Threshing

This past weekend the Tennessee-Kentucky Threshermen's Association held their 37th Annual Threshing Show at the home of the Bell Witch in Adams, Tn. on the Bell School Grounds. So once again, Sam and I headed north towards the Kentucky border on our trusty motorbikes to check 'em out, and revel in a time when most folks worked far damned harder than you and I.

Timimg is everything, for when we walked onto the grounds the crew was preparing the big generators for ignition. This shot is of one of the oil-burning engines/electrical generators that the Association has accumulated over the past couple of decades. This particular one is a four-cylinder, approximately twelve feet long by ten foot high. It used to supply Clarksville, Tn. with electrical power in the early 19oo's. The Threshermen now have three such engines on the show grounds, all permanently mounted in a shelter, and every year they fire these suckers up for the show. Glorious.

Over the past few years though, they've made them a bit more politically correct, in that they now have muffler systems. Used to, they'd rattle the ground under your feet and your cage too, just like all big motors should. Sam say's he liked them better the other way. Ah well.

Here, Sam points out a piston with five ring lands(!) and a main bearing from the three-cylinder oil-burning engine/generator that used to supply electricity to Inglewood and Madison, Tn. Way more to come.....