[AT] Grain Augers

[Dean VP]

Al,

Our experience with a LONG baler in the 1950's was very similar.  We had "The Long
Engineers" out to our place a couple times trying to figure out what was wrong with our
baler. They never did fix it. I wasn't very old at the time but between some choice words
my father had about their competence and my observation of their diagnostic approach, the
conclusion reached was they really were not engineers that had graduated from any college.
Much later on in my career I coined a term for this type of engineer: "Kaleidoscope
Engineers". Keep tweaking the design until it did what it was supposed to at least one
time. No real theory underpinning, No worst case design analysis and no real margin for
component manufacturing tolerances.  I wasn't around the farm much after the 50's but I
did get exposed later on to some of Long's products occasionally.  Their designs usually
were not very impressive. Their sales prices must have been quite a bit less expensive
than their competition.  I haven't thought about that stinking POS LONG baler in years but
it must have left a permanent negative mark on my memory.  We also had a chain/blade
elevator made by Sears (A Sears trade name which I cannot remember right now) that also
was a complete POS. Usually my father selected pretty good stuff but the Long Baler and
the Sears elevator were the worst designed things I ever saw on our farm. Both had a
tendency to break at the most critical of times creating a crisis of some kind that
usually ended up being blamed on me for some convenient reason. I guess I was the path of
least resistance!  :-)  In 1962 when my father's farm equipment was auctioned off,
needless to say neither item even received a bid. If I had had my way, they both would
have gone directly to melt down heaven. 

Dean VP
Apache Junction, AZ

"People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will
lose both!"
Benjamin Franklin

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]
On Behalf Of Al Jones
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2011 4:34 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Grain Augers

That Long was a nightmare.  They sold a lot of bins, and grain equipment but a lot of it
wasn't very good.  Starting at the ground, where you would dump into the auger, you had
about a 7' section, which ran up to a big "box" about 10" wide and 1' deep.  Out of this
came the rest of the auger.  THat meant you had the gearbox run by the tractor PTO, which
drove the upper (long) section of the auger, plus two sets of sprockets, two chains, and a
drive shaft to run the bottom section.  In general even now it seems like most grain
equipment is "just barely enough" in terms of design and construction.  Dad has a bin and
unloader now that is about 4-5 years old, and to tell the truth, it is not
great.....something has gone wrong with the gate on the center well so now it is wide open
and I can't close it.  So you have to turn the auger on and off every few seconds so I
don't overflow the little portable auger that carries the corn from the unloader head to
the grinder mixer.  It'll!
  be summer (hottest time of the year!) before we will get enough corn out so we can
access the well and see what is wrong.  I guess the engineers that design grain equipment
are the ones that graduated at the bottom of their class.....


Al

-----Original Message-----
>From: Ralph Goff <alfg at sasktel.net>
>Sent: Dec 29, 2011 5:53 PM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group 
><at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] Grain Augers
>
>On 12/29/2011 11:43 AM, Al Jones wrote:
>> And here I thought out 8" x 47' was a cadillac!  Sure is faster (and less
trouble/maintenance) than the old POS 6" Long Mfg. model it replaced!
>>
>> Al
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> Al, no doubt your 8x47 is a cadillac compared to the auger it 
>> replaced . My "little" 10x50 footer is now considered small compared 
>> to some of the 13x70 augers the neighburs have. When I bought it they 
>> called it "the backsaver" and its true. No more struggling to lift 
>> the heavy bottom end of an auger and push it to the bin or wherever. 
>> This Farm King hitches to the tractor and I back it into position, 
>> raise by tractor hydraulics and it will empty a 300+ bushel truck box 
>> of grain in a few minutes. We thought we had the world by the tail 
>> when we got the 7 inch Sakundiak auger back in 79 but this ten inch 
>> FArm King is way faster even at idle speed.
>Herb, first of all, that was a Wisconsin engine in the video and I've 
>always had better luck starting them than a Briggs. And second,  in the
>90 plus videos I have on youtube you might find my face in there 
>somewhere  but I'm not sure where. For now I'll just direct you to this 
>one from last July showing both grain augers in action when I was 
>transferring some canola from one bin to another. Theres even an 
>antique tractor in this one to keep on topic. :-) Uncle Don's old 730 Case.
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxzNh4XyvuQ
>
>Ralph in Sask.
>
>
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