Anybody Remember Back When?

[bunyip]

Ok you got me! What is a bunt plug?

Good thing when the crank handle was on the rim of the heavy flywheel. The ones with the crank like car took some real umph. That was probably what generated the pony engine idea.

Ron

I think that was a rolled up paper about the size of a cheroot filled with saltpetre, lit then put in a plug and scewed into the cylinder or manifold, a crude form of glow plug, it would smoulder red hot for a while.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I was looking for a tractor (before my first Kubota) around 1999. A fellow had an older one for sale and we went to look at it. He was driving out of town but he said his wife was there and we should go ahead and start it and try it out. It turned out to be a pony motor. I had my son along, he was a truck mechanic at the time. We managed to get the pony started but had no clue how to start he diesel. Maybe we didn't realize that it took 10-30 minutes, LOL. We gave up. After reading this thread, I am very glad we did!



Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps. There was a CCC camp in Shawnee State Forest (Ohio) until about ten years ago when they tore it down. It was well maintained and looked like it was in use but IDK what they used it for.

Brother Dave Gardner (anyone remember him? The Voice of the South?) was talking about growing up poor, and his comment was "The first piece of light bread I ever saw was thrown off the back of a CCC truck". :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

How many of you know what the WPA was? Then there was the CCC.

My dad told me about them and showed me many of their works in our area.Lots of rock wall and structures all over the country.

 

[Streetcar]

I was looking for a tractor (before my first Kubota) around 1999. A fellow had an older one for sale and we went to look at it. He was driving out of town but he said his wife was there and we should go ahead and start it and try it out. It turned out to be a pony motor. I had my son along, he was a truck mechanic at the time. We managed to get the pony started but had no clue how to start he diesel. Maybe we didn't realize that it took 10-30 minutes, LOL. We gave up. After reading this thread, I am very glad we did!



Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps. There was a CCC camp in Shawnee State Forest (Ohio) until about ten years ago when they tore it down. It was well maintained and looked like it was in use but IDK what they used it for.

Ken
Was the camp converted to a scout camp and then closed. Time line and area right for camp my son went to

 

[QRTRHRS]

Memory fails after 50 plus years so I do not recall if any of those old CAT's had a compression release but the White tractor we used for pulling the low bed did. It had a 220 Cummins. You would pull the release lever and the electric starter would then be able to turn it over. Once it got to spinning then you would push the lever back in and hopefully it would still continue to turn over until it fired.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Memory fails after 50 plus years so I do not recall if any of those old CAT's had a compression release but the White tractor we used for pulling the low bed did. It had a 220 Cummins. You would pull the release lever and the electric starter would then be able to turn it over. Once it got to spinning then you would push the lever back in and hopefully it would still continue to turn over until it fired.

Memory, what's that? Seems that compression release was pretty universal, both pony engines and hand crank ones.

Ron

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I think that was a rolled up paper about the size of a cheroot filled with saltpetre, lit then put in a plug and scewed into the cylinder or manifold, a crude form of glow plug, it would smoulder red hot for a while.

Thanks for increasing my trivia base. Ether seemed to popular in my recollection. There were always empty cans laying about. Some engines had a place to screw them in and a push button to charge.

Ron

 

[stuckmotor]

Ron,
Grand Dad had a gasser and I was tiny in those days. Were the fires you built under the diesels wood fires or was there an oil or gas appliance made for the job?

 

[Looking4new]

We had little red pellets about the size of a quarter all round that were filled with ether. Just open the cap, drop the pellet in and close the cap. A pin at the bottom of the chamber would pierce the pellet and ether would flow into the intake manifold and off she would go. IF you were lucky.

 

[turnkey4099]

It was also so the customer could see and verify that he was getting what he was paying for. Apparently, there was some paranoia going around those days.

May have been a minor part of it but since that was the only delivery system I doubt many worried about being cheated.