Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2023 i Farm Collector

“Never a Christmas morning, never an old year ends, but someone thinks of someone: old days, old times, old friends.” Days grow short; the air is full of flurries. Planted firmly on the wrong side of Thanksgiving, I consider the final page of the wall calendar and wonder, as even prehistoric man must have when he eyed hatch marks on the cave wall, “where did another year go?” Nestled in between the holiday hubbub and the folly of New Year’s resolutions is one of my favorite times of year: the sweet season of remembrance. I like to take stock of everything that’s transpired in the past year, remember the activities of each month and season. What worked? What didn’t? What could do with a bit of tweaking? But mostly I…

A very had a successful line of steam traction engines, including the famous Avery locomotive style, under-mounted model, and promoted its threshers, plows and engines aggressively. The American Thresherman reported on the Avery demonstration at the 1906 Iowa State Fair: “These exhibition engines cut up all kinds of didos [in the slang of the era, dido was defined as behaving in a mischievous or silly way] and climbed blocks of wood 29 inches high. A little boy of 12 or 13 operated the engine with perfect ease and made it fairly dance a jig. A plowing exhibition [was] given [by a 22hp engine and a 10-bottom plow] in an open field where the ground was as hard as some men’s conscience. A crowd of 10,000 people would swarm around to see the…

A 110-year-old portable gas engine that remained on a family farm through three generations has finally moved to town. Mary Rist, whose family owned the 6hp Famous horizontal gas engine now on loan to the Daneville Heritage Museum in Viborg, South Dakota, says the 4-cycle engine was long a fixture on her family’s rural Centerville, South Dakota, farm. “My late husband, Donald, inherited the engine when he inherited the farm,” Mary says. “I know my father-in-law, Fred, used it for harvesting, which was before I came on the scene.” The Rist family farm was started in 1878 by German immigrant Johannes Rist who was born in 1854. Johannes passed the farm to the second generation, his son Fred, who passed it on to the third generation, Mary’s husband Don, who expanded…

Looking for information on belt-driven water pumps I am looking for information on belt-driven water pumps. The tag on mine says Fairbanks-Morse, size 1, 5530, K67481. I would like to know the pump’s approximate age, driving horsepower required (minimum/maximum), GPM output and maintenance requirements. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Joe Kolar, Fenton, Michigan; email: joek@corriganoil.com Fifty years later, craftsmen still recognize their work I recently attended the International Windmillers’ Trade Fair in Lamar, Colorado. Before I left south Texas, a friend gifted me a 17-inch-tall windmill replica. He said it had been in his family for years and he had no history on how it got there. In Lamar, I displayed it and several other interesting windmill items just as conversation pieces. On the first afternoon of the trade…

My son-in law texted one day and asked if I wanted to fix up another tractor since he knew about the 1952 Case VAC I restored. Being so busy with work and funds a little tough, I said I was not sure, unfortunately. Well, he knows how much I love tractors, so long story short, he made a deal, we made a trade and the 1949 Farmall Super A was mine! He told me it was his uncle’s tractor. Through the years, it’s seen its fair share of hard work and serious wear and tear. It was used on their farm in West Virginia for 42 years, cutting 6 acres of grass, gardening and plowing. Unfortunately, it sat for about 10 years uncovered with no rain cap or cover on the…

Scenes of daily life on the farm are showcased in this chromolithograph poster dating to about 1900. Created as a promotional piece for Advance Thresher Co., Battle Creek, Michigan, the poster illustrates a threshing scene of the day. Shown in the clouds at the center is an image of Advance’s trademark “banner boy” waving the Advance flag. Advance produced at least three different chromolithograph posters, each featuring the banner boy. The company was known for colorful advertising items including needle holders, playing cards, checkerboards, trade cards and catalogs. Advance Thresher Co. was founded in 1881 in Battle Creek, Michigan, to manufacture woodsided threshing machines. The company began manufacture of steam traction engines in 1884. Dr. Edward Rumely of M. Rumely Co. purchased Advance in December 1911 (Rumely also bought Gaar-Scott…

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 January 2023 items will appear in the March 2023 issue. Answers for new items in this issue must be received by January 3, 2023. NOVEMBER MYSTERY TOOLS A. Foot of this tool swivels 180 degrees. Tool measures 6 inches long. Patented June 18, 1872. B. No details provided. C. Tool is mounted to a plank measuring roughly 16 by 4-1/2 inches. Cast into long handle: M.R. RANDALL WAUPACA WIS. PATENTS PENDING. D. Tool is all wood; measures about 6 inches long. E. Tool measures 5-1/2 by 6 inches.…