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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-09-04, Page 32Page • The age of romance disappeared Few factors played so important a part in thej development df the agriculture of this country and have disappeared more quickly and completely than the once familiar steam threshing engine. After less than 50 years in widespread use supplying power for threshing and 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 sefvants 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 dperations on someone's farm or announced that dinner was ready in the farm kitchen. Picture the boy, fortunate enough tp be born long enough ago to remember these early threshing scenes, as he stood at the farm gate 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 his team 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 carriers fold- 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 mow. Holes were dug for the front wheels of the engine to level it and brace chains applied to hold it firmly in place. The smok'e 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 VAPOR Di VstilLOati GRA I Pi SELL i� •9624 ". 1 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 th feeder who took -great pride in his ability t keep a steady hum on the machine. Two o more men carried the krain to the granary keeping track of the bushels by means o small pegs in a board while out in the yar expert hands and feet 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 and television to a fast changing would 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 ere quick- ly improved by the manufacturers until they soon became highly efficient and pulled all their own equipment from farm to faro,. Much of the virgin prairie was first plough- ed by giant steam traction engir 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 coup 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 pi turesque chapter in their development hick will . never be re- enacted., John Abell Machinery Co., Woodbridge ' One of the ;most picturesque figures amongst pioneer Canadian manufacturers was born in England September 17,1822 and emigrated to Canada as a young man. In 1845 John Aber settled in the village of Woodbridge, northwest of Toronto, and ob- tained employment in the wagon and stage - c coach factory operated by Messrs. Wood 0 and' Etheridge. Possessed with much inven- r tive and mechanical ability, young Abell was anxious to get into business for himself f and in 1847 he built a small log shop and 0 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 steam engine to be used in the district. Assured of power to drive his machinery he immediately made plans to increase his output and i January 1862 moved into a larger buildin and began the manufacture of ploughs and other early 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, gayg 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 ,ektra 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 surprisingto find John Abell mounting his engine horizontally in front of an upright boiler for several year in the late 187Q's. However, after winning l over several 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 CFIAAMVMPION" completely. Jofin 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 laird and building a Turn to page 5 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-BJY-SELL BLYTH 523-9624 or 523-4241 Welcome -- - reshe.rme.n Reunion .. VISITORS. .d wring your visit to Blyth stop at Yvonne's for... 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