Horse Power Drive

[Mike Rock]

Well,no replies to a large 'horse power', so we'll try 'any' horse power's out there? Any make or model? Some barn, somewhere, has one...

Thanks,
Mike Rock

[Patrick McNallen]

Have you got a picture of one?

[Mike Rock]

Here are two that I found in the archives. If anyone has more photos, please, post them.

Most respectfully,
Mike Rock

[Mike Rock]

Oops.... Try THIS one.

[Patrick McNallen]

I found a very old item with a patent date in the 1860s cast on it. It looks like it could be half of a U-joint. It is a bell-shaped casting with 2 small holes that could have been for the spider trunnions and the neck part has a square hole in it like for a square drive shaft. It looks a lot like part of the u-joint in the Samson illustration. I wouldn't be surprised if it came from a horse power. It doesn't look like it would have stood up to steam power. Unfortunately, there is no other mechanical stuff in the area where I found it unless it is buried.

[Patrick McNallen]

More about the "u-joint": It has raised lettering around the bell shaped portion which says : Patented DEC 7 1869 It also has D 7 on the rim of the bell. If you look into the end of the bell, it has 2 heavy bosses like wrist pin bosses in a piston. It has 2 chips out of the rim of the bell at right angles to the bosses, like would happen if the shafts got too far out of line when running or if the spider broke. It also has grooves worn in the sides of the bosses opposite one another like would happen if a lot of wear had occured in the trunnion bearings or if it had run at too extreme an angle.

[Steve Barr]

Several shows have horse power driven equipment.

Here is a team of horses running an elevator at Mt. Pleasant 2007


Horse Powerd Saw Mill at Mt. Pleasant 2006


Horse Powered Thresher at Mt. Pleasant 2006


There are several more horse powered implements from the Mt. Pleasant 2006 show at:
http://www.oldengine.org/members/sba...tPleasant3.htm

I have a page full of Sandwich Equipment (including horse powers) from my 1912 catalog on the Sandwich Engine Club web site at:
http://www.oldengine.org/members/san...hequipment.htm

Sandwich 4 horse Double Geared Power No. 19

[John Hanson]

Seems to me I saw a link to YouTube on this site that had a video of teams with a "horsepower" unit like you show..but this one was in a building, if my memory serves me??
The current issue of Small Farmers Journal has a small article on a new treadmill and another on an old treadmill that was sold at their auction a couple years ago...pretty interesting stuff!
Thanks for sharing those pics, guys!!
John

[Patrick McNallen]

From looking at the pictures and considering the patent date, I'm pretty sure that the item I have is half of a u-joint or knuckle from some kind of horse powered rotary machine. It looks very similar to the driveline joints in several of the photos and illustrations.

[Jebaroni]

I think the video you are referring to is of a team of horses (in the building) powering a "groundhog" thresher with the cameraman narrating a bit.

This isn't the video I am speaking about, but it has a horse-power running it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW65z...eature=related

[Ironman]

Mike-

Have you been to the show at Darlington? If so, the big one there was restored by my grandfather, with my brother and myself spending many hours lending a hand. The big Kelly horsepower sweep was built in Marengo, Illinois. It was found in a small timber near Genoa, Illinois. Thank goodness that the owners of the timber were into old iron, or it would most likely have been scrapped.

The unit had sunk almost completely into the ground, and all that was visible was a very small portion of the 8 foot diameter gear. There were also a few trees grown into it. With a LOT of digging, chopping trees, and a small amount of disassembly where the unit sat, my grandfather and I were able to jack the big gear up off of the rest of the power. We then used a heavy duty come-along to winch it up onto his truck. The gear was so large that we had to set it on TOP of the truck bed, across both sides of the bed. With the gear being 8 feet across, it made the grandpa's old '67 Chevy pickup squat pretty good.

After getting the large gear loaded on grandpa's truck, we continued digging, chopping, and digging some more. At last, we were able to get some boards under the rest of the unit and then winch it onto my utility trailer.

Although it was in very rough shape, progress was made pretty fast due to having the experience of previously restoring the 6 team (12 horse) Dingee-Woodbury patent unit that was part of the Case horsepowered threshing rig, as well as the 5 team (10 horse) Deere-Mansur unit and many other single team and double team units. Also, several horse powered burr mills, a horsepowered drag saw, and a pair of horse treadmills with groundhog threshers.

If you ever get bored, just make the 1/2 hour trip down here and grandpa would just LOVE to show you his scrap books with the before, during, and after pictures, and give you a TON of history on the units. Also, come to the show in July and see lots of this horsepowered equipment in action.

Did you happen to go to the auction near Argyle & Wiota a while back that had a bunch of old cars and trucks, an 8 HP gas engine, and a bunch of other old equipment there? If so, I was there and came home with a few treasures, but did not come home with the 8 HP Sparta Economy. It stayed local to Wiota, where it spent it's working days.

[Bill Madison]

the steam show in rollog minn. has a 5 team horse power unit. it might be shown on there web site. (wmstr) western minnisota steam threashers reunion.

[John Hanson]

I just came back from the Small Farmers Journal Auction in Sisters, OR. There were 2 different "horse powers" there this year. The first was this smaller, more common unit (sorry, I didn't find a manufacturer on it anywhere)..


The other was this unit built by Buffalo Pitts. It was reportedly rebuilt and put in storage about 50 years ago, and it looked like it!








John

[Mike Rock]

At last, I found a power. It is a Sandwich, and is made for either one horse or two up on one arm. The machine has two arm brackets that aim at a common point about eight feet out, then the single tree or double tree hooks to the end.

Anyone know a color scheme? Anyone know why one or two horses don't just decide to exit stage right and take the whole damned thing with them? There is nothing to hold a neckyoke or lead line to make sure they march in a circle. Just wondering.

Mike

[Bob Ronning]

Here is a page from the 1912 Sandwich catalog. look how the horses are tied to the power. The line on the frount keeps them in line. More catalog pages are on the Sandwich web site.

[Mike Rock]

Bob,
Thanks for the link. I was looking this afternoon and did not think to look at the engine club... That is the kind of lead setup I was envisioning. When I get the wood parts over here the holes for the lead pole should be there.
Someone has mounted this power on two I-beams as a skid and it can be staked down. It looks as though it might have been mounted as a stationary power in a barn or outbuilding. There are two speed jacks with it, a dozen universal joints and four lengths of square drive shaft. All in all, a great find.

Thanks again.

Most respectfully,
Mike Rock

[Ironman]

Can you post some pictures of it? The reason that I ask is that it may have been owned by my grandfather at one time. Many of his horse powered sweep units were sold locally. I know that some of them went to Apple River, and some were set up and run at the Darlington show. Also, I bought a pair of sweep powers on the consignment auction at the Sandwich show several years ago and dragged them home thinking my grandfather might want to get involved in putting them back in working order, but he said he was done restoring due to his age, and that I should restore them myself. I was so busy that I wasn't even finding time to work on my engines, so I sold the sweep powers to a fellow in Apple River. I believe that one of the sweeps was a Sandwich, and the other was an Appleton. Perhaps yours may even be one that I used to own!