Drove the A to a Local Threshing Show

[Tom Wesenberg]

Saturday was an all day rain, so I stayed home, but on Friday and Sunday I drove my 28 Phaeton to a threshing show about 23 miles north of my house. If anyone hasn't attended threshing shows, you are missing a good time. Another bonus was the swap meet where I bought some good old American made tools for pennies on the dollar.

Here you see a large piston, but you don't see a wrist pin in the skirt. It has a piston within a piston, so the outside piston is free to move all around for even wear. Also note how the rod is made in three parts with an open area for another rod. This is for a V type engine with both pistons in the same plane. The Model A belongs to a friend, and was purchased recently. Too bad he's going to put in a supercharged V8 and 39 tranny.

[davehc]

Your right Tom , those shows are great if you like the old engines and stuff like that . I have hit-miss engines and belong to a local club , and also love the swap and sell / trading post we have , never know what you will find . I agree , that " A " is to nice to do that too , but, what can you do ?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here you see a grader that was used to build better roads for the Model A. To be period correct, the tractor pulling it should be an unstyled D on steel, or maybe a Fordson tractor. I didn't read the sign by the heavy Mack dump truck, but that certainly came after the Model A period. The large rocks are hollow fiberglass props, and when I fist saw them over the side of the truck, I thought they were supposed to be large hunks of coal.

Notice the grader even has tilting wheels. I can imagine the operator stayed busy with all those controls for blade tilt and angle, as well as lifting each end of the blade and tilting the wheels.

[Pilotdave]

Shows like that one are a ton of fun! Pulling that grader could take a pretty chunky tractor. Thanks for sharing the pix.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here you see a 4 stage air compressor, where the air is first compressed in the largest cylinder then pushed over to the next smaller cylinder. A 50 horsepower electric motor powers this one.

On the opposite wall of the same building is a large two stage air compressor powered by a huge open frame electric motor. It's 200 horsepower and runs on 440 volts. If you look closely between the two cylinders you can see a high voltage box with a Jacob's ladder. That's where the spark climbs up the two wires and gets wider as it goes up. When it reaches close to the top the spark separates with a snap, and starts again near the bottom.

Against the south wall of the same building is a large 5 cylinder 2 stroke diesel electric generator. It's started by injecting compressed air into one of the cylinders to get the engine spinning. I don't know why they chose 5 for the number of cylinders, but I've seen that on a lot of these large old diesel generators.

[Tom Wesenberg]

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Here is one of my favorite buildings, with many nice model steam engines built by true craftsmen. I've heard the 5 cylinder radial airplane engines run, and they sound just like the real full size engines. The large steam engine was last used in a factory in 1971.

The first picture shows a copy of Henry Fords first experimental engine. It runs, but was never running when I was by it.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here's my 28 next to a Model A pickup, a Model TT and a newer Ford convertible.

I really like the small log cabin. Inside is a pull down ladder to climb up into the sleeping loft. A small kitchen with wood stove has been added to the south end of the cabin.

One of our club members owns this right hand drive open pickup, which he bought out of North Dakota about 40 years ago. I only took pictures of the controls to show there arrangement.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Here is one of my favorite trucks, a 1947 Diamond T pickup. I've never seen these hubcaps before, but I assume they are correct for the truck.

Here is a hit and miss engine with a chain driven winch used to pull in boats.

[C26Pinelake]

Tom. I also attended a Steam Threshers Reunion which has a car show. Although not large the car show seems to attract mostly pre 60 and many 1920-30 era cars. Something for everyone at a show like this. I only do about three shows a year but this is one of my favorites. Wayne,

[George Miller]

Nice pictures Tom thanks. You also have one of my favorite tractors, John Deere.I use to have some back when I was farming in Mich.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by George Miller

Nice pictures Tom thanks. You also have one of my favorite tractors, John Deere.I use to have some back when I was farming in Mich.

Not my John Deere. The only JD I own is my little 110 with round fenders.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Saturday was an all day rain, so I stayed home, but on Friday and Sunday I drove my 28 Phaeton to a threshing show about 23 miles north of my house. If anyone hasn't attended threshing shows, you are missing a good time. Another bonus was the swap meet where I bought some good old American made tools for pennies on the dollar.

Here you see a large piston, but you don't see a wrist pin in the skirt. It has a piston within a piston, so the outside piston is free to move all around for even wear. Also note how the rod is made in three parts with an open area for another rod. This is for a V type engine with both pistons in the same plane. The Model A belongs to a friend, and was purchased recently. Too bad he's going to put in a supercharged V8 and 39 tranny.

Tom,
The piston/rod reminds me, our local wrecking yard displayed a HUGE, RADIAL, diesel engine, I was told it was from a TANK???
Bill W.

[Mike V. Florida]

I often go to this one in Florida, they have the show at least twice a year,

http://www.floridaflywheelers.org/

[Fullraceflathead]

I Love Vintage Technology!
Maybe that's why I drive a Model A Roadster Pickup??

[SeaSlugs]

Originally Posted by Fullraceflathead

I Love Vintage Technology!

yea everything is cast iron, 400 lbs, and meant to last a nuclear apocalypse haha
now everything is plastic and tin foil and made the the lowest bidder

[ian Simpson]

Originally Posted by BILL WILLIAMSON

Tom,
The piston/rod reminds me, our local wrecking yard displayed a HUGE, RADIAL, diesel engine, I was told it was from a TANK???
Bill W.

Didn't Sherman tanks have radial engines?

[SeaSlugs]

some shermans did use a radial engine, some a ford V8, some a crhysler V8, some a Caterpillar Diesel.

[5851a]

Family member had a grator like that, think they used a model D Deere to pull it up a down the lane. It was bought from county when they were replaced with self powered. Almost 50 years ago but I remember riding on the draw bar.

[mshmodela]

Tom, thanks for the show and tell, great photos... Great dump truck!

[Synchro909]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Against the south wall of the same building is a large 5 cylinder 2 stroke diesel electric generator. It's started by injecting compressed air into one of the cylinders to get the engine spinning. I don't know why they chose 5 for the number of cylinders, but I've seen that on a lot of these large old diesel generators.

We used to have busses running around with 3 cylinder engines. I was told that 3 and 5 were a good number of cylinders to have for any engine, especially diesels.
2 Cyls - hard to balance with both pistons stationary at the same time
4 Cyls - the same but not quite so bad
6 Cyls - Better but harmonics and crankshaft torsional flexing are issues. That's why Henry hated 6's
8 Cyls - very good. While 4 pistons are stationary, 4 are moving in opposite directions at maximum speed
With 3 and 5, you can only ever have one piston stationary at a time - easy to balance, so run smoother.
I was told the reason 2 and 4 Cyls were used started early when forging good crankshafts was not economically possible. Easier to machine a flat one from a billet. Early V8s had flat cranks.
Many of the small Asian and European cars running around today are fitted with 3 cylinder engines, petrol and diesel.