[AT] Windbreaker out of storage

[Ralph Goff]

John, that windbreaker of yours is what we called here a "heat houser". In 
fact that was a brand name which became kind of generic. My Dad had one on 
the Cockshutt 50 for all the years he used it in cold weather and he would 
not go without it in winter. That big Buda six cylinder blew a lot of warm 
air back to the driver's area which made all the difference between being 
able to work or freezing to death in winter. Just being out of the wind was 
the biggest benefit. The engine heat was just a bonus effect.
That heat houser was actually designed for the smaller model 30 tractor but 
Dad extended it using a few pieces of old binder canvas.
I believe he also used binder canvas to construct a makeshift wind break on 
the old Massey 60 combine. Those machines had almost no protection for the 
driver from wind, dust or rain. When it came to late fall harvesting that 
was one of the coldest places on the farm, sitting out on the platform of 
the old combine in cold windy conditions. I think the coldest he ever 
experienced was running a neighbour's 542 Cockshutt in the fall of 69. 
Straight cutting wheat on Nov. 10. The ground was already frozen and he 
worked til about 3:00 in the morning to finish that field of wheat. They 
really earned their money in those days.

Ralph in Sask.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Hall" <jthall at worldnet.att.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, November 23, 2008 7:01 AM
Subject: [AT] Windbreaker out of storage


> Windbreakers have been mentioned a few times on the list over the past
> winters. There a 4 of them here and none have been used since around
> '90---until now. The real farming shut down on our place in '91 and we 
> just
> haven't had to spend extended periods outside where a windbreaker would be
> an advantage, until this week. Soybeans were really late this year so we 
> are
> late planting wheat. With temps around 40 and 30mph wind gusts it has been
> downright miserable. (if you are north of the Mason-Dixon line that is
> probably a heat wave). Anyway, we dug out the windbreaker for the JD 4020
> and away we went. I never realized until now that you actually get a LOT 
> of
> warm air from the engine. I thought those things only kept the wind off of
> you. Since the tractor ran pretty much "cool" (not a lot of load pulling a
> drill) and we only tached out around 1500, it never got hot. But I could
> definetly see where under tillage it could get almost hot riding the
> tractor. I also learned no-till drills don't work worth a cuss if the 
> gound
> is slightly frozen--the dirt breaks in chunks. We pretty much only get 5-6
> hours of drilling time due to this.
>
> Wonder if anyone ever made windbreakers for combines with no cabs?
>
> John Hall
>
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