
have.

Do you have histories available of old implements and do you
have slides available of some of these old units? Do you know who
invented the first knotter on the old grain binder? Did a man in
Germany invent it? Most of the binders used it one time or another.
Was there a Milwaukee machinery company? When I was a small boy my
father owned a Milwaukee grain binder. Whatever happened to this
company?

I have been associated with the tractor and implement business
all my life along with a farm background.’

(I’m sure Melvin will be eagerly awaiting your letters.)

One day, upon returning home after an errand, I found two Show
Pins and a note which read: ‘Sorry I missed you Bill Yohnka,
Kankakee, Illinois.’ (I’m sorry too Bill, but that’s
the way things happen. I’m usually here, but I do run in and
out with many errands -thanks for the pins and I hope you had a
good show. They were pins for Thee Olde Time Farm Show – July 3, 4
and 5.)

I have received a nice article and a picture on the Centennial
Corliss steam engine – somehow the name of the person who sent it
has disappeared – please — if you read this, send me your name as
I’d like to give proper credit. The article was taken from
‘The Engineer’s Handy Book.’

Following is a letter received too late for the July-August Gas
Engine Magazine – it is interesting and I am taking the liberty to
print it in this column in hopes that many of you will be
interested, as I know many of you folks are gas enthusiasts as well
as steam.

The recently formed Ladies Auxilary of the Early Day Engine Club
Branch 16 of Ash Grove, Mo. is not a group that let’s grass
grow under it’s feet.

Since we organized last October we have completed our first
project; a bicentennial quilt. This quilt is red, white and blue,
lined with red and made of double knit polyester. The individual
blocks are hand embroidered, some are appliqued by different
members of the auxilary. They feature many different models of
gasoline engines, some steam engines and some are brightly colored
flowers appliqued. The four corners feature the gasoline can, water
bucket and oil can as well as the tool box. The center block has
the association emblem and the two top center blocks are very
colorful and almost solid embroidered with the emblem and the seal
of the United States; one has 1776 and the other 1976 at the top of
the block.

The quilt is filled with dacron batting to make it light and
fluffy and measures 86′ x 106′, large enough for a
bedspread. It has been machine quilted in a swirl pattern by June
Cole of Republic, Missouri.

We are taking sealed bids on this quilt until September 4, 1976.
The proceeds from the quilt will be used to purchase a gasoline
engine to be given to the museum at the School of the Ozarks at
Point Lookout, Missouri.

This engine will be given by the Early Day Gas Engine Club
Branch 16 in memory of the late John Bary and wife of Ash Grove,
Missouri who was the founder of our club and president at the time
of his death.

Bids may be given to any member of the club or auxilary; or sent
to Gladys West, Bois D’Arc, Missouri 65612. Phone 742-2295.

LEWIS A. WRIGHT, 3173 Page Green Road, R. D. 2, Cortland, New
York 13045 sends the following missal:

‘I started my threshing career in 1908 as a band cutter on
an Advance outfit owned by Ezra Dutton about four miles north of
Janesville, Wisconsin. I was eight years old. I have always been a
steam buff, although I never owned one, except a couple of toy
ones.

I worked around them a lot and my one ambition was to be a
railroad engineer. I applied for a job as fireman on our local
railroad and was told by the road foreman to get a job in the
roundhouse to aquaint myself with the engines. I was given a job as
engine watch, keeping the fires going and water in the boilers on
the engines that were waiting to go out and building new fires in
those which had been serviced.

I had a little trouble learning how to operate the Hancock
inspirators. They were tricky things but they sure could put water
in the boilers in a hurry. I also fired the stationary boilers on
the regular fireman’s days off. After a few months I went on
the road firing a big 4-6-0 camel back. These engines had an
enormous fire box built to burn rice coal which is nothing more
than hard coal screenings. The fire box was so big that there was
no room for the cab in the rear, so they put it in front of the
firebox. The rice coal was a complete failure but as they steamed
very easily on soft coal they were run until they were worn
out.

After I was on the road about three years, business began to
diminish, the passenger trains were taken off, and most of the
firemen were laid off and a lot of the engineers went back to
firing. By that time I had saved up enough money to make a down
payment on a run-down farm with good potentials and with my wife
and son and daughter, I went back to farming.

I had to work at other jobs for eleven years and farm nights and
weekends before I got the farm stocked and equipped and on a paying
basis. I have owned two threshing outfits, an Avery separator and a
Samson tractor and an Advance-Rumley separator and an Int. 10-20
tractor. About ten years ago, I sold the thresher and bought a
combine. I have done a lot of custom work for my neighbors with
both outfits. I am retired now and rent my land to a neighbor, but
I am keeping machinery as I have a grandson who is determined to be
a farmer and I hope that he will be able to continue on where I
left off.

In your September-October 1975 issue of I.M.A. on page 2, there
is a letter from Laurence Graves who seems to be a bit confused
about the horsepower rating of tractors. In the case of steam
tractors, it was estimated that it took approximately two-thirds of
their power to propel themselves in a level field-thus a 25-75
engine was 25 HP on the drawbar and 75 HP on the belt. Friction on
the gears and bearings had very little if anything to do with
it.

Then came the kerosene tractors which delivered more horsepower
per pound of weight than the steamers or about one-half of their
power was required to propel themselves, so they were rated 10-20,
15-30, etc. With the advent of diesel I would feel safe in saying
that some of the modern tractors require as little as one-third or
less of their power to propel themselves. Most all tractors are now
rated by the actual horsepower delivered at the P.T.O.

On page 20 of the same issue is a request from Chas. Scheetz
requesting the make of a steamer in his picture. The low mounted
boiler, the high steam dome, the tall stack, the right hand engine,
the left hand belt pulley, and the single spoke construction of the
rear wheels leads me to believe that it is an early Peerles.

My wife and I have a motor home and we plan on visiting some of
the steam shows every summer. We have attended them as far south as
South Carolina and as far west as Iowa, but the best one that we
have seen yet is right here near home and we never miss it. It is
the Spring Grove Show, put on my Mr. Charles Hitchcock at Levanna,
New York, Though not by any means, the largest, it is the most
complete and varied show that we have ever seen. You name it, they
have it and they do it.’

Some information from FRED P. BRUBAKER, Box 241, Bird City,
Kansas 67731:

On page 6 of the January-February issue of I.M.A. Mr. Ankney
asks for information about the 12-20 Emerson tractor that has two
wheels in front and one rear. My brother and I bought one of these
machines (used) in 1918 and used it to pull a header to harvest our
1918 wheat crop also did some other work with it. Not much of a
machine in my estimation. I believe these tractors were built by
Emerson Brantingham about 1915. Am quite sure there is one in the
Pioneer Village museum in Minden, Nebraska. I was at a local sale
where it was bought for the museum. Might mention also that they
have a most wonderful collection of antique machinery and cars.

Now I would like some information. I have noticed Drumheller
coal as being used in Canadian operations. Just what is this
coal?

WILLARD M. JACKSON, Route 2, Eleva, Wisconsin 54738 sends a
letter: ‘In your January-February issue, page 20, there is an
article by Mrs. William M. Ross telling of her father and his
engines. I first noticed the words 80 HP Case S/N 35824 and that
made me jump as it was the number of the Case 80 I used to own. I
wrote to Mr. Walker and have given him details on the engine’s
history. It was unloaded at Strum, Wisconsin in 1927. It was
shipped out of Racine, Wisconsin on July 12 of that year and the
price was $3510.00 F.O.B. I put new flues in, in April 1953. I was
using it for threshing and sawing lumber. I have owned four
threshing outfits and also two sawmills. Co-owner and builder with
my brother, Clinton, of the first Jackson Lumber Harvester. In your
March-April issue, the article on Hobos caught my eye. I have
ridden the flats, gondolas, box cars, the ice pits on the reffers
special and also the blinds on the passengers and on the tenders,
but never rode the rods. I have counted eighty heads I could see at
one time on a freight. I did that traveling business because I
needed the money I made in the Dakota wheat fields to feed my wife
and two children. And talk about change!

When I went to the country school, I used to see a yoke of oxen
go by to town, and I’ve flown the Atlantic five times and the
Pacific once. Spent two months in Ceylon in 1961 sawing lumber.
Also prospected for gold in Canada and was a guide there for moose
hunters. Worked for pipeline outfits from Texas to Wisconsin. Sawed
lumber from Texas to Carolina to Ohio and west to Washington. At
present, I act as tour guide in the summertime at Hayward,
Wisconsin at ‘History-land’, an educational display of the
old-time logging equipment.

I started with steam at the age of twelve on my father’s 16
HP return flue Minneapolis and I fired with barley straw. That was
sixty years ago and I’ve fired with coal and wood and also with
oil on a steam pile driver. I put in an oil burner in the Case 80
at one time. I had made the burner myself. I didn’t use the
regular oil the contractors used on the pile drivers. I used old
crankcase oil from the filling stations. It worked too, but made
more smoke. All this to say I like the magazine.’ (Thanks Will,
a nice letter – sounds like you could write a story of your life
-you’ve certainly traveled the terrain, haven’t you?).

Well, since we are all celebrating the 200th Birthday of our
country and the flag is the symbol of our country, I would like to
share with you an article written by Dr. Walter Lewis Wilson, who
was a medical doctor, bible teacher and author. This was from a
book printed in 1936 and it is entitled ‘OUR OWN FLAG.’

The flag of the United States in a very peculiar way presents
many interesting lessons which will be profitable for us to
consider. We shall see that there are explanations which will be
valuable to us in the construction of this lovely emblem of our
country. Let us first consider them in their numerical order.

THERE IS ONE FLAG, but it is composed of three colors, even as
there is ONE GOD, but THREE BLESSED PERSONS in that Godhead. These
Three are separate from each other, but are never separated from
each other.

THERE ARE TWO PARTS to the flag. The field, where the stars
appear and the ‘fly’ where the stripes appear, so there are
two parts to our life, the heaven of blue, where the righteous
servants of God shall shine as the stars, and the scene on earth
where stripes of sorrow and pain accompany every life.

THERE ARE THREE COLORS, and these in union make our flag of
liberty, but separated they tell a tragic story. There is the red
of anarchy, there is the white of surrender, there is the blue of
immobility. We do not want them separated, for together they
represent justice and judgment, fellowship and friendship. It is so
in the Godhead. God’s justice and judgment are mingled with His
mercy and grace. We do not want them separated.

THERE ARE FOUR SIDES to this flag, even as we shall dwell in a
city four-square. To enter that city, we must be washed white in
the red blood of the One who is now on His throne beyond the blue
of the Heavens.

FIVE POINTS appear on each star. One of these points upward, two
of them point outward and two point downward. We must be right with
God before we can be right with our fellowmen and before our walk
will be godly and good. Five is the number of weakness in the
Bible. Five fingers indicate that our hands are weak for many kinds
of industry.

Five toes remind us that our walk is not what we would like it
to be. Five senses certainly indicate our need of more perception,
more knowledge and better understanding. We shall never shine as
stars with those perfect points, unless we are made into God’s
stars by God’s grace and through trusting the Lord Jesus Christ
for salvation.

SIX ROWS OF STARS, and SIX WHITE STRIPES, bring to our attention
the fact that man has been given sufficient provision both for his
body and his soul. Six in the Bible is the number of man’s
consummation. Six days were given to Israel in which to finish
their work. There were six steps to Solomon’s throne for he had
sufficient judgment ability to handle every case. The six white
stripes are divided into three short and three long. White in the
Bible is sometimes used to indicate the presence of leprosy; the
short stripes indicate that some are little sinners while the long
ones represent old sinners.

THE SEVEN RED STRIPES beautifully indicate to us that there is
enough power in the blood for every kind of sinner. The red stripes
are as long as the white stripes. The blood of Christ cleanses all
the way from the cradle to the grave. Be sure that you are trusting
in that precious blood of Christ. These seven red stripes may
indicate the seven great wars which have been the means of
preserving our country. These wars were the Revolutionary War, the
War of 1812, the Indian War, the Civil War, the Mexican War, the
Spanish-American War, and the World War. (These were all the wars
up until the time this article was written in 1936.) The flag is
enclosed in red and we too must be wholly sheltered under the blood
if we would be safe from coming wrath.

THE EIGHT ROWS OF STARS tells us that a new nation was formed
and a new liberty offered to all those who come under the shadow
and the shelter of this flag. In the Bible the number eight has the
significance of ‘A NEW THING.’ David was the eighth son of
Jesse and he began a new dynasty in Israel. Christ arose the eighth
day and began a new church. The eighth note on the piano is the
beginning of a new octave. The eighth day of the week is the first
day of a new week. The man who trusts Jesus Christ becomes a new
man, sings a new song, has a new vision, is filled with a new hope,
rests upon a new foundation, finds new companionships, learns new
truths from the Scriptures and is a new creature in Christ
Jesus.

UNDER THIS FLAG, many divers kinds of people become amalgamated
in the great melting pot of the United States and become brothers
in citizenship with all racial and national barriers broken down.
So it is in Christ. Those who come under the banner of His love lay
aside their differences, racial, social, national and financial,
and sit down together in sweet fellowship around the table of the
Lord under His banner.

THOSE ARE PROTECTED, who belong to the commonwealth over which
this flag flies as its national emblem. Our government will
preserve both the property and the persons of those who belong to
our country. Those who belong to the living God, who are saved by
grace, these are kept by the power of God and preserved by the love
of God and are surrounded by the mercy of God wherever they may be
in the whole world.

THIS FLAG SHOULD BE DISPLAYED by those who own it, and confess
their citizenship under it; even so the Christian is called upon to
confess Christ before men, own that God is his Father, Christ is
his Saviour, the Spirit is his Guide, the Bible is his authority.
Let us openly and constantly confess that our citizenship in this
world under the sovereignty of Satan has ceased and that now we are
marching under the banner of the Cross.

Some of you may like this article, some of you may not – I think
it is quite a commendable analogy. This was taken from the book
called ‘Strange Short Stories by the Doctor.’ It contains
many more of the same type stories comparing objects of life to the
spiritual life.

That’s it for now and God Bless Each One of You!