OT antique implement

[hubops]

I saw an odd looking antique implement at a local auction a jaw crusher that had me searching the web for a description :

.. the good old days .. :-) John T.

[Marilyn Manson]

I'm sure their lungs are just fine.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Can't imagine what you'd have to do with that to comply with present regulations. Nifty machine.

[Scott Lurndal]

The threshing machine we used through the 1970s to separate oats from chaff every summer was even niftier, mechanically speaking. From the serrated teeth that pulled the bundles into the front of the machine, to the dozen flat belts on each side of the machine; all hazardous. You bring the grain to the machine, unlike the modern combine harvester.

Day 1: Get the binder out and cut & bind the grain. Some poor slob (me, in this case) follows behind on foot and collects six (or seven it if might rain) bundles and then props them vertically together to make a shock (covering with the optional seventh bundle) in an inverted V shape to allow airflow.

Days 2-N: Let the grain dry

Day N+1: Get up early. Move the threshing machine from the shed to the center of the grain field. Level the machine. Grease every one of the 1000 zirk fittings. Adjust the belt tension. Reset the bushel counter. Hook it up to the Farmall M with a long wide belt. Adjust the straw blower.

With a flat trailer, collect the shocks and transport to the threshing machine. Fork the bundles into the maw of the machine; straw blows out the back into a large pile and the grain falls into a tip-bucket which counts the bushels and eventually is conveyed to the bed of a pickup truck or trailer.

Day N+?: Get the baler out and bale the straw for bedding. Which being in a large pile, means forking it into the baler by hand.

[micky]

I thought you were supposed to use convicts to to break big rocks into little ones. Is there a chain gang shortage?

OTOH, maybe that machine would have been strong enough to break my big piece of concrete into little ones. (Strangely, now that they are softball sized, their presence in my woods doesn't bother me much.)

[hubops]

Here's the actual auction sale unit - 2 guys seemed to want it - .. it sold for over $ 2000. plus auctioneer fee & sales tax !

John T.