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Ideas from the past, that never caught on

Bruce from Can.

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member
Location
Woodville, Ontario, Canada
Farmers are very creative, and come up with ideas to modify equipment. One idea I remember was welding a spear about 1-2 inches in diameter and about 6 inches long in the end of a square balers plunger. This would form a hole through the center of the bale to allow some air flow to cool the hay bales. Seems like a plausible idea, but never caught on. Anyone got any farmer fixes that they remember being used to make equipment work better?
 
My dad designed and fabricated an adjustable wide front end on the front of a Fordson tractor before the manufacturers thought of it, or at least before they marketed it.
 
My Dad could not weld, but he made a few things. One implement was drag made of angle iron, 2 4'x4' sections side by side that was attached under 3pt boom pole with a frame that lifted both pieces side by side. We used it behind our 8n Ford-it was very versatile-you could drag cow patties apart so the grass would not be smothered, and more so- it was great for leveling, and finishing disked ground so you could seed it.
His major change/modification was to our Allis Chalmers hay rake. When it was bought it only had 2 wheels. He and my Uncle bought the kit to add 2 extra wheels so it would not drop into ditches and holes. After a short time he moved the extra right front wheel/swivel assembly to the left frame rail, mounted ahead of the area where the windrow was formed. This allowed the rake to not require a stand under the hitch when parked and also still follow contours of the field.
Another thing he did was have welded 2 pieces of slotted channel onto our fast hitch drawbar. It could then be attached to some 3pt implements.
And another was a I-beam bumper he had made to fit our IH 340u. It was very handy-used to tie a grease gun or a log chain on it with apiece of wire.
Probably the best/handiest thing was the fast hitch carry-all. It came 6' wide, 2' deep, and had a 2' high back. He and my Uncle made it 4' deep and added a back 4' high. Being fast hitch it was the most used, most often put on and back off tool we had. I still have it. Mark.
 
Neighbor had added the spear to the plungerhead of his NH baler. Don't think it made a lot of difference relative to air flow thru the bale.
 
The bale poker as you describe was fairly common around here and a guy in the township swore by it.
 
Water injection never caught on.
JC Whitney sold many things to improve mileage so much I had to remove gas from tank after every 100 miles.
VX6, not sure of exact name) snake oil to restore batteries.
Balancing beads in a plastic ring so you never had to balance tires again.
Can't remember the exact name, a spark plug that fired in a ring pattern that improved mileage 15%.
 
Our FMC green pea combines had a set of power driven brushes that were supposed to keep the separator screens clean, but they just wiped the outsides, and the slime built up on the insides, so that we had to pressure wash them all the time.
I asked my boss if I could order some stiff spiral brushes that would stick through the screens, and let the screens turn them, we made them with slotted brackets, so that we could lower them as the bristles wore. It worked great, guess we should have applied for a patent, because the next year, FMC was selling not driven brush kits.
 
The spark plug that improved mileage by 15% (and probably increased your engine HP by 100, LOL) was the Fireinjector spark plug. They took out full page ads in their catalog, so it had to be good! I never did buy any, but it actually wasn't a bad plug. In reality it was just a surface gap spark plug common, at least at one time, in marine engines. I will admit to buying some VX6 battery additive. Heck, I was a teenager and believed more than I do today.
 
Many IHC 1530's & 2236's had water injection carburators from the factory. Some even had a water tank next to the fuel tank. Others took water from the radiator. The system prevented pre-ignition. Grandfather always claimed the water injection kept the engine temperature down & improved the tractors power on the belt significantly.
 
I have a large BROOM mounted on my VAC Case. It measures 18 wide and 10 feet long. It is about 3 1/2 feet off the ground and goes to a height of 13'6. Can u guess what I use this for? Bill
 
It did both. It caught on and became a thing of the past. It was rendered obsolete by the advent of EEC modules, so there was no longer any need for it. Soon as someone figures out an easy way to make hydrogen for auto use, it will have have returned in a different form.
 
95% of the hydrogen comes from natural gas, CH4, not water.

GM is betting on hydrogen, 800 mile range.
 
(quoted from post at 17:57:32 10/25/21) It did both. It caught on and became a thing of the past. It was rendered obsolete by the advent of EEC modules, so there was no longer any need for it. Soon as someone figures out an easy way to make hydrogen for auto use, it will have have returned in a different form.
Click to expand...

The reason being great hydrogen fuel is mostly used by rockets headed into space ,
Is the laws of physics and cost .
Production of hydrogen is expensive . Then how do you transport and store hydrogen ?
 

cvphoto105884.jpg

I have a bolt on spike on this baler and have been looking for another to put on my other Baler. Yes it works but only slightly. However, the hole is handy grabbing the bales on the end and checking internal moisture. And, you can tell my bales from any others. I spotted it at a salvage yard and immediately bought it. No downside to having it on the Baler.
 
Several times I wish someone made a way to raise and lower one side of my front bucket on my backhoe. It is difficult to make a crown in a road with a backhoe.
 
Close Bruce. It is mounted vertical. When washing semi trailers, we use soap, then acid the drive along the side of it with the big broom. Then we rinse it off. My boys would get tired of hand scrubbing trailers, so this is what I came up with. Works great, and I always enjoy driving a Case. Bill
 
In a maximum output situation, (fighter aircraft and others) the compression ratio and spark advance, mixture ratio can be well
into the detonation range at low altitudes. Water injection cools the mixture during compression enough that knock is eliminated.
It also goes through phase change from droplets to steam, adding an expansion factor. Jim
Wiki
 
I attached a long cable with a spring on the end to the hydraulic fold auger on my F2 Gleaner. That way, I could leave the auger extended and not have to worry about it flexing and cracking at the swivel. I would leave it extended in open fields. It would still fold in normally as needed.
My dad made a pasture conditioner out of 4 grader tires cut around the circumference and laid cut side down, in 2 rows of 4, staggered. It scrubbed the ground, made a great job of spreading cow pies, and would level the gravelled laneway as well.

Ben
 
The 10-20 Mogul had water injection. The one I worked on had two carbs, one for fuel and the other for water. They looked identical externally. I call them carbs but they were more like mixers that introduced a liquid into the air intake.
 
Not a farmer fix , but Allis Chalmers made a hydrogen fuel cell tractor they tested in October 1959 in Wisconsin . The tractor made DC electricity from fuel cells under the hood instead of an i c engine. The back wheels had DC motors that powered the tractor, made about 20 hp. Only one unit was ever made , maybe it was not intended to be marketed to farmers. That tractor might be in a museum somewhere.
 
I remember a old D or GP john deere in the neighbor hood that had water injection , water came from the cooling system . Bryan
 
I often thought about a cable and spring setup like you mention, for the F, M, or L I happen to be driving at the time. Interesting someone implemented it!

Paul
 
Swing the boom out to one side and push the stick or dipper out and that will lean the machine over tilting the front bucket
 
GE Electrak comes to mind in the 1970s . Good machine but maybe battery life and price not sure. But you know I would like to had one ,I was thinking about it ,but the yard was to small at that time. I would appreciate the quiet today. Hate loud stuff .
 
GM is working on a 800 mile hydrogen car, 5 minutes to fill up.
Toyota is betting on hydrogen too.
Hydrogen fuel cells allowed us to go into outer space.
 
My neighbor has a Case NO 6 chopper ,1 row ,with a snapper head before the corn head , you pulled 2 boxes one along the side for ear corn one behind for the silage . Bryan
 
I watched many KC-135 Jet Aircraft taking off when I Was In Air Force, I was On B-52 Ground Crew On Flight line, when they put the water to it on take off there was lots of black smoke or steam from that Jet Engine.
 
I'll tell you what it will do.....in a 1970's Chevy six with the integral intake manifold/exhaust gadget when it cracks, it will tell you
where it cracked.....that cylinder's components will look like the day they were built.
 
Er ah integral head/intake manifold.....I think....heck it's been enough years since then....I forget!!!!! Anyway mine cracked and leaked coolant into one cylinder.....mostly water, not 50-50 back then.
 
(quoted from post at 19:35:44 10/25/21) In a maximum output situation, (fighter aircraft and others) the compression ratio and spark advance, mixture ratio can be well
into the detonation range at low altitudes. Water injection cools the mixture during compression enough that knock is eliminated.
It also goes through phase change from droplets to steam, adding an expansion factor. Jim
Wiki
Click to expand...

Well finally, somebody knows what water injection does . Some poeple believe the water "burns" to "add power".
 
(quoted from post at 08:47:07 10/26/21) I watched many KC-135 Jet Aircraft taking off when I Was In Air Force, I was On B-52 Ground Crew On Flight line, when they put the water to it on take off there was lots of black smoke or steam from that Jet Engine.
Click to expand...

Limits EGT to prevent turbine wheel failure .
 
(quoted from post at 16:53:51 10/26/21) Chrysler's turbine powered car back in the '60s.
Click to expand...

The low efficiency at part throttle doomed the turbine from light and medium duty applications .
Similar type of thermal losses that diesels suffer from when operated while lightly loaded .
 
(quoted from post at 08:20:21 10/26/21) GM is working on a 800 mile hydrogen car, 5 minutes to fill up.
Toyota is betting on hydrogen too.
Hydrogen fuel cells allowed us to go into outer space.
Click to expand...

Tell how John Q Public is going to handle cryogenic hydrogen in passenger car duty ?
Where are you airing and dispensing cryogenic hydrogen ?
Or are you thinking of 6000psi storage cylinders of gaseous hydrogen ? Where are you going to fit enough of these heavy cylinders in a passenger vehicle ?
Have you considered the thermal losses and expense to compress hydrogen to 6000psi .
Any concerns regarding hydrogen embrittlement of materials used ?
An concerns with hydrogen migration through metal ?
 
(quoted from post at 18:50:32 10/25/21) Hay Crimpers behind a sickle mower. Many made, many sold....all in an overgrown fence row.
Click to expand...

Made obsolete by haybine.

I never ran the tow behind, but the set up and hitch detail is in my MF 41 manual, looked like a complete exercise in patience.
 
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