I went through all the catalogs I have access to and came across an interesting thing regarding the Case threshers. Here's a little background, with the new info below that. As many of you saw in my older posts, extension feeders were commonly used in my area of Kansas. Quite a bit of heading went on, and it was easier to pitch spikes from a stack into the longer, lower extension feeder than straight into the self-feeder of the threshing machine. We have a 1936 28x47 and wanted to fix up an extension feeder for it. There were two within a couple miles of our farm. The first is probably a 1925 unit.
The one below I believe to be from about 1917. It also has the right-angle drive so that you can feed straight or on either side of the self-feeder.
Note that the second feeder isn't galvanized. So, here's the new info (to me at least). Up through 1916, the catalogs show and advertise the steel threshers as having "galvanized sheet steel" sides. Here's an illustration from 1916.
The 1917 catalog shows threshers (as well as the extension feeders) with painted sides. The text calls the side material "rust-resisting sheet steel" rather than galvanized. Presumably, this was a result of the effects of WWI. A 1917 illustration is below.
I don't have a 1918 or 1919 catalog, but if someone who reads this does I'd appreciate knowing when Case was able to go back to galvanized panels. If it did have to do with WWI, I would think the 1919 catalog would show galvanized again. Another interesting note is that Case didn't price the items in the 1917 catalog. Instead of a "Price List" like the other catalogs have, this year has a "Machinery List" and a statement that says, "Owing to the constant advance in the cost of raw materials for the production of our machinery, we may be compelled to change the list prices of our products during the year. For this reason we have not published list prices in this catalog." I suppose this was a direct result of the war as well.
The one below I believe to be from about 1917. It also has the right-angle drive so that you can feed straight or on either side of the self-feeder.
Note that the second feeder isn't galvanized. So, here's the new info (to me at least). Up through 1916, the catalogs show and advertise the steel threshers as having "galvanized sheet steel" sides. Here's an illustration from 1916.
The 1917 catalog shows threshers (as well as the extension feeders) with painted sides. The text calls the side material "rust-resisting sheet steel" rather than galvanized. Presumably, this was a result of the effects of WWI. A 1917 illustration is below.
I don't have a 1918 or 1919 catalog, but if someone who reads this does I'd appreciate knowing when Case was able to go back to galvanized panels. If it did have to do with WWI, I would think the 1919 catalog would show galvanized again. Another interesting note is that Case didn't price the items in the 1917 catalog. Instead of a "Price List" like the other catalogs have, this year has a "Machinery List" and a statement that says, "Owing to the constant advance in the cost of raw materials for the production of our machinery, we may be compelled to change the list prices of our products during the year. For this reason we have not published list prices in this catalog." I suppose this was a direct result of the war as well.
