Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2022 i Farm Collector

Did you ever go looking for something you misplaced and, in the process, find not the missing item, but something altogether different? I don’t remember what I was looking for when I was rooting around on the Farm Collector website a while back, but for darned sure it wasn’t an article published in Iron-Men Album in 1953. A bit of background, if I may. The Farm Collector website is a big tent encompassing Farm Collector, Gas Engine Magazine and Steam Traction. Farm Collector is the new kid on the block. GEM was launched in the mid-1960s and Steam Traction, formerly known as Iron-Men Album, dates to the late 1940s. When you visit the Farm Collector website, much of what you see is new content, material published in recent issues. What…

The genius of pioneer inventors can confound us. Countless contraptions that revolutionized farming in the 19th and early 20th centuries have become contemporary curiosities, or even mysteries. Here are six sent in by readers. Do you know what they are? Answers to the July 2022 items will appear in the September 2022 issue. Answers for new items in this issue must be received by July 6, 2022. JULY MYSTERY TOOLSO A. The U of this shackle-like tool is about 5-1/2 inches long overall and 2-3/4 inches wide at the threaded end. The wrench-like end of the threaded piece is 3/4-inch and that whole part is about 4-3/4 inches long overall. There is a small hole above the center tang. The end of the tang looks like it might have been broken off…

Like Heimlich maneuver The first article I read in the April 2022 issue of Farm Collector was “Harvesting Fence Posts” by Don McKinley. When I saw the picture of hedge apples, I had to laugh. It brought back an old memory. There were definitely a lot of people who thought hedge apples would ward off moths and other insects. My wife always wanted me to bring her several nice specimens each fall and she would place them in our closets for the winter. Wildlife, especially squirrels, use hedge apples as a food source, but only late in the year, after the better stuff is about gone. However, cows don’t care when it is: If hedge apples are available, they’re going to eat them. A cow will pick up an entire…

Many antique tractor clubs across the nation have undertaken major recovery efforts in the name of preservation of a steam engine, gas engine or tractor. But few sought to preserve the relic’s surroundings as well. In the first segment of a two-part article, Barry Tuller recalls the recovery and relocation of a rural mill and its contents – including a 15hp Foos engine. One never knows where a lead on an engine will take you. This story begins late in 1993. My father, Louis Tuller, was on the Midwest Old Threshers board of directors in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Among his areas of responsibility was the gas engine area. People sometimes contacted Old Threshers for information on gas engines, and those inquiries were funneled to me by my dad. An inquiry…

With numerous engine shows being cancelled in 2020, I needed a project. Why not make a oneof-a-kind John Deere? It kept me busy for over a month, and I had a super time showing it during the summer of 2021. The project started with a non-running (but not stuck) 1-1/2hp engine. The magneto did not work, the igniter was stuck and the gas tank was rusted out. It was a great engine for a complete rebuild. Disassembly was the normal routine with no major problems, except for the fact that the block was worn out and needed a sleeve. The first part of the reconstruction was to take the block to a machine shop for a sleeve. While waiting on the block repair, I cut off the top of the…

JARED KNEPP IS OUR FEATURED ARTIST FOR JULY! Jared Knepp, the son of Nelson and Delores Knepp, Crofton, Kentucky, is this month’s featured artist. Jared will receive a Farm Collector T-shirt: Congratulations, Jared! Have a budding artist in your family? Send your kids’ or grandkids’ farm-related artwork to Farm Collector, and we’ll send a T-shirt to the monthly winner. Send submissions to Farm Collector, 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265. Please include the artist’s name, age and hometown and a recent photograph. A release form will be sent to the parents of each artist whose work is selected for publication; the release must be signed and returned to Farm Collectorbefore the artist’s photo can be published. For more information, contact us at editor@farmcollector.com.…

I always read the police reports in the daily newspaper, partly to see who got caught doing what, but mostly to read the often hilarious way some of the events are described. A report that turns up periodically in our paper is the one where someone calls the cops because a neighbor’s horses or cattle are loose and have strayed onto the complainant’s property. The police always respond and warn the owner of the animals to keep the critters penned up or face a citation. The laws governing restraint of animals didn’t always put the burden upon the animal owner. In the decades prior to the Civil War, in prairie states such as Iowa, Indiana and Illinois, if you wanted to keep animals out of your crops, laws of the…

According to a post on the Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum website, the use of threshers’ cook shacks in central Kansas reached its peak from about 1900-1920. The museum’s website details a typical cook shack in operation near Goessel, Kansas: “The cook shack was about 8 feet wide, 16 feet long and 7 feet high. It sat on a high wheel wagon gear. To enter, a set of portable steps were necessary. Two small screened windows on either side of the cook shack allowed for some ventilation to occur. On all four corners, guy ropes to anchor the shack were driven into the ground. There was an elevated roof section, small interior cupboards, and the hole in the floor, which allowed easy access to food and other supplies in the…

Sometimes a collection starts very deliberately. Other times it happens purely by accident. Allan Wilt, Cresson, Pennsylvania, says his collection of oil cans started in the 1970s, when a friend surprised him with a can from the Pennsylvania Railroad. “He knew I liked old stuff,” Allan says. “That started the collection.” After that, Allan started noticing cans. “They are so interesting,” he says, “without a huge expense.” Today, Allan displays the majority of his collection – about 230 cans – in his shop. The remaining 10 percent is displayed in his house. The cans come in many different types and sizes for varied uses. “Some guys need a little drop of oil,” he says, “and some need a big splash.” There is a can for every need, and Allan probably…