IRON MEN AND THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH STEAM
(Page 2 of 3)
November/December 1980
Billy M. Byrd
One time while threshing with a K.G., a fork came off the
handle, tore up the concaves and tore a hole in the grain pan.
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One day he was moving from one farm to another and was going
down a long hill, when the key came out of the clutch pulley on the
Nichols and Shepard. The water wagon and pan wagon were pushing
him; he had no way to stop. Luck was with him; he did not meet
anyone and didn't go in the ditch.
Once while steaming plant beds he thought that the pop valve was
off and was trying to set it by the steam gauge. He put on another
gauge and found out that he had set the pop at 180 pounds when the
engine carried 150 pounds.
In 1941 he started a shop doing general repair work, welding
repairs on cars and trucks, and especially tractors and farm
equipment. In 1968 he sold the Nichols and Shepard to me with
hesitation as he said, 'you don't sell a member of the
family, especially if you have raised 4 boys on it.' He still
has the portable Case, is an active member of the
Tennessee-Kentucky Threshermans Association and attends the
Boonville Steam Show at Rockport, Indiana, the Pickneyville Show
and Old Threshers at Mount Pleasant. In 1977 he was given an old
Thresher's Award at Mount Pleasant. Mr. Donahoo is an authority
on steam engines and it is a privilege for me to know him.
Edgar Hill was born in Christian County, Kentucky, October 8,
1904. At the age of 10 years he started firing a 20 HP Advance at
his father's saw mill. The Advance was bought in 1910 and was
also used for steaming tobacco plant beds and threshing wheat. His
father, Matt Hill, threshed wheat with a 6 HP Springfield-Kelly,
then a 16 HP Geiser which he traded for the Advance. In 1934 Mr.
Hill and his father bought a rebuilt 22 HP D.C. R.M. Keck-Gonnerman
for $900. The engine was shipped from Mount Vernon, Indiana, to
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, a distance of 101 miles for which the
freight bill was $85. The shipping weight was 12 tons. It was used
to thresh wheat, pull the saw mill, steam plant beds, and pull a
rock crusher for the W.P.A.
He got 5? per yard for steaming plant beds with a
121/2 yard pan. He quit threshing with steam
in 1954 and with a tractor in 1962 and quit steaming plant beds in
1964.