BYJOYCE BUPP Staff Correspondent YORK By today’s standards, they were primitive at best. But to a farm culture that knew only draft horse power, or arm wrenching crank machines, the early gasoline and steam engines were a bom beyond belief. Nostalgia, a search for roots, and a longing for "the good old days,” have stirred renewed in terest m the farm machinery of grandpa’s day. Thus, for the seventh consecutive year, the’ York. Fair aboard invited York County members' of the Steam Engine Society to share some of their fascinating collections with the several hundred thousand fair attendees. On April 29, 1909, one Samuel Leibenknecht of Hellam patented the rights to produce a milling machine driven by belt from a steam or small gasoline engine.' Leibenknecht numbered each of his individually crafted farm-size gram grinders, finishing some 400 mills before ceasing production. Gene Brenneman, R 2 Dallastown, counts No. 50 of the Leibenknecht mill line production among his priceless possessions, in Brenneman’s broad-ranging searches as a collector and auc tioneer, No. 50 is trie oldest of the machines he’s ever come across. During the Fair’s nine-day run, Brenneman and the Leibenknecht null No. 50 were headlines in the frequent demonstrations of the "way it was” that-took place among a neat line up of threshers, old tractors, early gram mills and crushers, and miscellaneous small farm machines. Unearthed in a state of deterioration at an area granary. Red Rose Building Systems, Inc, A RED P.O. Box 56, Ephrata, Pa. 717-738-4248 / ROSE Owned And Operated By Local People! BUILDING SYSTEMS These attractive, maintenance-free buildings are available in a number of popular models and sizes. They can be equipped with overhead doors, sliding track doors, walk doors, plus many other features which can be located on any wall. Our buildings are . constructed by skilled, experienced crews...built solid to provide the safety and protection you wantfor vehicles, equipment, and ■ other valued possessions. ! We Stock r .,,- KAISER ALUMINUM Farm Siding And Roofing Materials. , • Painted &.Bare • AH Kaiser Colors In Stock • Standard Sizes In Stpcjk • Orders Taken For Special Sizes York Courrtlans got steamed up over old machines the decades old mill was recon ditioned by Brennemhn, after he had first inventively crafted new parts for the repair. But the prized' part of the mill, the hard-to replace 12-inch diameter stones, were intact and original. Running off belts from an early model tractor, or from a one cylinder gas engine, the mill’s major use was to grind chop for livestock. Shelled gram was poured into a top bin and fed between the two stones turning against each other within the wooden outside structure. Coar seness of the' finished gram product was determined by how closely together the two stones were set. "It takes a long time to sharpen those stones,” Brenneman relates. "There’s a special tool, sharpened at both ends, used to hone the grooves in the stones that grmd the grains.” For the public demonstrations of the mill’s workings, Brenneman has several bushels of shelled com batch roasted at Biesecker’s Mill, with delighted spectators eager to purchase and carry home small bags of the finished ground meal. While Gene is briefing the crowd that has gathered at the Leibenknecht null, his son Ralph is likely to be spuming a story elsewhere in the display about the background of - another of the family’s extensive collection. Bitten early by the old-engine bug, Ralph picked up two broken down engines at a junkyard when he was the mere age of ten. In the following years, he rebuilt the three-quarter horsepower model but grins as he admits he’s still planning to refurbish the larger, “We Serve You As We Would Want To Be Served’ 3 The Closer You Look, The More You'll Like A Red Rose Buildingl Find Out Why It Costs Less.to Buy The Best ••• one and a half-horse style'ot Hi* youthful purchases. An assortment of other collector pieces have been acquired by the pair and restored to like-new condition, complete with shiny paint jobs and decorative lettering and ornamentation. A one-horse Flmchbaugh engine is a favorite, rescued from a junk truck for just a few dollars, and one of perhaps only a half-dozen in existence across the country. Another Flmchbaugh three-horse engme, dating to 1911, was bought at a local sale. Down the line-up of small pieces sits an-earlier version of the corn planter, a French and Orumgold model, produced hy a York firm. There’s also an Ontario gram-drill, horse-drawn ancestor to the giant seeding machines pulled today by four-wheel drive tractors. Some time ago, Ralph found an early 1800’s model field-size gram thresher, focal point for another demonstration during fair days. Built by a Spangler in York, the wagon-size gram separator was another giant step m harvest ef ficiency for farmers accustomed to the hand flailing technique. Each year, the Brennemans hand-bmd a load of wheat for use with the century and a half old machine. At still' another corner of the display, a crowd gathers to study Merle Dellinger's com cracker demonstration. His one and a half-horse Her cules gasoline engines clatters as it pulverizes shelled corn into coarsely-ground feed. Although the cracker was Dellinger’s first acquisition, like several others (Turn to Page D 8) FARM BUILDINGS FOR EVERY NEED ★ Dairy Buildings ★ Machinery Storage ★ Shelters Buildings of Every Kind That Share One Thing In Common... Red Rose Quality! • Designed Free By Licensed Engineers Call Us Collect - 717-738-4248 - For Free Estimate or send this coupon for more information uh ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ mmmm ■■■■■•«■■■■■■■■ ! Please contact me with information on the following: LF ■ □ FARM BUILDINGS □ COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS ■ □ DO-IT-YOURSELF BUILDING PACKAGES □ GARAGES S □ KAISER ALUM. MATERIALS S Fill Out And Mail To: Red Rose ■•Hdliig Systems, Im. I ' PO Box SS, Bphrota, Pa. 17523 Address or RD Town Merle Dellinger pours more corn into his antique "corn cracker”, a once-familiar piece of farm equipment that ground corn into coarse feed. Visitors at the York Fair’s popularold machinery display took home bags of Mellinger’s cracked yellow grain to fill their bird feeders. ★ Horse Buildings ★ Hog Confinement Beef Confinement, Loafing Buildings ★ Grain Storage Name State Phone (includes.area code) Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 24,1981—07 .County
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers