Antique Power at the North Idaho State Fair!

Yesterday, I drove to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to see the North Idaho State Fair. @Generikat has been posting behind-the-scenes anecdotes about life as a 4H mom. I, however, prefer a specific type of fair exhibit: Groups dedicated to collecting and restoring antique cars, tractors, and other early mechanical devices!

My grandfather was born before World War I, and grew up during the Roaring Twenties when modern mechanical technology was still getting started. He was a ham radio operator when that was the bleeding edge of communications technology, and always had a fascination with steam and gas engines of all kinds. He liked to know how things worked, and liked machines that worked well. He is long gone now, but I still enjoy seeing the things that fascinated the both of us, and trying to see it through his eyes as someone who remembers when they were the new miracle machines or the everyday equipment of his time.

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This is an early wood-fueled, steam-powered traction engine. If memory serves, the people behind this display said it produced perhaps as much as 25 horsepower, but they were uncertain since the owner was not there at the moment.

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This steam engine is not self-propelled, so it would have needed to be towed to its intended work site by a team of draft animals, or perhaps another self-propelled traction engine. It appears designed to power two different belt-driven devices due to the two large wheels up at the output shaft, although it could just be two flywheels with only one belt drive drum. It also has a very tall stack that has clearly been added on after it was initially manufactured.

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In the background, you can see a 1912 Case traction engine. I believe the gentlemen operating it said it was rated at 75 horsepower. It is set up with a belt drive in preparation for a sawmill demonstration, but I was not present for that show.

In the foreground, you can see a nicely restored Galloway Masterpiece Six, a 6-HP 4-stroke gas-powered hit-and-miss engine. These are designed to be controlled by a governor mechanism, and only fire when the speed falls below the governed limit. As a result, when running, the sound is a sort of "POP-whiz-whiz-whiz-whiz-POP-whiz-whiz-whiz-POP-whiz-whiz-whiz-whiz..." as it intermittently fires ("hits") and then coasts ("misses") through several cycles. Flywheels help retain the momentum of the output shaft through this process.

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There were also plenty of early gas-powered tractors from familiar manufacturers like Case, John Deere, and International Harvester.

My grandfather was a die-hard devotee of John Deere, and his sister write in her memoirs that the green machines were far easier to operate than the previous Fordson tractor he once owned. She would know, since she helped out on his farm during the Great Depression when he was essentially her caretaker. He owned at least one old John Deere of one sort or another since then until the last decade of his life or so.

None of the John Deeres on display at the fair this year were as old as his had been though.

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There were many other early small engines, including many hit-and-miss engines in the range of 1-3 horsepower. Some were hooked up to water pumps and other belt-driven machines. Some were restored, some were worn, and some were still running despite being coated with a patina of oxidation. These would have been the portable power modules if you needed one power source that could be used to run various machines on a farm or construction site.

Yes, that last photo is a Maytag gas-powered wringer-washer. Aren't you glad you don't need an exhaust pipe for your washing machine anymore?

Electricity may not have replaced gasoline in automobiles, but these machines were all made obsolete by compact electric motors to drive appliances and shop equipment. They remain as a reminder of the stages that existed between the manual labor of the past and the machinery of today while standing as a testament to human ingenuity.

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