Comments on: In the Archives: Purebred Michigan

By: poohbah

poohbah — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 17:15:57 +0000

It is a blowtorch. And it is a very dangerous tool! Gasoline is used as the fuel and the bottom tank is partially filled with it. Then, using the pump (the handle is the thin horizontal one on the left), the tank is pressurized. In order for the torch to work, the combustion head has to be hot to vaporize the incoming fuel. To get the torch started initially, a small amount of gasoline is allowed to fill the shallow tray (visible immediately below the head) and set afire with a match. As it burns, it heats the head. When the head is deemed hot enough, the main valve is opened (circular handle on top) and a vaporized fuel shoots out of the end which is then ignited with a match. The flame spreads back into the head to ignite the incoming fuel and to keep the head hot. The end result is a short but broad working flame unlike that from an acetylene or propane torch. Because of the need to keep the head hot, once started the torch is left running continuously for the duration of the job. If the head is not hot enough, instead of vapor you get a stream of gasoline which may be burning – i.e. a flame thrower! As you can see, there are many opportunities for some serious accidents here.

By: Irene Hieber

Irene Hieber — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:30:57 +0000

My daughter & son-in-law (Becky & Bryan Welch) believe it is an acetylene torch.

By: Vivienne Armentrout

Vivienne Armentrout — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:03:33 +0000

This sent me to the Calder Dairy website [link] where I ascertained that they have a number of Jersey cows as well as Holstein and Brown Swiss. (Their trucks are sometimes painted Holstein.) The phrase, "aided by bovine growth hormone" gave me the shudders. The reasons so many of us seek out milk not produced by this assist are well known (it leads to overuse of antibiotics) but it has also been responsible for the bust in the dairy industry. As with all other agricultural commodities, dairy farmers do better when they have a good production year as everyone else is failing. Overproduction ruins the market. We've had perennial crises in milk prices, milk being poured on the ground, subsidies voted in to support a local industry, the works, partly because of this practice. (Calder doesn't use it.)

By: TeacherPatti

TeacherPatti — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 03:12:36 +0000

What a lovely article! I want a cow now! :)
Can you believe they are making the Three Stooges into a movie?! Ugh!

By: Laura Bien

Laura Bien — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:27:56 +0000

Jim: The Three Stooges started as a live vaudeville act as you know…and they were still making films into the 1950s, amazing.

By: Laura Bien

Laura Bien — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:17:02 +0000

TJ: Interestingly enough, they had automatic milkers before rural electrification. I saw several in the old dairy magazines I was reading. They operated not unlike a manual bicycle pump. The part that hooks on to the udder looked similar to modern machine milkers, and a hose from those fed into a central can. It could milk two cows at once, which must have been an amazing labor-saver in 1914.

By: Jim Rees

Jim Rees — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:09:42 +0000

It’s a blow torch, as anyone who grew up watching the Three Stooges can tell you.

By: TJ

TJ — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:58:21 +0000

It looks like a spray can, maybe for pesticide application? Although given the theme of the column, perhaps I should be speculating along the lines of milk collection…