OT: Heavy machinery 100 years ago

[updraught]

Here in Oz we were linked into the British Empire at the time, and had heavy tariffs from elsewhere.
Come WW2 and we were gob smacked at the American advancement in mechanical technology. After the war the govt. here set up a division to go out and collect forklifts etc. that had been abandoned in the pacific and bring them back to transform the port handling facilities.
Wheat, for example was still being transported overseas in bags on sailing ships up till WW2.
Now, we invented the combine harvester at the turn of the century known as the Sunshine harvester (it became the biggest factory in the southern hemisphere), so one man could do a harvest. But it was designed for bags and stayed that way as the owner of Sunshine harvesters successfully partitioned the govt. for tariffs after WW1.
He knew that American mass production would be big competition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFyXwoy_Jww

[Chuck Dempsey]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting!

[updraught]

This is a snippet from a facebook page called Aussie Towns on the use of sailing ships in the 1930's.

"The story is superbly told by Eric Newby (one of the greatest travel writers) in “The Great Grain Race”, an account of his time as an eighteen-year-old deckhand on a ship named Moshulu that sailed from Ireland to Australia and then back to Europe in 1938-39.
Newby explained that: “Captain Gustav Erikson of Mariehamn, ‘Ploddy Gustav’ as he was known more or less affectionately by the men and boys who sailed his ships, was in 1938 the owner of the largest fleet of square-rigged deep-water sailing vessels in the world.
“There were still in 1938 thirteen vessels entirely propelled by sail, engaged in carrying grain from South Australia to Europe by way of Cape Horn … The survival of the big sailing-ships in this trade was due to several favourable circumstances. Grain was not dependent on season, neither was it perishable.
“In the primitive ports of the Spencer Gulf, where the grain was brought down from the backblocks in sacks, steamers found it difficult to load a cargo in an economical time. Although at some ports there were mile-long jetties, at most places the grain had to be brought alongside the ships in lightering ketches and slung into the hold with the vessel’s own gear, which might, and frequently did, take weeks. But a sailing ship run with utmost economy and a low-paid crew could still in 1938 take six weeks to load her cargo of 4,000 tons of grain, reach Falmouth or Queenstown for orders after 120 days on passage and still make a profit on a round voyage of about 30,000 miles, the outward 15,000 having been made in ballast.”

There is even a video of life on the sailing grain ships in the 1930's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS01pYi2S38

[Model51]

Thanks for sharing this story. I had no idea sailing ships were still in service just prior to WW2.

[Bruce of MN]

This book gives a good account of that era

https://www.amazon.com/windjammers-S.../dp/0809427052

[updraught]

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I just turned up this video.

Quite a story of the last of the sailing ships and the grain races.
Only to be watched by the more adventurous!! One ship had a reputation of losing one man on every outing.

https://youtu.be/RCShq8cpai0?si=yHRdhKfizKoWzdDe

[ModelA29]

Originally Posted by Model51

Thanks for sharing this story. I had no idea sailing ships were still in service just prior to WW2.

They were still used on a small island hopping deliveries into the 60s. Today they are trying to make a comeback. I doubt you'll see perishable and other time sensitive shipments using the service.
https://youtu.be/E5-Xglt1rh4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB2L-Qd8Eo0


Hate to burst your bubble but you guys were nearly 50 years late to the party.......
The first successful combine harvester was invented in the United States in 1834. They patented their invention, a horse-drawn machine, in 1836.
The first commercial combine harvester developed in Australia was the Sunshine Header Harvester, created by Hugh Victor McKay in 1885.

[updraught]

>>The first successful combine harvester was invented in the United States in 1834. They patented their invention, a horse-drawn machine, in 1836.


Ha. Ha. I was waiting for someone to bring this up.
The theories were around for a long time, but McKay made it work and commercially successful. Ford didn't invent the car, but made it commercially successful.

[ModelA29]

Originally Posted by updraught

>>The first successful combine harvester was invented in the United States in 1834. They patented their invention, a horse-drawn machine, in 1836.


Ha. Ha. I was waiting for someone to bring this up.
The theories were around for a long time, but McKay made it work and commercially successful. Ford didn't invent the car, but made it commercially successful.

You said "we invented the combine harvester at the turn of the century".
Reality - The Sunshine Harvester:
McKay's Sunshine Header-Harvester, built in 1885, was a refinement of existing designs and proved to be commercially viable, meaning it was widely adopted by farmers and contributed to McKay's success.

[updraught]

Originally Posted by ModelA29

You said "we invented the combine harvester at the turn of the century".
Reality - The Sunshine Harvester:
McKay's Sunshine Header-Harvester, built in 1885, was a refinement of existing designs and proved to be commercially viable, meaning it was widely adopted by farmers and contributed to McKay's success.

Yes. It worked!