Saturday, August 13, 2016

Non-JI Case Steam Tractors

At the 2016 Sycamore Steam Show's Parade of Power, the announcer mentioned that JI Cases made more steam engines than all other brands combined. So that seems to be a good way to organize the steam engine info. The JI Case tractors have a posting that already existed.

Illinois Threshing Co. has its own posting.

Baker "Uniflow"

A. D. Baker Co. was incorporated in 1901 after Abner had already built five steam traction engines in his repair shop in Swanton, OH. "Mr. Baker invented the radial reverse gear that bears his name, and all good authorities on valve gears say it is the best reverse gear ever put on a steam traction engine or a locomotive. Mr. Baker's exhaustive tests have proven there is great economy in hooking up the reverse quadrant." (FarmCollector)



A video of it driving a fan so you can hear it chugging under heavy load.


Advanced Rumely

Rumely started in 1853 in La Porte, Indiana manufacturing threshers and later moved on to steam engines. The first internal combustion tractor at the company was the OilPull, launched in 1910, with an oil-cooled engine. A 1911 merger with the Advance Thresher Company changed the name to Advance-Rumely. In the late 1920s, Advance-Rumely attempted to enter the market for smaller tractors with the DoAll and the 6A, but had difficulty. Allis-Chalmers purchased Advance-Rumely in 1931 and stopped production of all models. (TractorData)
A complete list of the steam tractors made.

A video of an "Advanced Rumely" running a pony brake. A pone brake is like a dynamiter in that it allows one to control the load placed on the tractor. You can hear the tractor chugging pretty good when they have a load on it. At the end of the video we see why the announcer was so upset that someone walked under the belt at -2:22.

Minneapolis



Trevor Lee Beyer posted two pictures with the comment:
Here is the engine I have the honor of being the head operator with Tim Michael Eickschenof this 1920 28hp Minneapolis steam engine #8388 here is a before and after photos of last summer's cosmic restoration this machine is a fine example of the craftsmanship of yester year made when the machines that usually posted on here were cutting edge this fine engine is owned by Eric Nelson and has been displayed at Rollag MN at WMSTR since the late 50's
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The second tractor in this video is a 1918 Minneapolis.

Video of a 1922 20hp Minneapolis pulling a plow. It almost stalls at -0:37, but then it speeds up significantly. Did they raise the plow blades a little?

Port Huron

1913 65 HP Port Huron (I must not have hit the Rec button as it passed :-()


Gary Yaeger posted
32 hp Port Huron tandem compound engine.
Northern Illinois Steam Power Club posted
The famous Port Huron "Husker" 2 row corn picker. This was a popular and highly successful labor saver for the farmer.
Northern Illinois Steam Power Club posted three photos with the comment: "Horse power testing using Prony brake. The three Port Hurons tested did 50, 55 and 67 horse power."

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Nichols & Shepard Co., Battle Creek MI

16/60 (16 on the drawbar, 60 on the belt)
It is the first tractor in this video of three tractors.

Russell Tractor

Gary Yaeger posted
One of my favorite postcards I have. The Russell Factory.
Satellite
Illustrations of products producedAn aerial photo of the factory. Since the aerial photo was in the IH archive, was Russell one of the companies that was bought to found IH? I've learned the factory was in Massillon, OH; but I have no idea where it was in that town. Although the "brown land" in this satellite image looks like a good candidate.
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Reeves Tractor

Richard M. Gaskill shared an IRON AGE post
Likely one of the two prototype 40-120 hp Reeves engines built, pulling smaller engines filled with water, at the factory in Columbus, Indiana. Courtesy the incomparable Gary 'Reeves' Yaeger.
Tony Axsom Bill Stahl is those 2 buildings behind factory the ones Cummins give physical s out of?
Bill Stahl Yes. They were torn down about 15 years ago. They were at 5th and Wilson in Columbus. This intersection is totally surrounded by Cummins plant.
[According to Google Map, Wilson has been renamed Reeves Way between 6th and 7th.]



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