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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1985-09-04, Page 29Few factors played so important a part in the development of the agriculture of this country and.have disappeared more quicldy and completely than the once familiar steam. threshing ng engine. Aft less than 60 years for in wide pread u ssupplying power ploughing they have been completely replaced by gasoline and diesel powered tractors. The glamor of threshing has gone with the passing of these greasy and dirty old faithful Servants whose rhythmic ex- . haust could be heard up and down every concession in the fall of the year and whose cheery whistle hailed the start or finish of threshing operations on someone's farm or announced that dinner was ready in the farm kitchen. Picture the boy, fortunate enough to be born long enough ago to remember these early threshing scenes, as he stood at the farm tate to watch the thresher's big team of horses with their harness brass gleaming in the sun haul the portable engine in from the road. He could recall nothing quite so big on wheels. A giant round body with an enor- mous fly wheel on one side and an oversized smokestack hinged near the base and lying supported on a bracket. The driver perched high on a flimsy seat carefully manoeuvered histearn so there would be no danger of upsetting, his precious load. Next came the threshing machine, pulled by a farmer's . team, its sides covered with wheels and belts and the straw carriergold- ed neatly up the back and over the top. Soon all 'was hustle and bustle around the barn. The separator was hauled up backwards in- to the barn and the horses led out singly between the machine and the snow. Holes were dug for the front wheels of the engine to level it and brace chains applied to hold it firmly in place. The smoke stack was erected and rails from a convenient pile raised steam while the separator was being braced and the straw carriers set. In short order the engine was puffing away in earnest, a steady steam of sheaves were Welcome to the 24th Annual THRESHER'S REUNION Drop in today and let us help look after your 1985 crops! •WHITE BEANS *CORN •SOYBEANS *BARLEY *WHEAT •MIXED GRAIN •Fast and efficient Service *Wagon Dumper •Trucking available DRYING -STORAGE -BUY -SELL BLYTH 523-9624 or 523-4241 dropping from the mow to the band cutter who deftly severed the band of each sheaf with a sharp knife and passed it on to the feeder who took great pride in his ability to keep a steady hum on the machine. Two or more men carried the grain to. the granary , keeping track of the bushels by means of small pegs in a board while out in the yard expert hands andfeet worked the long straw from the carriers into a perfectly shaped stack. Where was the small boy? Well! he was just everywhere, trying to see it all but mostly he kept his eye on the engine. The advent of the aeroplane, radio ani :television to 'a fast .changing world had much less thrill than the sight of the first steam engine that clanked and snorted and. threw great quantities of sparks but propell- ed itself from farm to farm. Many a boy missed his dinner to watch one go by on the road or risked the ire of the teacher to steal a peep out the window during class, but his greatest thrill came when he was allowed to take his first ride. Awkward and weak at first these early steam tractors a ere quick- ly improved by/the manufacturers until they soon became highly efficient and pulled all their own equipment from farm to fern,. Much of the virgin prairie was first plough- ed by giant steam traction engin. -; designed especially for heavy hauling. Like railroading, threshing had an attrac- tion that held. Most threshers stayed threshers until the end although very few every grew wealthy at the job. Many color- ful characters followed the profession. Men who used copious quantities of chewing tobacco, obviously it counteract the dust. Men who could attract more dirt before breakfast than others could in a whole day or whose yarns and stories held the gang sit- ting around the kitchen for hours in the long fall evenings or whose tricks and stunts kept the boys amused at the barn On rainy days. Trained only by experience, these remarkable men took the improvements ',in equipment in their stride and passed from horsepower to portable and on• to the big steam tractors with great adaptability but very few of the old steam engine operators ever developed much real love for the modern tractor which has bereft our rural areas of a picturesque chapter in their development which will never be re- enacted. John Abell, Machinery Co., Woodbridge One of the most picturesque figure's amongst pioneer Canadian. manufacturers was born in England September 17‘ 1822 and emigrated to Canada as a young man. In 1845 John Abell settled in the village of Woodbridge, northwest of Toronto, and ob- tained employment in the wagon and stage- coach factory operated by Messrs. Wood and Etheridge. Possessed with much inven- tive and mechanical ability, young Abell was anxious to get into business for hUnself arid in 1847 he built a small log shop- and began the manufacture of mill irons and similar articles. Here he fashioned °a lathe and other tools with which he constructed, for his own use, the first stt�am engine to be used in the district. Ass ed of power to chive his machinery he immediately made plans to increase his output and in January 1862 moved into a larger building and bega the manufacture of ploughs and other earl farm machinery. Business increased rapid- ly before many years he was employing 100 workmen and concentrating on the produc- tion of a threshing machine which he had developed and which had met with much favor. Abell's machine, which he named the "PARAGON", was of the apron type and geared for horsepower drive. Later, gang beaters and straw carriers were added and the separator enlarged and improved and adapted for steam power. In 1874 the establishment was completely destroyed by fire. He immediately rebuilt on an enlarged scale taking into considera- tion the manufacture of portable steam engines which he had, been planning for some time. Abell's first engines were of the locomotive boiler type with extra long smokestack topped by a screen. About this time manufacturers of upright boiler por- table engines equipped with water spark ar- resters were openly advertising the number and names of barns burned by old fashion- ed, fire throwing, boiler exploding, horizon- tal type threshing engines with screen spark arresters. In the face of this barrage it is not surprising to find John Abell mounting his engine horizontally in front of an uprigh boiler for several years in the late 1870' However, after winning overseveral com- petitors in an official test at the 1880 Toronto Industrial Exhibition, he named his horizon- tal engine the "TRIUMPH" and dropped his upright "WOODBRIDGE CHAMPION" completely. John Goodison Thresher Co., Sarnia John McCloskey was born in Ireland in 1847. At 19, he came to Canada along with his parents, three sisters and five brothers. The family located near the tiny settlement of Oldcastle, about 11 miles from the present city of Windsor. Here the parents and younger children immediately began the task of clearing the land anted to l pangg 5a Welcome Threshermen Reunion VISITORS. ...during your visit to Blyth stop at Yvonne's for... HOMEMADE HAMBURGERS Milkshakes, Ice cream Cones, Take -Out Dinners (Also tables Inside) Hours: Mon. to Friday 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 p. Saturday 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. Yvonne's Take -Out. At the Sunoco Station, in the centre of Blyth, east side of Hwy. 4.