Tale of the Thresherman

Its like a poetic version of the common AP questions where much is said but not nearly enough to answer the question (which is also vague).

No question, just a story. Sorry

So he says!

One of a better one, but still without question. (pun intended)

Not to worry, I knew it was a story. I to am also fond of current transformers.

This was my perhaps feeble attempt to describe my experience of attending the annual threshermens convention at a county fairgrounds. The convention brought together all forms of the machines that were used to prepare the earth and then the harvest, process trees into to lumber e.c.t. They were steam,gasoline and diesel. The story describes a factory works John Deer and a tractor pull event. The tractor pull was an extreme example of how much power you can get from a given amount of fuel. The name "Threshermen" was given to the guys that owned and operated the leviathan steam tractors that powered the threshing machines.

And here I was thinking "Threshermen" was an old manufacturer or brand of current transformers.

You know I was joking right, we all know here you are talking about steam engines.

How about this, reread your original post but assume it is about a current transformer (failing catastrophically) and use your imagination to picture what you read (the joke really starts to lose something when the explanation of the punchline starts to get as long as the setup).

The John Deer was a modern diesel tractor put out by the factory for competition tractor pulls. The engine was shrouded so you couldn't see it, but the 10" diameter chrome stack kind of gave a hint. After that run, towards sundown, they brought out a Kuboda as big as a house. It pulled the sled like it was nothing and then, just to rub it in, it stopped halfway down the strip (with the sled weight over the blade) and took off again like it was nothing. I guess it was the future I saw in some of the old family farmers eyes.

That is one hell of a machine! Thanks for the picture, and the story!

They had a giant squirrel cage blower as a "dummy load" and would maneuver tractors that size until the flat belt ran true right in the middle of the pulleys. Imagine doing that with the chain and cog steering.

The blower outlet was pointed straight up into the trees. This is where the name "squirrel cage" was born.

I enjoy area thresherees. interesting to walk through.

first thought I had was of a truck or tractor pull!

they have them there too..... as well as horse pulls.

Is it anything like what these guys do:

http://www.roughandtumble.org/

I've not yet made it to one of their events. It's held only an hour north of where I live. It'll probably be when I retire. Hopefully some of them will still be going by that time.

They hold an annual "Steam School" to teach newbs all about steam engines. That's another bucket list item for me.

A kerosene fuelled Rumley Oil Pull like the ones shown in your link caught fire at the show. That was the end of the conventions at that fairground. Too bad, you could spend the whole weekend there and not see everything.

Along with that the insurance for thresherees are huge. We were asked to set up our sawmill to be run by a steam tractor, we did it for one year, we had it under our own insurance. And the following year, they wanted us to do it ago it just wasn't worth it for a number of reason, with the added insurance cost being one of the,

Indeed, the classes that Rough & Tumble hold are all about safety. The first line in the paragraph describing their Steam School classes is, "Emphasis is placed on safety." And rightfully so, steam is nothing to fool with if one has no experience.

" steam is nothing to fool with if one has no experience."

And a little experience is even more dangerous.

we had our sawmill set up at the thresheree with a pulley unit so these threshers could run their tractors to power our mill with a 100 foot endless flat belt. The belt was ours. (My dad has a I believe a 1952 LA Case, here is a stock photo, a little off topic, but I'll get back to this)

Anyways,...... We took one look at the steam tractors, there was only one that looked in good condition, and told said no to the rest. The condition of them was poor at best. (Of course there was a lot of bickering amongst the threshers.)

What these threshers did not tell us was that the steam tractor that they assured was in good shape had a valve sticking.

As we were sawing, the tractor charged toward the mill. They basically could not stop it from moving, so they put it in reverse, and pulled the flat belt off the unit, then they had to put it forward because it was running into the crowd and ran over our belt and the steel wheels cut through it..

After going back and forth. they finally collected themselves enough to shut the steam off, when we found out they knew that the machine had problems, which everyone was pointing fingers. We packed up, never to return.

We found out a lot about todays laymen threshers. They can be a arrogant bunch who loves to hear themselves talk. A lot of self promotion.

We still went to the thresheree, with our LA Case for the tractor pulls and we'd bring our Belgian Draught horses or what we had available at the time for the horse pull. That was still enjoyable...... but we did our best not to put ourselves in that kind of position again that's dependent upon some ones else (in)competence.

Moral here is, "No matter how much they look or talk the part, clothes can be nothing more than a costume and BS the dialogue."

The Loflin family in Denton, NC have been putting on the largest steam engine show in the country. They are a great bunch of people and own probably the largest collection of operating stream engines in the world. I have been a number of times and some of the steam engines they have running are the last examples in the world. By the way, they own their own steam locomotive.

www.farmpark.com/southeast-old-threshers/

One more argument in favor of a motor home when I retire! Thanks.

Or, if you are so inclined, a moments reflection on some other threshermen.

http://www.navalhistory.org/2013/04/01/uss-thresher-ssn-593-3-august-1961-10-april-1963

I remember my father would not talk about this tragedy, he was crewman on a sub launched from Manitowoc.

Were it not for exceptional cooperation in the general search and the underwater search, not much at all would have been known about the loss of the Thresher. Thanks to the absolutely brilliant maneuvering by the control ship crew of the Trieste', large portions of what can only be the hull of the Thresher were indeed located. At least implosion is a fast way to go. It is sad any time we lose men at sea.