Got 'er goin'!

centash

Well-known Member
Got my dad's old wood burning Fordson running on wood gas. On exhibit at the Plowing Match next week. Ben
a171858.jpg
 
Yes, the barrels on the far side are the gasifier unit, the other attachments are filters and a cooler/condenser and a dual fuel carburetor. Ben
 
That is neat! Well done.
Assuming this wood gas attachment is not factory original, what was the reason for the conversion?

During WW II some tractors and many cars and buses were converted to wood gas (the gasifier was called "gas generator") in The Netherlands due to severe shortage of liquid fuels. A few seem to remain, although I've never seen one personally. They were stoked with wood or coal.
Note: I'm sure these conversions were done in other countries too where fuel was scarce and/or rationed.
 
I have read where they prefer a specific type of wood. Was it birch? The other Place you saw buses and trucks with those was Japan during WW II. Not quite as good as having propane gas but , hey it ran. Some thing you can compare it to was before hydraulic lifts. You had those monsterous vacuum lifts. Pulleys and cables and such. Hey, when you got nothing better. Here is an exhaust version that I didnt know about.
lit one
 
Any dry wood will work, soft wood, especially. Cedar is better since it burns completely with little ash. Ben
 
About 10 % less power. A higher compression head was included with most kits to offset that somewhat. Ben
 
My dad used several in Holland during the war. His father had four sons and in order to avoid being sent to a forced Labour camp, they had to find work deemed necessary. Thus he applied for and received a permit to own farm equipment......most was confiscated and melted for the war effort....and to perform custom work for other farmers, mostly threshing and wood cutting. After the war, he emigrated to Canada and operated a repair shop on the farm here. None of his Canadian farm clients would believe that he had a tractor that ran on wood, so once he retired in 1987, he built this one from memory to prove it so. Ben
 
Lots of good stuff on the internet on wood powered engines. I'm planning to build one just to try it out.

Thanks for the picture, story, and the advice, we've got lots of cedar to burn.

I've read that there was a carbon monoxide poising issue during the war as the gassifiers continue to burn after you park the car so in an enclosed garage it is dangerous.
 
That is a great tractor and story! Glad you shared it. When gas was $5 I looked at that too. Looked fairly straight forward to me. I always remember heating a popsicle stick in a test tube and burning the gas that came off it in 6th grade science.
 
I've always been fascinated that an internal combustion could run on wood gas that way. Neat old tractor.
 

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