Saturday, February 16, 2008

Weekend Steam


Time marches on. This two page ad from the June 1921 issue of The American Thresherman And Farm Power magazine documents important changes in American agriculture. The left side of the ad proclaims in italics: steel-built galvanized Case Thresher. This was at a time when outdated threshing machines were made mostly of wood. The right side shows us the end game for steam on the farm. Steam traction engines were rapidly losing market share to internal combustion tractors, and improvements in steam power for stationary and locomotive engines would never be used on the farm. According to the Encyclopedia Of American Steam Traction Engines by Jack Norbeck, Crestline Publishing Inc., Case ended steam traction engine production in 1924.

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