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The Huron Expositor, 1994-09-14, Page 22 -THE HURON EXPOSITOR, 114pt.Enb.r 14, 1994 Close-up Dangers of threshing ever-present This is the conclusion of our feature on local custom threshing. BY DAVID SCOTT Expositor Staff The thresher used by Tom Kale, Lou Rowland and Frank Bruxer in the late 1940s and early 1950s was made right in Seaforth at the Robert Bell Engine and Thresher Company. They were solidly - constructed machines housed in a wooden body painted red and trimmed with floral patterns. Frank Bruxer talked about the pride and workmanship at Robert Bell in Seaforth, where Tom Kale's 3250 Bell thresher was manufac- tured. "They took great pride in what they did and they did it well," said Bruxer. He also mentioned how cooperative the staff would be if you ever had any problems. Roy McGonigle, Dick Pethick, Herbie Coombs, Bob Smith, Dick Parks, Bill Durst, Elmer Stephenson, Ray Townsend were remembered by the trio as staff at Robert Bell during the time they were custom thresh- ing. There were three different sizes of Robert Bell threshers - 2440, 2845, 3250. "Basically they were all the same and they never changed from one year to the other. They added straw cutters to some of them and added grain thtowers," said Rowland. For the first few years the thresher had an elevator on it and it determined where you could 'set.' You were limited to lifting the grain only so high, said Bruxer. "If you set at the end of a barn, you could not often get into the grain bins." Later on with a grain thrower the grain could be thrown any height at all so the pipe could be placed quite high and then run into the granary, said Bruxer. "With a 16 -foot elev- ator sitting outside you lost eight or nine feet to begin with," said Rowland. Risk of Fire Fire was always a consideration when barn threshing. "There was always something winding or get- ting caught. Of course there was always chaff and dust," said Frank Bruxer. Tom Kale remembered a close call they had at John Delaney's farm when he was barn threshing with Vince Lane. "We were thresh- ing red clover and the strings on the sheaves wound on the crankshaft and took fire. Fire came up the blower. Uncle Joe saw it and he went up with a couple pails of water and put it out. Then we got the machine out because it was still on fire inside. It was close." With threshers sometimes on constantly for 12 hours at a time things often heated up a little. "In our day they were all on roller bearings. The older ones with the babbitt bearings, I've heard of men standing there all day and pouring water on them to keep them cool," said Rowland. (The Robert Bell 3250 that Kale's outfit used wasn't like that). However Rowland remembers lighting a cigarette off the manifold whcn it heated up and was glowing red if he had no matches handy. Safety Considerations The potential for accidents was always present when threshing. "No one ever thought of putting a guard on anything. The chain drives were all open. The gears were all open. And it operated on flat belts, no v - belts," said Frank Bruxer. But he could never remember anyone being hurt around a thresher. Although historically there have been people who have lost arms or hands work- ing on a thresher, the trio didn't recall any serious injuries aside from the occasional belt -burn. Another risky job was standing on top of the `feedboard.' It was a platform hung on the side of the feeder that was supported by poles. "If construction safety ever saw that today they'd shut you down, standing on top of the fcedboard and shaking hack and forth," said Rowland. Working with Neighbours Trading work with neighbours was more common in the late 40's and early 50's than it ever is now, according to Bruxcr. Custom threshing dates back to horse-drawn threshers in the 1880s - a machine without a feeder or a blower, according to accounts from Lou Rowland's grandfather. None of the parents of the trio were involved in custom threshing. Custom threshers got to know a lot of people in the arca through their work, especially with a large route. The Extension Blower With stook threshing, if the crew 'set' outside the barn often times they'd needed an extension blower. 1t was about a 10 -foot length of blowing pipe that attached to the regular blower and enabled the crew to get the straw further into A, DAVID SCOTT PHOTO VINTAGE TRACTOR - Bert Baty, of London, poses with his 1923 steam-engine Sawyer -Massey tractor originally built in Hamilton which was on display at the Huron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association's 33rd anniversary in Blyth over the weekend. Baty is a retired London -area farmer and tractor hobbyist. "No one ever thought of putting a guard on anything. The gears were all open." the barn. The extension blower the Kale crew had eventually got into bad shape, said Frank Bruxer. So one of the people on the threshing route announced he would get an extension blower made at Robert Bell's. He would be the custodian of the extension blower and all those who used it would be charged a nominal two -dollar fee. At dinnertime the law was laid down, said Bruxer. If the rules weren't obeyed, there would be 'hell to pay.' "The first job we did was at the owner of the extension blower. He hooked up the extension blower up at the gable end of the barn. We got done and the owner went to take the extension blower down and he dropped it - right down across the back of the machine. " said Bruxer. "Two dollars would never cover the damages," joked Kale. Threshing Rates Based on straw length different rates were charged per hour for custom threshing. It was $4.50 to $5 an hour for the two -men threshing outfit. It was $5 if the cutter was used on the straw. "Out of that $4.50 an hour you had to pay for all the fuel, repairs and two men," said Kale. The highest the rate they got was $6 per hour in 1950-51, recalls Kale. They would use about two gallons of gasoline an hour. The Supertest salesman would come out to wherever the crew was working to fill their gas barrels. Feeding and Maintenance Feeding the thresher was a bit of an art. "It had to be something that was done properly. The pace you put the machine at had a lot to do with the length of the sheaves and the amount of grain in it," said Bruxcr. The men became accustomed to the sound and rhythm of the thresher and would be able to detect if something wasn't right. "There was the odd time when people thought they maybe needed a rest and would slip the odd sheave in crossways," said Kale. "It sometimes caused a plug -up." Water used to be poured on the straw to keep the dust down. There was a pump for water on the machine at the base of the blower. Wind was also a problem when stook threshing. Often windbreaks would have to be set up. If it rained the thresher would be covered in an effort to continuc work. The machine had grease cups as opposed to the modern grease fittings. It was an after -supper job to fill the grease cups for the next day's work. Breathing the Dust "With all the safety precautions now for respiratory problems, we should all be dead of emphysema or something," said Bruxcr. Ear plugs and breathing masks weren't commonplace like they arc today in noisy and dusty work environments. Another hazard was people storing grain that was too tough and moist in the barn. It would mould and the mould would make you sick, said Kale. Lou Rowland remembers making a rush for the door with another man when they saw white mould blowing up off the grain in a barn. It made both mcn sick. Chewin' Tobacco A lot of men who worked in threshing chewed tobacco. It cut down the dust, joked the trio. "You weren't a qualified thresher unless /, you chewed tobacco. Some fellows couldn't thresh without it," said Bruxer. Lou Rowland remembers one thresher chewing tobacco in direct proportion to how things were going. "If they were going badly - two plugs a day." The trio admits to at least trying chewing tobacco on occasion. Electricity and Darkness During the time Kale's crew was threshing, electricity was being introduced to local rural areas. "They'd have lights up in the granary and up in the barn. So ordinarily just about the time you'd be quitting on would come this damn light," said Bruxer. Tom Kale remembers just leaving the barn at one farm when the lights went on,; "It didn't matter whether there were. lights or not, it was time to quit...a day's work was in," said Bruxer. Before electricity, most farmers used coal -oil lanterns in barns, usually hung in the same spot. Some had Coleman lanterns. Working through the night was the lonesome job, said Lou Rowland. "About 10 o'clock at night you'd see all the lights in the farm houses go out. And nothing but blackness right to the horizon." It's not like that now. "You can see lights wherever you look now -a -days," said Rowland. "The whole country is lit up," said Kale. Custom Threshing Fazes Out People started buying their own smaller threshing machines and sharing it for two or three neighbour's crops. Crops started getting • bigger as well. "People started to frown on putting it in the barn," said Kale. "They wanted to get it out of the barns where it was cleaner." Threshing was labour- intensive work. "Stook threshing was -horses," said Bruxer. "Once you started putting a tractor on a wagon to draw in the stooks it just wasn't the same. The horses got to know almost when to stop, to go ahead and when to turn. A tractor just See NEIGHBOURS, page 3 PENINGS For '94 -'95 League play Time Available for new leagues. 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