2-27-2012- heavy metal

      above is an oliver 70 rowcrop tractor produced around 1940 i believe or it could have been 1937, originally a continental 6 cylinder engine . all of this information has never been checked as this is my best guess. the holes in the frame allowed for implements to be hung from the frame. of course this is a modified tractor all tricked out . these old tractors were easy to swap an engine in as all you had to do was make a flywheel housing to contain he fly wheel and the engine shaft was splined to the transmission shaft allowing fast unbolting of the engine. ours had a tractor pulley on the right side engaged by a lever. brakes were drum brakes w/ individual right and left and combined brakes. ours was usually oil soaked and we hardly ever had a tractor with  any brakes for years . you learn to drive with the hillside always being careful to let the engine brake for you

        this was fine and dandy until you need the brakes to stop you. fortunately we were lucky enough to never have anyone seriously hurt , although we did have a few tractors get away with us. we grew up with tractors . the first i could remember driving when i was a kid was a 1946 ford ferguson. 4 cylinder  and i was about 5 then . we had a big river bottom below grandpa and grandmas house and i would climb up on tractor and ride between his legs till we were down in the field , then grandpa would head me toward other end of field as it was long and straight. after i was heading in right direction he would crawl over seat while tractor was driving and i would sit back in seat as he  positioned himself on the disc and would ride back there to add weight. when we got to where i needed to turn around then he would climb back up and sit down while we made the turn, then repeat at other end of field . made me feel good to be able to help grandpa out. 

      there was so many things i was able to do before i was going to school , i wondered what grandpa was going to do with his time when i did go. 

   

      the photograph in the photo below is of the old oliver 70 we had. nothing like the one above but when it was running was a strong tractor. this one went into disrepair mainly because we couldn't find tires for it anymore as it had 40 inch rims and next most popular size was 38 inch rims. so it ended up being a parts tractor as it always looked easier to swap other parts instead of those big wheels and rusted bolts. the ironic thing about this photo is my brother snapped a front end off  this tractor once before by running it between two trees . then while sitting here waiting for a reprieve from tractor graveyard , the tree springs up and snatches it in its lair while others rush in to block its exit.

    this looks like an old international m . these were good old tractors and did a lot of farming in their day. apparently they did other work doubling as a road roller compacting and smoothing roads somewhere. 

       i believe this is a kerosene engine tractor around the 1920's . it comes equipped with a belt pulley to be used as a stationary engine. a lot of farm work was still being done with horses at this time as these things were quite cumbersome to use as pulling tractors. they were mostly used to power threshing machines as in last nights blog main picture. horse and wagons would bring shocked straw to the thresher and thresh the wheat out to make flour.

     this was probably typical of first row crop tractor to pull a plow or disc to till fields. even back then , they still had to prove themselves that this new machinery could outproduce teams of horses. but eventually they did as the technology has improved dramatically as now the behemoths we use could easily till 50 -60 acres per day or more, better and cheaper.

   
         this is a full working model of steam engine that pulls the owner around in the lap of luxury , knowing full well he will take the prize for smallest steam engine if not the the most outrageous one there. and who would think you would call a smoke and steam belching tractor cute, but this one is.