Old Iron

My cousins on my mothers side love old farm tractors and engines.  Last week we were there for a family picnic and of course boys being boys we had to play with the toys.  First up we have an old McCormick Deering stationary engine.  This was used on a farm before electric power was widely available in rural america to run various machines.  Look around a farm today and everyplace you see an electric motor you had to have an engine like this to drive that piece of equipment.  This is one of those engines mounted to an old riding mower frame so it does something other than turn a flywheel.

Next we have a 1938 John Deere Model B.  This is the era of the “Arm-Strong Starter” in that you had to spin the flywheel by hand, using the strength of your arms to start it.  This particular tractor had two fuel tanks, a small one that held gas and a larger one that held a cheaper (at the time) fuel that was like kerosene.  You would start it on gas and then switch over after it is warmed up.  My cousin runs it on diesel.  When it is warming up you get a fair amount of un-burned fuel coming out the exhaust, which of course leads to “Hey ya’ll watch this”.

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