Powering the Machine

The development of threshing machines with mechanized feeding, threshing, winnowing and straw-stacking devices, and their increase in size, had an enormous impact on the development of power sources. Each step in the mechanical evolution led to a corresponding increase in the amount of power required to operate the machine. To ensure that the machine was being used efficiently in terms of daily threshing output, it had to be kept in continuous operation for long periods of time. These factors combined to ensure the supremacy of portable steam engines as a source of power. As long as the steam engine was kept at operating pressure, it offered a potentially endless supply of energy. For a while, firms like John Abell of Toronto and the Waterloo Manufacturing Company continued to offer eight- to twelve-horse sweeps. Despite the text under the visual of the Pitt’s horse sweep in the Waterloo Manufacturing Company’s 1914 catalogue, however, it was apparent that horse sweeps could not be used to power large technologically-advanced machines.

Pitt’s Horse Sweep in the Waterloo Manufacturing Company’s 1914 catalogue

Sawyer-Massey’s c.1918 20-40 Kerosene Tractor (740216)

By 1900, sales of portable engines designed for agricultural use were being outstripped by traction engines. In addition to offering a stationary power source, traction engines could pull equipment such as ploughs. Although most engines were fired with wood, many intended for the Western Canadian market had an optional combination firebox grate and feed chute, enabling the use of straw as fuel. During the first decade of the twentieth century, large kerosene/gas tractors challenged steam traction engines in all areas of agricultural technology, including the powering of threshing machines. Firms such as Sawyer-Massey, which already had a reputation for manufacturing steam traction engines, began to offer kerosene tractors, often in the same catalogue. Sawyer-Massey’s 1918 20-40 tractor (740216) offered 20 horsepower on the drawbar and 40 horsepower on the Pulley, making it capable of powering any of the large threshing machines. There was little difference in purchase price: steam and internal combustion each cost between two and three thousand dollars. As smaller multipurpose gas tractors began to make inroads onto Canada’s farms, manufacturers touted their utility in replacing horses for fieldwork, and as the ideal power source for harvest-season “belt work.”

Large gas tractor/threshing crew pitching bundles

The Johnson and Benoud Threshing Outfit, Broderick, Saskatchewan, 1923