The Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-03-18, Page 29e
Second Section
Wednesday, March 18, 1987
;Ashfield farmer
ByAlanRivett .
- For area parade -goers, the site- of one
-. particular .tractor huffing and puffing- up
the parade route- always brings some m
quisitive looks at the odd-looking_attach•
-
.ment which niakes`this tractor a real raft
tv. - .
The tractor in question, a blue 1946 Ford-'
son Major,. is not unique so much for. it's
antique statusbut for the unusual type. of
fuel it runs on: -
The tractor is wood -powered through ah
• attachment devised,. by its owner Ashfield
ownship farmer Marinus "Reis" Milten-
burg. Since finishing the restoration. work
of the tractor which runs on wood chips in
the :summer of 1985, the tractor has been
displayed in parades all over this area, in- _
y eluding .last year's. Lucknow. •Fall Fair
Parade; and the Colborne- and Port Albert
anniversary celebrations.
However, Mr. Miltenburg says that
jgme people are skeptical that the tractor
,Fran actually run on the woodchips.
".'A -lot of people
don't believe it"
i' '2A lot ot people don't believe it. They'-
. think you put something else in there ( the
• gas tank ) besides wood. They think it runs
I on wood , alcohol or that it's a steam .
--engine," said Mr. Miltenburg.
- Mt. Miltenburg, a tinkerer by . nature. •
said he bought two -Of the old Fordson
jor tractors two years ago- from tractor
• dealer Stewart. Reavie with both tractors
badly siezed up. It wasn't _until August of -
1984; that the idea to fix one of the tractors
and use the_conceptof wood fuel to make it
run, was made a reality: With the help of
sons Ben. and, Maurice, the tractor -was
ready by, the summer -of 1985 to fulfil Mr.
Milten•burg's goal: - to -show the tractor in
the area parades.
Used during Second World War•
Mr_ Miltenburg says gas -burning trac--
tors were converted to wood -use during the
Second World Waras gasoline was vitualh-
i non-existant at. that time • in his native
I Holland.: The- special attachment which
would allow gas engines to be adapted to
wood was, developed in the universities in
Holland and the special wood attachments
_ were manufactured and given to people to.
attach to their'vehicles.
• "We had -them )woodburning tractors)
. ,in the Old Country during the war in 1945.
•There was no, gas• ration in Europe and
Holland, so it was alt done by wood. The-
- buses? cars and trucks were .set up for
woodburning, even r for some time i after
. the `war.
"When gas became available after the Reis Miltenburg, an Ashfield Township fanner, built a w.00dburn-
war, people just - cut them • i the at ing mechanism -which runs this antique Fordson Major tractor in
uilds -woodiiurning tractor
tachments i off and threw them in the
ditch." said Mr. Miltenburg.
When starting to -fix- the tractor and
make it run on wood, Mr. Miltenburg said
he had no blueprints in order to build the
woodburning attachment. but only a
knowledge of how they worked and how to
repair them when they Were in_ use during
the war.
For some time before going ahead with
the ° restoration of the tractor without a
blueprint. he contacted a brother in
Holland who searched all over Holland and
France to find the blueprints for the at-
tachment, but .to- no avail. "The gover-i3-
ment in Holland had kept the blueprints for
30 years:They.had since been thrown out,"
he said, adding that after the project was
completed he received .a book written in
Dutch detailing the making of the wood -
burning attachment.'
How does :the woodburning tractor
Work? The wood chips are dumped into- a
. iron "bunker". or "fuel chamber" which
was fashioned by the Miltenburgs with the
_help of local welder George Smyth. When.
the weather's cold a small quantity of gas
is used.to start the engine. "After that, it
runs solely on wood." he said.
The wood- gas built up in the fuel
chapaber then is transferred through a
Woodburning attachment
charcoal filter and on into the two separate
radia -tors which attempts to cool the ex-
tremely hot methane -hydrogen mixture in
order to get the maximum amount .-ot
power. After the gas exits the radiators, it
goes through another filter. oddly enough. -
made of pine cones which are changed
every 10 to 12 hours to avoid a build-up of
creosote. a tar -like substance ac-
cumulated through wood burning. The gas
then goes through a modified carburetor
and finally into the engine.
Mr. Miltenburg says that the tractor has
run for upwards of seven to eight hours in a
stretch and., during that time, only used
about four burlap bags full of wood which
translates into about 25 to 30 pounds of
wood per hour..
"It's not a lot of wood to use." he said.
adding that small blocks of wood have to
be used in order for the wood to burn
completely. - •
However, the tractor is not completely
for show purposes. On some occasions,
says Mr. Miltenburg, he will start it and
move machinery with it or haul a load of
hay with it. "But, just for fun," he said.
the summer of 1985. Also helping with the project were his sons Beep
(pictured here) and Maurice. -( Alan Rivett photo)