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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: davbell22602 on February 08, 2011, 09:12:42 PM
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What are these and what were they used for?
(http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad228/davbell22602/Misc/S5003610.jpg)
(http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad228/davbell22602/Misc/S5003611.jpg)
(http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad228/davbell22602/Misc/S5003612.jpg)
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The one with the protruding bolts is called an aerator, and is used for creating holes in the dirt. It just allows water and nutrients to penetrate the soil better. Your other item is called a tamper. It is used to flatten down sod after it's been laid. Nice pieces....
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Wish we had aerators like that around here. They are smaller and to rent one to use every few years is $$$$$. With a yard as big as mine aerator shoes would put me in the hospital! HA HA!
Agree totally with AP on what they are!
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Cool old sodbuster gear , davbell !
I like it .
Thanks for posting it/them .
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It looks to me like the "Bolts" were there to hold planks onto the wheels. As it looks like there is still a plank attached on it on the back side.
And I would think they would be too thin to be able to withstand hard "work" aerating. Perhaps when all of the original planks were still attached it was used as a type of compactor.
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Those look like they might be the “rollers” out of an old sugar cane or sorghum mill that did the crushing n’ squeezing of the juice that was then boiled down to produce molasses.
source of picture = http://www.herculesengines.com/sorghum/default.html (http://www.herculesengines.com/sorghum/default.html)
(http://www.herculesengines.com/sorghum/images/Blymyer/Horizontal.jpg)
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That appears to be correct. They would be very early ones. Have they been discarded somewhere ?? If so I would sure get them, as early farm equipment is very expensive if you can find it. There should be a hitch on them to allow them to be pulled behind a tractor or team. Would not be heavy enough for a mill. They normally use a stone.
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You must be thinking about a grist mill. ;)
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Wouldn`t be heavy enough for a syrup mill either I don`t think !!
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The one with the protruding bolts is called an aerator, and is used for creating holes in the dirt. It just allows water and nutrients to penetrate the soil better. Your other item is called a tamper. It is used to flatten down sod after it's been laid. Nice pieces....
There both the same. The wood is missing off the one.
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I am looking through Asher and Adams Pictorial Album of American Industry to see if there is anything similar. Only about half through though !! Some very old machines in it. Havent found a lot on farm equipment yet !!
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Wouldn`t be heavy enough for a syrup mill either I don`t think !!
Mart, take a look at this picture again.
1stly, you should note is says on the picture - For Horse Power.
2ndly, you should note the heavy verticle shaft on the right side of the picture with the metal plate on top of it.
3rdly, what you don't see is a long wooden pole with one end bolted to that metal plate and the other end of the pole hitched to the horse.
4thly, if you can vison that horse walking round n' round that cane mill then you should be able to vison those 2 big roller in the picture going round n' round also.
And when those 2 big roller are going round n' round ..... ya feed the sugar cane stalks in to them and they will crush them as flat as a sheet of paper,
CLICK ON this url and read more about "making molasses", to wit:
http://www.herculesengines.com/sorghum/default.html (http://www.herculesengines.com/sorghum/default.html)
(http://www.herculesengines.com/sorghum/images/Blymyer/Horizontal.jpg)
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Went and looked at the site and all of the pics. In fact,, they have one from our area,, NE Texas, as well as a horse driven model. It hasn`t been that long since we had syrup mills here. Look at the size of the rollers. Syrup mills were not that big. Also wood is absorbant and not easy to clean. I am not saying that they never made wood rollers,, they may have. But not that wide for a syrup mill !!
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Syrup mills were not that big.
Well now, the size of a cane mill would be determined by the number of acres of sugar cane one was planning on squeezing the juices out of, ...... wouldn't it?
Also wood is absorbant and not easy to clean.
You are thinking 21st Century. Why worry about cleaning a cane mill ...... iffen you are going to be boiling (evaporating) the cane juice for 2 or 3 hours ..... out over an open fire with the bugs n' flies n' ashes n' etc. floating n' flying around in the air? ;D ;D ;D ;D
Wood "butcher blocks" were still commonly in use in meat processing plants, butcher shops and grocery stores up until, I think it was, the mid 1970's when some State Health Deps. deemed them unsafe for use. But you can still buy one iffen you want.
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Juice would stick and condense on rollers and collect dirt, bugs and other items thgat need to be filtered out. Twice as much work and would take longer. Even in the 1800`s farmers were reasonably clean if selling to the public.
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Juice would only stick up to the point the rollers become saturated and then nothing would stick. As to bugs and sticks, they would be filtered out through a strainer at some point and not at the beginning. I do not think combines, corn pickers, harvesters, etc. are filtering out bugs and small chaff. That happens farther down the line. Same with apple presses, grape presses, etc. That juice is filtered out later and not on the first press. US Government standards allow a certian amount of 'crap' in everything because it is impossible to keep everything pure. A BIG example of this is peanut butter.
I am not really convinced these rollers are for pressing juice/cane/whatever. Any references to this particular type being used in that manner? The ones pictured are gear driven while these found ones have steel wheels with a center axle. If gear driven, the gears would have been with them. If a wood/metal axle like on a wagon, most of it would have rotted away. This still could be a sod roller.
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It could well be a sod roller !! Whatever it is it was pulled by something,, horses, mules or a tractor. Would love to see how the two are attached since he said it was one piece !! Only thing I can think of that would benefit from that is possibly seeding a pasture, planting wheat, or similar that is not grown in rows. Then a roller could be used to impress seed into the soil and keep[ it from being blown away. I have a friend that also has antique tractors and knows about some of the early equipment. I am going to let him take a look and see if he has ideas. He usually has coffee here on weekends !!
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I am not really convinced these rollers are for pressing juice/cane/whatever. Any references to this particular type being used in that manner? The ones pictured are gear driven while these found ones have steel wheels with a center axle. If gear driven, the gears would have been with them. If a wood/metal axle like on a wagon, most of it would have rotted away. This still could be a sod roller.
Wayward, I did not say ..... they were ....rollers out of a cane mill.
I specifically stated: "Those look like they might be the “rollers” out of an old sugar cane or sorghum mill ....."
It was then that Mart decided to give me a Lesson on 20th Century farm implements and their uses.
As a young boy of about 5 or 6 years of age I remember them making molasses out of a patch of sugar cane my Father had grown. They set the mill and the evaporator pan up right in the cane field, built a fire under the pan, pressed the juice out of the cane, put it in the pan and boiled it down to make the molasses. The pan had partitions in it so that new juice could be added at one end and the molasses taken off at the other end.
And to this very day ........ I literally detest the taste of molasses. And not because I watched them make them ....... but because sugar was rationed and the only sweetner we had was those damned ole molasses. YUCK!
Things to ponder:
1. Whatever it was it was “scrapped” out and gears & everything but what is pictures was sold.
2. If a horse drawn roller the axels would extend out farther for attaching a bearing and pull bar.
3. How big of a demand was there for a “sod roller” 75 to 100 years ago?
5. It’s not heavy enough for rolling sod.
6. They are labor intensive units: each piece of wood had to be cut with a bevel and then individually drilled thru the wood and the steel and then riveted to the wheel.
8. disking, dragging or harrowing works great at covering up seeds.
PS: Dragging around an old set of “bed springs” will not only level up a lawn or field but will also “flip out” small rocks and cover up any seed.
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It certainly wasn`t a "lesson" directed at anyone !! However I did learn a bit from yours !! Thanks !!
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Cogar, I got it and was basically shoring up your point on they could be juice rollers. I am just not sure what they are. No clue on sod roller demand but think it would be miniscule. I think what ever it is, it was just pulled over to the side after its' usefulness and allowed to rest until its' new discovery recently. I think some historical research on the area and what occurred there would help in determing what they are.
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I put this before several people as well as a forum on antique farm implements and looks like Wayward and Baulde were closest in their assesment. All said that it was a roller,leveller or essentially a clod buster. Hubby said the same, didn`t know that he had used similar equipment when young. After plowing roller is used to break up clods of dirt and level the ground prior to planting so all seeds make contact and birds don`t eat them. They are still used today,, same style two rollers one behind the other,,, just a bit more modern.
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Very interesting, mart. The only sod roller I ever used was one of those steel drums you filled with water and pushed around after laying sod. That was a chore.
A clod buster makes sense. Well done.
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After hubby explained, it made sense to me as well. I just couldn`t figure its use on a farm. Since we have antique tractors I am always curious about things like that.
Guess I need to apologize to Cogar ( hope he is reading this) that he took any of my statements as directed toward him. Sorry !! I didn`t intend them to be taken that way.