Thread: On the subject of model A Fords and home built machinery---

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I grew up in the kinder, gentler, far more poverty stricken world of the 1950's. I have a firm belief that it wasn't necessity that was the mother of invention---poverty was. The lack of money created a world of tinkerers and inventors, simply because there was no money to buy the proper tool or machine. An older friend of mine, named Leonard had built a portable buzz saw for cutting firewood. This was basically a 48" diameter circular saw mounted on the chassis of a model A Ford, circa 1930 or 1931. The lengths of wood were lifted onto a tilting carriage, and the carriage was tilted into the saw to cut up lengths of firewood. The saw was driven by a flat belt and pulley arrangement that came from the rear of the old Fords transmission. Now, Leonard had a problem----The old 4 cylinder Ford engine had babbit bearings, so it did not take kindly to prolonged high speed revving. However, if someone didn't open the throttle and give it some gas when the log engaged the saw, the engine would stall. Leonard was a veteran tinkerer, and somehow come into the posession of a set of flyball governors off an old steam train. He mounted them with a belt drive from the Ford engine, and hooked them up to the carburetor with a system of levers and pulleys. The theory was quite simple---under no load conditions the old Ford would set there idling, but as soon as the log engaged the buzz saw, the rpm's would drop off, and the flyball governors would open the throttle automatically. this was a perfectly good working theory!!! The problem was that Leonard somehow got one of his lever arrangements bass ackwards. When the last bolt was tightened, and the last brace welded in place, Leonard went to test his creation. He started the Ford---that part worked perfect. As soon as it started however, the flyballs began to fly outward from centrifugal force, and the farther out they flew, the more the lever mechanism opened the throttle. The engine went from zero to a zillion rpm's in the blink of an eye. Leonard leaped from the drivers seat and raced around the car to pull off the coil wire and shut down the engine---and at the same time the flyball governor self destructed (it too was by then doing a zillion rpm's). One of the steel balls flew and hit poor Leonard directly in the kneecap and broke it into a dozen peices--then the old Ford engine self destucted in a scream of tortured babbit bearings and shattered castings!! Leonard eventually recovered, though he walked with a limp ever afterwards. We all survived the 1950's, but it certainly was a time that gave rise to a lot of interesting stories.---Brian

Absolutely correct Brian, that generation and the ones preceding it were some very tough, resourceful people. They didn't have a Home Depot or WalMart on every corner, or money to waste if there had been. They BUILT stuff and MADE stuff to accomplish what they needed to do.

I've mentioned before that I grew up on a little farm and watched my Dad and GrandDad build things together. (remember when Grandparents actually lived with you? My Grandpap was from my Dads side and my Grandmom was from my Moms side and they both lived with us. They were my second set of Parents. ) Anyway, my Dad and GD would tackle something like building a shed or even our entire house using nothing but hand saws and hammers..........none of this fancy nailgun and electric saw stuff. Even at 83 my Grandpap would be right in there with my Dad, lifting lumber and sawing away.

I would see them sit down and ponder some problem that needed solving and pretty soon they would put their heads together and come up with a way to fix whatever needed fixing. Some of their ideas were pretty inventive, and were generally done using what we had available around the house. Nothing ever got wasted, they had stashes of old lumber and parts stuck in the rafters for future use.

I think we have lost some of that tinkering ability today. In some ways maybe we hot rodders are still keeping that torch lit, but the general population can't even change a flat tire on their car without calling AAA. The abilities our Forefathers had pulled us through some pretty tough times and a couple of World Wars, so their methods must have been pretty sound.

I miss some of what we had back then.

Don

I see much of the "I can't do that" in my neighborhood. Heck - some are too 'busy' to even mow their own lawns. I do admit to a lawn service for fertilizer, weeds and grubs - at least we now have a lawn vs the sand pit we had and they ended up being cheaper then doing it myself. Everything else - I do if it's at all possible.

A barn near me had a homemade conveyor powered by a Model T, it was powered by the engine and the framework made up part of the conveyor itself. the barn was starting to collapse. around here they will tear down barns for free, in exchange for all the scrap metal, when the barn was torn down, the conveyor was taken for scrap

What an interesting topic, I too am from the generation of people that would make it work or make do with what they had.

My Dad worked away from home but I had a neighbor that kind of took over or made up for my dad not being around.

This man could do anything and he was not a big guy but that didn’t stop him. At times I was amazed at what he would build. His wife liked the Adirondack chairs so he built three but he added adjusters so they could be in different positions. John could do anything; I helped him build a house when I was 12 or 13 years old. I can remember us putting sheet rock up to the ceiling; it was hard trying to hold the long pieces while nailing them. John said I’m going to do some thinking tonight. By the time I got home from School, John had made a frame to hold the sheet rock. We would raised the frame, and once it was tight to the ceiling we would put dowels in the holes of the vertical 2x 4’s and nail it in place.

I wanted to paint my 55 Chevy. Not using anything other then spray cans I went to the town store that had hardware, auto parts, anything you could think of, and they had paint. I bought the paint and all that was required to do a paint job. Then I asked John if I could borrow his compressor, we got it set up masked off now where do I start.

John did most of the painting I would try and he would say watch this and that but I got my feet wet so in the future I had enough practice that I could do it.

Anytime I have to try to figure out something or fix something that I have never done before, I tell my wife it’s that John, Montgomery ingenuity. I try to show my grandkids how to do what I know but I believe our generation will be the last to make things work or use what we have to get by. It was nice thinking of John, he gone but not for gotten. Thanks for posting this thread.

Richard

It's kind of funny, my Grandpa used to do all kinds of things, I still have a retractable extension cord hanging in my garage that he made from an old vacume cleaner. I still use it all the time.
He's 95 now and just got re-married at 91, still making use of what he's got .(sorry)

Sean

My Grandfather died when he was about 86. He had really bad legs because he was a butcher all his life and going in and out of the freezer had affected him badly. To walk he had a cane and he built himself a pushcart that was sort of like a grocerystore shopping cart, except made from wood with bicycle tires in the back. It gave him the support he needed to walk around our property and to tend his garden.

That garden was his life, about 1 acre of every vegetable you could think of. Funny story, every year my Mom would ask him if the tomatoes were ripe yet and he would say "No, not ready yet Mrs.......pretty soon." However, he forgot to wipe the tomato seeds off of his face........he would always make sure he ate his fill before bringing any to the house for the rest of us.

Sadly, he died working. We found him and his overturned cart laying in the yard one day. I guess he died doing what he loved though.

Don

Engenuity and creative problem solving aren't dead, although I admit it has experienced some setbacks. I am only 32 years old and have lost track of whether that makes me generation X or Y, but I still pride myself on my engenuity. I am doing well for myself but still enjoy tinkering, fabricating parts for the family hot rod, or improving things around the house. Most of my generation is not interested in these things: working with your hands or doing manual labor. But there are still some of us who will pass the skills learned from of our fathers and grandfathers to our kids and grandkids.

Another perespective is that engenuity has just taken a different path. I can hang sheetrock, frame a house, and understand how a V-8 works but I could never program a computer or manage the kind of complicated electronics that many kids can now do in their sleep.

37 Caddy, Good for you keep it going, most guys your age would not want to get involved in fixing old things they would just through them away and buy new. Dig into the computer all you can do is mess it up, then try to fix it. You will pick it up. I don't claim to be an expert but when I mess it up I work on it until I get it going. I have a web site that I've been neglecting but I'll get back to it if I can tear myself away from this site.

Richard