Cast Iron Quarterly Bluebonnet Antique Tractor Club, Branch 171 of EDGETA March 2014 Edition, Volume 20 http://www.bbatc.org Keeping our agricultural history alive! It s hard to believe this is volume 20. It seems it wasn t that long ago I was putting together volume 19. OK, Jokes aside, volume 20 is a milestone and as such should live up to the expectations of such a milestone. I wish I could share all the pictures of the club tractor shows of the last three months, but since there aren t very many, I guess I ll have to improvise. Well no one can argue we have had a cold winter. Hopefully this will motivate us to kick it in high gear and really make a showing at all the
shows. This being a new year maybe will inspire some different members to bring out their toys. Your tractor, engine, or farm device does not have to be pretty. It doesn t even have to work, (as many of us find out after we unload). It s been a while since we had a Member Spotlight write up. I can only assume everybody is so humble they don t want to toot their own horn. Don t think of it as gloating, but as a way to inspire others. It s a way for other members to get to know you and why you are in the hobby. Please contact me, Vernon, (editor), to get you in the next Member Spotlight. VA Brazoria March 1 st,
First place winner. Second place winner. Third place winner. David Peltier, Second and Third place
You know you collect old tractors when; Your dealer explains that the part you're looking for is called bailing wire. Your wife knows the model, weight, HP rating, and features of every tractor she sees on the way to town. When starting, you purposely leave the tin can over the exhaust just to see if you can catch it. Your $30,000 car sits parked outside while your $1,500 tractor is parked in the garage.
Everybody in your family, even the 3 year old knows what a magneto is. You plan family visits based on what tractor shows are in the area. When you hear someone say the letters, A, B, C, D, G, GP, H, L, LA, M, R, you think they are talking about a tractor. You have been chastised by your wife for using the oven to heat up parts. Your favorite magazine has not even one picture of a half dressed women. Now for something different Wood tractor
Tech Section Silver King Tractors Silver King tractors started with the Fate and Gunsaullus Company of Plymouth Ohio in the late 1800 s. In the beginning the company did not make tractors but made machines to make clay bricks. In 1892 Fate bought out his partner and formed the J.D. Fate Company. In 1909 Fate organized the Plymouth Truck Company, building motor trucks under the trade name "Plymouth". This endeavor did not work out so well and in 1915 went out of business after building only 200 trucks and one car. The failure may be partly because the parent company was asked to build yard locomotives. The yard locomotives were so popular they became the company s main product, later named Plymouth Locomotives. In 1919 Fate joined with Root- Heath Manufacturing Company and formed Fate-Root-Heath. By the 1930 s, due to the depression, orders for locomotives had dropped to the point the company could not sustain itself. The company decided it needed a cheap product to carry it through. Plymouth Ohio was located in prime farm land, so it made sense to come out with a tractor.
Floyd Carter, chief engineer of the locomotive department, designed the first tractor, a huge, heavy affair powered by a large, slow speed Climax engine. At this time big heavy tractors were going out of style in favor of smaller and lighter tractors. It didn t take long to figure out smaller was better, so the company hired new engineers to come up with something more in line with the growing trend of small tractors. The new tractor they came up with was called Plymouth, after the town of course. The tractor was "...Built for the 60 acre or less farm, but with a definite place as an auxiliary tractor on the larger farm." The new tractor was light, used a small, high speed motor, and had a four speed transmission. The first Plymouths came with a Hercules IXA 4 cylinder engine. Its four speed transmission allowed an unheard speed of 25 mph, (I hope at that speed they opted for the rubber wheels). The color was chosen because the company was already using the silver paint on other products, so it made sense to use it on the tractors. The wheels were painted blue as a contrast. The tractor weighed 2100 pounds and came in 38 or 44 inch widths. A first for the Plymouth was that it was the first tractor designed from the ground up to use rubber tires, but Plymouths came standard with steel wheels. When a tractor was delivered, the dealer would bring along a set of rubber wheels to let the farmer try out. Most often the farmer would stick with the rubber wheels. The first tractors came as either a model R-38, S-38, S-44, R-44. The R stood for rubber wheeled, and S stood for steal wheeled. The 38 and 44 stood for the width.
Chrysler Corporation had been building cars with the name of Plymouth since 1928. Chrysler took Fate-Root-Heath to curt over the use of the name Plymouth. Because Fate-Root- Heath had used the Plymouth name on that one car back in the truck company days, they won their case and Chrysler had to pay for the right to use the Plymouth name. Since Fate-Root-Heath had sold the rights to use the Plymouth name, they needed to come up with a new name. They decided because the tractor was silver, and they thought their product was king, it was a natural, so all tractors after serial # 314 were called Silver King. By 1936 the company was selling tractors like hot cakes. They were making 4 or 5 tractors a day. This is also when they came out with a 3 wheeled tractor, model R-66 or S-66. 1937 was the best year for Silver King with over 1,000 tractors produced. Later in 1940, with a switch to the continental built engine in the three wheeled tractor (at serial number 4320). A Hercules IXB-3 engine was fitted to the four wheel tractor for a time (#4341 to (#5319) before it, too, received the Continental engine. During WW2, demand for yard locomotives increased dramatically and the company put its effort back into building locomotives. After the war, other tractor companies started building tractors. Because of falling sales and more demand for yard locomotives, (the companies main product), the tractor division was left to fend for itself. Finally in 1954, Fate-Root- Heath management ran out of tolerance for the tractor division.
Parts and tooling were sent to the Mountain State Fabricating Company in Clarksburg, West Virginia in February of that year. After they folded the parts were sent back to Plymouth who sent them to the local junk yard. Mountain State built 75 tractors before going out of business.
Reasons to give to the spouse when they complain about your hobby and the spare parts. 1. These old engines and tractors increase in value with age. 2. You can t just go down to AutoZone and buy parts for these. 3. I m investing in heavy metals for the future. 4. They aren t making anymore of these. 5. I guess I could collect army tanks. 6. They keep me out of the bar. Letter from our President President's Message - 1st Quarter 2014
Well members, here we are in the new year with spring all but here after having endured one of the coldest winters on record for our part of the woods, and for me personally, I just haven't been able to warm up... guess it's simply the older age taking hold. Hopefully all of you have made it through the cold weather and are in good health. As we embark on the new year, it appears that we have our fair share of events to take part in, and we'll notify all of you by e- mail of those events prior to the dates of each. And speaking of events, I particularly want to emphasize in this message corner the invitation we have on Saturday, June 21st, by BATC member John Hovas for a day of fun and entertainment at his classic muscle car and tractor museum in Brookshire. This is close enough that hopefully most all of you, if not everyone, should attend. I've spoken to others who have been to the museum and they say you really have to see the place to believe something like this actually exists. The best part - it's entirely free for us and John is even serving lunch and refreshments. The only thing he asks is that if we bring along youngsters, grand kids, etc., they should be of the age to have a sincere interest in vintage autos, tractors and memorabilia of the era's; (I'm thinking 12 and up, give or take a year or so).
Please remember that our first meeting will be held on Thursday evening, March 27th at the Spring Creek BBQ Restaurant, 9005 Broadway (West FM 518) in Pearland. Larry BATC Contact Information; Larry Steed, Club President, 281 485 9764 (h), 713 899 5888 (c), candy3505@comcast.net Joe De Ford, Club Vice President, 281 337 5417, jdeford@verizon.net Candy Steed, Treasurer, 281 485 9764, candy3505@comcast.net Stacy Gonzales, Secretary, 281 667 5097, HPDestimator@yahoo.com Dan Hinton, Safety Officer, 281 487 3698 shop, 281 460 2280 (c), golddusters5703@earthlink.net Corwin Horn, Webmaster, Corwin@bbatc.org Vernon Achord Jr., Newsletter Editor, 409 925 8029 (h), Inthelt@aol.com