Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Tuesday Torque: Let's Go Pump Some Arsenic!

I used to run across old orchard sprayers like these on my walks, but haven't seen any lately.  They have been sucked up by high scrap prices, I guess.  I saw a good one almost thirty years ago in deep Southern Illinois that had a restorable Fairbanks Dishpan engine, but the owner did not want to sell.  You will see a pretty good variety of engine makes on orchard sprayers, and believe it or not, the USGS has maps made showing the orchard locations from the Twenties to the Sixties because of possible soil contamination from arsenic, lead, and copper.  You have to wonder how farmers survived when they were spraying arsenic insecticide and getting it all over themselves.  Anyway, here are a few old sprayers with different engines for your viewing pleasure.






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