Steam tractor fireworks!

I saw this a couple of months ago and found it again. Looks as if he sucked most of the firebox through the flues! Wish I could have been there.
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We put my brother in law's ashes through the steam engine like that last fall.

That sure is raw power ! There was a fellow Ed Winters of Winters rigging here in wny that had an old case steamer but I don't think it was quite that big. He used to bring it to the Langford/ New Oregon tractor pull in his home town and sometimes would pull it during intermission. Always put on a good show !

I've seen that on here a while back.

Someone said they shovel in saw dust for the effect.

Guess that's why they all have a canopy, even running under normal conditions there would still be burning embers falling!

I watched one doing very close to that on the bakers fan at Rough and Tumble Thresherman's Reunion two years ago. They had to shut it down and start over because it was pulling too much draft. Strong draft draws more air, which makes more draft which draws more air, which makes more draft. The stronger the draft the larger the size of the coals it will pull through the grate and send up the stack.

A lot of threshing shows put on a spark show each evening by shoveling sawdust in the firebox of a steam engine while on a prony brake. A prony brake is a belt driven dynomometer.

Saw your post about that. Very fitting tribute to his life.
Loren

It was a show. My son and I were there.

Ya,they took some of them to another show in Ohio where he's from and ran them through down there two,so he got to put on two shows.

This info was posted below the video,

Published on Aug 18, 2014
UPDATE!!
Some information about the engine from the owner Josh Maschhoff: "We run at 150 psi.
The Engine weighs around 42500lbs loaded with coal and water.
Torque is 3000 ft lbs at 240 rpm
The sled was definitely weighted and i know from experience first hand that the engine can drag the sled with the weight box all the way up and the bars dropped."


Don't worry about the fire hazard. What you see is a very exaggerated amount of burning embers coming from the smokestack. The sparks are created as a night spectacle for entertainment. Before this pull, sawdust was added to the firebox to enhance the night "spark show." Having said that back in the day there was always a risk of fire. There was less of a risk during plowing season. The highest risk was during harvest when the steam engines returned to the fields to thresh (separate) the grain from their stalks, in typically dry fields. Weeks before the steam engines arrived the grain was cut and bundled by binders. These mechanized machines looked the front of modern "combines" but binders only cut and a bound the grain. The crops were cut close to the ground by the binder leaving the grain (heads) connected to the shaft. These bundles were approximately 8" in diameter and were about 3' tall. After the crops were cut, these bundles were stacked in small piles called "shocks." These shocks contained maybe 7 to 12 bundles and scattered all over the field. The shocks were left in the field until the grain was dry enough to separate. The threshermen traveled from farm to farm to thresh each farmers grain. Most individual farmers could not afford a steam traction engine so the threshermen provided this service to the farmer. On threshing day wagons were brought to the field and would load the shocks of grain and haul it to the threshing machine where it was placed quite a distance (and upwind) from the steam engine that provided the power for the machine to do its work. The steam engine provided power to the threshing machine via an extremely long belt to keep any embers away from the dry chaff and straw that was separated from the grain. The shock piles of crop were gathered as they were needed and not all gathered up and piled in one place at one time. That way, if there was a fire it would be small and contained to a small portion of the harvest and not all of it. The steam engines were also outfitted spark arresters while threshing. Not to mention these steam engines required water so water was generally available should a fire break out. Also the steam engines would burn the straw which was waste from process of threshing the grain.

Great display, thsnks for sharing. We have steam shows nearby in Berryville, VA...never seen anything like this, though.

do that every year at old thresher show in evening they try to get three machines doing it all same time it really makes for nice show. its saw dust they throw in to do it

I know the owner of that tractor. He's burning straw in the fire box at that time to do that.

Thanks for all of the replys folks. The reason I posted this was that the video is just so awsum! Shame you can't run some straw or saw dust through my CUB tractor so it would shoot out sparks. This guy must really like his big toy.

(quoted from post at 01:17:56 02/19/17) Thanks for all of the replys folks. The reason I posted this was that the video is just so awsum! Shame you can't run some straw or saw dust through my CUB tractor so it would shoot out sparks. This guy must really like his big toy.

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If you take it out at night and load it hard it may surprise.

That is awesome. Thanks for your post.