R.R. 3, Lambeth, Ontario, Canada NOL 1SO
Having enjoyed your magazine for some time now I thought it is
time I put my two cents worth in. Since most of your readers are in
the United States I had better get a plug in here for old Ontario.
We are situated on one of the best pieces of farmland in the world
here in Southwestern Ontario, we think so anyway, so it is only
natural that we have some interesting pieces of early farm
equipment around. We have several excellent shows within a few
miles of London Ontario, (Pop. 220,000). Drop over and pay us a
visit and you will agree that everything I have told you is
true.
I have never seen much written on perhaps the most popular of
all farm tractors, the McCormick-Deering 10-20. In this area the
10-20 probably outsold all others two to one. We bought a 10-20 in
1929. It was a 1927 model and we paid $550.00 at a farm sale. They
sold for around $880.00 new. It did a pretty good job till 1949
when we traded it for a little more power. It ran from 1927 to 1947
on the original set of sleeves and pistons.
The 10-20 was introduced by International Harvester in 1923 and
produced till 1938 basically unchanged. When they came out in 1923
they were quite a modern machine boasting such things as force fed
lubrication, fully enclosed gearing running in oil, ball bearing
crankshaft. However by 1938 competition had caught up again and the
famous 10-20 gave way to the W 4 with its high compression engine,
individual brakes, lights and starter, rubber tires and high
speeds. The original 10-20 colour was gun metal gray with red
wheels until about 1936 and then they all went all red.
From 1923-28 they used a twin exhaust system, one outlet about
3-1/2 inches in diameter and the other about 1-1/2 inches. The
smaller one was the outlet for a carburetor heater which enabled
the old fellows to do a better job of burning fuel oil than the
later ones. By the 1930’s fuel oil was beginning to lose favour
as a fuel as the high compression engine was starting to appear.
Remember the Ethyl Corp ads of those days promoting high
compression and higher speeds etc.
The 1927 we had would work all day for about 12 gallons of fuel
oil at about $.15 a gallon. Sounds pretty good with today’s
fuel prices. While I will admit several other tractors of the
period might put up more power per pound of weight, one thing about
the 10-20 was that if it started to work in the morning, good were
the chances that it would be still chugging away at night. Like all
early tractors they had their shortcomings and one was front wheel
bearings especially on sandy ground. The seals were not very good
and the sand would get in and it generally meant a couple of sets
of bearings a year.
One had to be careful when burning fuel oil with them as with
running a cold engine or excessive idling would let the unburnt
fuel oil get into the crankcase with possible bearing failure as a
result. I remember a rod bearing going out of the old girl one
afternoon, jumping in the pick-up, getting a new insert, taking the
crankcase hand hold cover off, putting the insert in the rod and I
had her running again in about an hour and a half.
About 62 per cent of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture budget for
1972 was used for programs that were not strictly farmer oriented
such as foreign relations, defense, food distribution and
improvement of natural resources.
American agriculture abundance is a powerful force for world
peace. American farm products are helping relieve hunger and are
promoting economic growth in newly developing countries as well as
alleviating widespread famine.
Beat the high cost of protein feed for your cattle. Raise more
hay.
