TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD


Just keep it clean please....

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Post Mon May 24, 2021 5:55 pm

TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

I was digging through some stuff today and I found some of the toys from my youth. My favorite is this DOEPKE HEILONER SCRAPER. It was made in 1951 and 1952. It weighs 12 pounds (5.44 kg). It is 29 inches (73.6 cm) long. This is the most expensive toy made by the HEIL CO. The toy is all pressed steel with semi pneumatic tires. All of the functions work. The scraper can be lowered to remove dirt and raised to spread the load. The depth of the cutter can be adjusted.
I am sure my Dad struggled with the cost of this scraper when he bought it for me.
I have other toys from the 1950s. I will try to take pictures of some of them, later.
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doepke heiliner scraper 2011.jpg
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive
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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2015 11:14 am

Post Tue May 25, 2021 5:41 pm

Re: TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

look better if it was painted Harvey Green , but nice, none the less...
Did you wear an IH bib too , that could be worth some coin..

Image


Be safe - sm

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8937

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Sun Aug 07, 2022 6:50 pm

Re: TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

I was thinking this morning about how we get to where we are. It did not just happen in a flash. There were steps and stepping stones along the way. There were so many things that shaped us into the persons who we are. What ever that may appear to be, is interpreted by the eyes that our lives have given us.
My early life was on an Alberta farm. We were a family, and a community that pulled together. Even as children, we had to contribute something. We became part of the mosaic that was the Easter Irrigation District, now known as the EID.
Life on the farm was cut off, for us, after several years of devastating weather that nearly broke my father's spirit. We had an auction. As the pieces were sold off, I watched my Father change by the minute. He looked lost and tired. Slowly but surely the things that defined Dad, as a farmer, were being pulled from him like the quills from a Porcupine attack. There was the pain and in time the wounds would heal but the scars would remain.
I think that an auction is really a sad occasion. I suppose that if I tried very hard, I could see it as a celebration of a life. I am sure that somewhere in the group of prospective buyers there must be a few who are there to take home a token to remember someone or something.
Every farm auction that I have been to, I have seen signs of genius that the farmer called for from somewhere inside himself, to make some task easier or better. Farmers, I think, are by nature optimistic persons with vision and hope. Somewhere in this mix is a glue that holds it all together called invention.
My Father was a person who could design and fabricate almost any machine or tool for his farm. He invented a land leveler that had an adjustable blade that was followed by a roller. His idea was taken by someone who went on to make a great deal of money with his idea. He never received a dime for his invention. That was way back in 1952 or so.
I remember one time when I went to town with my Dad. We went to the Alberta Wheat Pool Elevator to sell some grain. I was fascinated by the Prairie Giant, grain elevator, and the big Diesel engine that sat in a frightening pit under the agent's office. With some encouragement from my Father and a few cautions from the Pool Agent, I descended into the abyss to spend time with the monster. My feelings were somewhere between fear and reverence as I sat on a 5 gallon bucket, hands deep in my pockets. The engine continued to go about its business and even though, as a young boy, I thought it had some life and soul, it took no notice of me. Very soon, My Dad was ready to go into town and I was called to follow. I told Dad that I wanted one of those engines to play with.
At that time in my Father's life, there was little time for play, and he laughed at my childish idea. We had yet to experience rural electrification and farming was hard work. The Ruston Hornsby Diesel was there to work hard, like Dad, and it would not rest until the Calgary Power came to its rescue in 1951. Even after the "Big Power" came to Tilley Alberta, the Ruston Diesel continued in service for quite a few more years. This strong and durable engine and many of its peers across the Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were retired just in time to fall into the hands of grateful collectors, like myself. Engine collecting had become a big hobby.
Some of us cried when we saw the engines run for the first time, in our garages. Here was a piece of our past, our youth and something that seemed to have a soul and felt what we grew up with. After I got the engine set up, and running, I upended a five gallon bucket, and sat on it, next to the running engine, as I had done so many years before. So many memories flooded my mind all at once. I remembered trying to concentrate on my education in Tilley School, across the road from the elevator, while the engine's gentile thump, thump counted out the seconds of those fall days. I could see the farmer's trucks arrive and dump their years work into the bowels of the elevator. Every so often one of the trucks was Dad's. It was a Green 1948 Ford Three Ton with my Mom's had hand painted black fenders. Dad would wave at the school on the off chance that I might be looking out the window. If I told him that I saw him wave, he would say, " you should have been looking at your books."
After a few minutes, I called my Dad, in Calgary, and I held the 'phone up so that he hear the engine run. Neither he or I could speak for several minutes. After a time, I asked Dad, "would like to come and visit us and the engine, I'll pay for the ticket". "Just go to the airport and the ticket will be there for you".
Dad arrived the next day and he sat on the bucket, this time, and together, we remembered the "long ago". Through his tears he said, "aren't those bank machines, at the airport, really something".
Thanx for the memories and the skills, Dad - - - I'll not forget you.
Dad left us in 1989 and passed into eternity.
Attachments
Ruston Hornsby.jpg
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Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 10:40 am

Location: Wichita, Kansas

Post Sun Aug 07, 2022 9:25 pm

Re: TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

Very well written, Nikki!
I have personally experienced some of those same things. My Dad retired from farming at age 62 not because he had to financially, but because his body didn't want to do it anymore and neither I nor my two brothers wanted to continue the farm. The day of the auction was a hard day for me. I wanted to always be able to come back to it.
When I was about 7-10 years old my grandfather, recognizing my interest in all things mechanical, took me to the Haviland Thresher's convention several times. I was fascinated by those big steam engines powering a sawmill, threshing bundles of wheat, and trying to see how fast they could spin the Baker fan.

Dean
Lifelong Kansan
Grew up with red paint
Moved off the farm 33 years ago.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Location: Lyman, IA

Post Tue Aug 09, 2022 3:09 pm

Re: TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

I have my Great Grandfather's 1 1/2 hp Witte that pumped water to a tank over the kitchen in a northern Maine house. As a youth we always started it once a year, My Father remembers re ringing it in the early 50's. It is a 1927 I believe, and came with the house when my relatives bought it. I also have the same vintage Johnson 2 cyl outboard. I'm not sure when the REA got to that area of Maine.
Smaller displacement but similar memories.
Somewhere on the "stak" is a video of one of those Canadian elevators with the big diesel running, more for a "chuff chuff" than loud bark, just clicking over doing its job all day long.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

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Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Tue Aug 09, 2022 3:30 pm

Re: TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

https://youtu.be/HdSk25_d8n4
My Ruston CR speaks quietly but with authority. In comparison, I think of my IHC LB engines as small barking dogs with more bark than bite. My John Deere "E" types remind me of coughing and wheezing. I had a 500 cubic inch kerosene Fairbanks Elevator Engine. This engine was loud and bold. It could spit flames out of the exhaust pipe. One time the Fairbanks backfired and the Police came to investigate a loud gunshot complaint. The problem neighbour next door had called 911. The neighbour was aware of what caused the big bang. He was spoken to about making a false complaint.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 5170

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Location: Lyman, IA

Post Tue Aug 09, 2022 3:46 pm

Re: TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

https://www.nfb.ca/film/grain_elevator/
This is one I was thinking of, first saw it on the Stak.

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8937

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Wed Aug 10, 2022 3:18 pm

Re: TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

When my Dad bought a new John Deere in 1951, he bought two of those John Deere pedal tractors for my brother and I. Sadly, these pedal tractors were lost to time. I bought a JD pedal tractor for my son's fifth b'day. He pedaled it to the shop and back then put it away. He has not done anything with it in 32 years.
I have to look for my childhood Radio Flyer wagon. It is in the basement. When my daughter was very young, She liked to go to tractor shows with me. I restored my Radio Flyer and painted it John Deere green with yellow wheels. I built miniature wood stock racks for the wagon. The wagon got a shop made slow vehicle triangle for the back and fitted carpet. . Vancouver Umbrella https://vancouverumbrella.com/?gclid=EA ... gIIQvD_BwE made a green and yellow parasol with a clamp-on-base. I need to find the wagon and get a few pictures. I'll bet the wagon and the pedal tractor are in the wine room.
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee

Posts: 8937

Joined: Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:45 pm

Location: Canada's left Coast

Post Thu Aug 11, 2022 5:08 pm

Re: TOYS FROM MY CHILDHOOD

Here in Canada, after the war, there was thousands of decommissioned military vehicles and components for sale. Princess Auto out of Winnipeg was one of my Dad's favorite sellers of bits and pieces.
Some of the war surplus Dad bought were a Lancaster Bomber, two Piper Cub J3, Several Jeeps, Gen-sets, a big drillpress, welding benches and he bought two surplus engine welders. The Hobart was Dodge flathead 6 powered and the other welder was a Miller and it had a Ford Flathead model 60 V8 engine. I did my first unsupervised welding with one of these machines. I had to wear glasses, for a few years, to help with the astigmatism. I forgot to wear the helmit.
One of my favorites was a cutting torch carrier. It ran on 4 inch channel iron. This torch track was made of electric gearbox airplane parts. Dad had a machinist friend turn the wheels.
I have this unit in my shop. It sill works. I do not have a use for it, except for that feel-good moment.
Another of Dad's builds was adapting surplus hydraulics to his 1938 John Deere D. The hydraulics raised and lowered implements. This made plowing easy for me to do a few rounds while Dad went for "lunch."
Attachments
war surplus parts make a torch carrier.jpg
I would rather have tools I do not need than to need tools I do not have
Thinking risks being controversial and possibly being offensive

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