It was warm today and after some invigorating garden work, and, oh yes, a frosty Ranger beer, it seemed appropriate to put some gasoline to good use. It is not that I used the petrol to work, or get work done but purely for entertainment. Now, I know some will say this is just wasting fuel in a time of scarcity but after watching a couple monster pickups go by, all of them empty, and hearing the neighbor rev up his rather hot race type car, it seemed reasonable to get the 1928 International M going.
I gave it a shot of either (another petroleum product) down the throat and primed the fuel pump and after only one rotation it fired up like it had never been turned off. There it ran just pushing rods hither and yon, smoking nicely, rotating cams, spinning those big fly wheels and dripping some oil.
Now there is a piece of machinery, all 600 pounds of cast iron pushing out that monstrous 3 HP. What a hunk of history. Interestingly, I have heard farmers say they got one of these in 1928 and used it every day until 1955. Might have changed bearings that took all of an hour, but once started it would run for days.
Truly, a marvel for folks who had to do much work by hand until these things showed up around 1900. It is absolutely amazing how many of them are still around, and still able to be brought to life. Saw hundreds of them this last weekend in Baraboo, including this marine engine once used to power a launch. Thing of beauty.
So today I burned some fossil fuel for about 45 minutes so the Chinese couldn't get it, and to add to the greenhouse gasses, and I didn't do anything except marvel and watch it spin. The beer added to the thrill but I am easily pleased.
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