Old PTO generator

Bus Driver

Well-known Member
Found a used, apparently quite old, generator for 540 PTO. Babson Brothers Co., Model 17970. 15KW, 115/230 volts. Babson has not existed since 1999. But they were the makers of Surge milkers. And maybe this unit was for farmers who might have power outage at milking time- or no electricity at all. Might have been above average quality. Runs quietly but voltage seems to not be stable. Didn't have much way to test that today as I looked at it at the seller's place.
Anyone know anything about this unit? Actually two generators running from one big gear box. Could some other company have been the manufacturer? Chances of finding parts if needed?
 
Bearings and seals from anywhere. Generic Voltage regulators from eBay. Brushes by mixing and matching until something is found. Slip rings can be lightly trued and cleaned in a lathe.
If a stator or rotor winding is burned or laminations are loose. It"s scrap.
I would not invest a whole lot unless you really know what you are doing.
Each generator could be operated by a 10-12HP engine.
 

I saw something like that on a dairy farm once. The power was out and the farmer said that it worked just fine when the were milking and it was carrying a good load but when it was only running a light load, a few lights etc., one on the pair would run hot.

Dusty
 
It appears from visual inspection that each generator is 115 volts. The two are connected so that 230 volts is supplied to a NEMA 10-50 receptacle. The gear train synchronizes the two generators. Woe to the person who reassembles it and gets them out of "time". The voltmeter apparently reads only one generator as the scale stops at 150 volts- and the meter was broken. The only evident regulator was two small units that looked like transformers and I assumed that they were choke coils or similar. They were under a sheetmetal cover.
The nameplate on the unit had no Zip Code for the address-- so this unit probably pre-dates 1963.
The seller had a well-used Kubota L2550 with non-operative PTO and we went to his neighbor who had a Ford 4000 with inoperative tachometer. But the Ford ran smoothly.
Not sure if I will go look at the unit again. Located about 30 miles from me. It is possible that this was a premium quality unit- but I do not know. The absence of gear noise to boost from 540 to 3600 was surprising. That is one indication of quality.
 
The only OEMs I know for PTO units. Were Onan,Winpower,Kato-Light.They did make units for other companies. Who put there name on them. Can you post some pictures.
 
Billy,It is your favorite Co."GENERAC".JD,A-C and some others bought and sold them for a few yrs.Never worked all that well.
 

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