1102 West River Road, Battle Creek, Michigan 49017
A neighbor of ours found the crank-case oil in his model T to
below, and not having any other available, he added a couple quarts
of boiled linseed oil, thinking it would be all right. He started
for town and before he had driven a half mile found out that it
wasn’t all right, the old Ford suddenly set up, sliding the
rear wheels and folded him right over the steering wheel.
At about the same time another neighbor bought a mule at a farm
auction. He had a sulky plow and made up a three horse evener to
use with the mule and a pair of horses that he already had to pull
the plow. Apparently he had very little knowledge of the basic
principles involved. So, when he finished it, he had the
double-tree hitched to the long end of the evener, and the
single-tree to the short end. One morning soon after, he started
his spring plowing, and hitched the mule to the single-tree, so (of
course not as intended) that the poor mule had to pull twice as
much as the two horses. He flailed the packing out of the mule and
used up his entire stock of mule-drivers language. Said he had
never seen such a lazy, balky mule, Still, he did plow after a
fashion for half a day, and when he quit at noon the mule was sick
(something which seldom happens).
12 HP Hercules – Hit and Miss Governing. Restored and owned by
Houston L. Herndon, Sarasota, Florida. Will be running at the
Florida American Royal Gas and Steam Engine ROUND-UP in February
1968.
Will be running at the Florida American Royal Gas and Steam
Engine ROUND-UP to be held at the Sarasota-Bradenton Speedway
February 10th and 11th, 1968.
16 HP Witte – Hit and Miss Governing S/n 34498 Owner Houston L.
Herndon standing in front of picture. Will be running at the
Florida American Royal Gas and Steam ROUND-UP February 10th and
11th, 1968.
An old fellow (a widower), about the stingiest person in the
county, called on the local automobile dealer and asked about
buying a used car. The dealer knew him quite well and figured he
had lots of money. He said to him ‘What are you going to do
with all your money? You can’t take it with you when you
die’. The old fellow did not have any family to leave it to. He
said ‘I presume that those good for nothing nephews of mine
will have it all spent for new cars before my grave is
covered’. The dealer said ‘Why don’t you buy a new car
yourself and beat them to it?’ The old fellows face took on an
impish look, and he brought his right fist forcibly down into his
left palm and said ‘By cracky I believe I will’. The dealer
wasn’t expecting anything like that and could hardly believe
his ears.
A friend of mine was plowing one spring with a John Deere Model
B. A hard spring rain came up and he headed for the house and came
to a land gate which he had to open to get through. He disengaged
the clutch bringing the tractor to a stop, and being in a hurry did
not dismount in the normal fashion, but jumped off over the belt
pulley. He was wearing a raincoat at the time and the tail of it
caught on the clutch lever engaging it with a jerk. The tractor
which had been left idling at full speed started moving forward
with a jerk and demolished the gate before it could be stopped. How
he escaped serious injury was hard to understand, for he must have
landed directly in front of the right hand rear wheel.
April 1949 the Union City grist and flour mill burned. It was a
large multistory building. Water power was used there. Union City
is located at the junction of the Coldwater and St. Joe rivers thus
it’s name. The building was heated by steam supplied by an old
Reeves threshing engine boiler. There was no fire in the boiler at
the time and hadn’t been for a couple of weeks. Still when the
building was nearly all burned down the boiler had accumulated a
full head of steam and the safety valve was blowing off
continuously. After the fire someone opened the fire-box door and
inside was a lot of waste paper etc. which was not even scorched.
The mill had two turbines (water wheels) and one of them was in
operation at the time and continued to run all through the fire.
When it was all over though the bearings were all melted out it was
still running. The horizontal shaft and belt pulley were not warped
and both still ran as true as a die. The shaft and pulley run by
the one that was shut down were hopelessly warped beyond recovery.
The fire was so hot that at the last end the water in the mill race
was boiling.
COLTON HP S/n 87 2 cycle hit and miss governing. Also known as a
COLUMBIA engine. Restored by Houston L. Herndon, Sarasota, Florida.
Will be running at the Florida American Royal Gas and Steam
ROUND-UP February 10 and 11 February 1968.
Fairbanks Morse Type T, 2 HP Special Electric S/n 149693 coupled
to Fairbanks Morse Direct Current Dynamo Type TR S/n 16293Z 9/10 KW
45 Volt 21.4 Amp. Restored and owned by Houston L. Herndon,
Sarasota, Florida. Will be running at the Florida American Royal
Gas and Steam Round-Up in February 1968.
One cold morning a neighbor’s hired man started to crank his
Olds 1? hp. engine to pump some water. He was wearing mittens at
the time and his right mitten was caught in the folding crank of
the engine (similar to the John Deere crank). The engine suddenly
started and dislocated his shoulder.
A relative took his family for a Sunday afternoon ride. After
driving the old Model T several miles he chanced to run through a
flock of chickens that true to form took a notion to cross the road
at the wrong time. As near as he could tell he hadn’t hit any
of them. However, when he arrived home and drove in his yard and
stopped, one of them which apparently rode on the brake rods or
some other place under the Ford, jumped down and ran out from under
it. So without knowing it at the time he had with the help of his
Ford stolen a chicken.
A farmer in our neighborhood was filling silo and the ensilage
cutter broke down. He made a hurried trip into town for repair
parts. Of course it was just his luck to get caught by the local
constable and pinched for speeding. Be was taken before the local
justice of the peace who set the fine at ten dollars. He threw down
a twenty dollar bill and said here’s twenty dollars, Judge,
I’m going right back just as fast as I came.
