I never knew where the phrase "running balls out" came from. Holy shit maynard, 45 year old question finally answered. Oh, and that's the biggest baddest tractor I've ever seen. Thank you, I learned something today :)
"balls to the wall" - airplane engine controls have knobs of different shapes, all called balls.War Emergency Power was push all the levers to the firewall: throttle, full rich mixture, maximum load on the prop. all balls pushed to the firewall - balls out
"fat, dumb, and happy" - WWII fighter drivers were having a good day if the fuel tanks were full ( fat ); they were maintaining radio silence ( dumb ) - and nobody was shooting at them - ( happy )
You are mixing your metaphors slightly there. You are correct about the origin of Balls to the Wall but then you incorrectly tie in Balls Out. As mentioned above the video gives a great representation of Balls Out. The spinny thing on top of the steam engine is a Fly Ball Governor. It's a rotating linkage that controls the throttle of the engine. As it spins centrifugal force causes the Balls at the ends of the linkage to fly outward and upward closing a throttling valve preventing the engine from over reving and potentially blowing up. If you are going as fast as you possibly can and working as hard as you possibly can you are Running Balls Out.
Now the Fat, Dumb and Happy thing I just don't buy. I've known too many people who are literally Fat, Dumb and Happy.
Now a question for steam engine aficionados. The Flyball Governor I understand but why does the smoke coming from the chimney seem to pulsate in time with the stroking of the engine. Clearly I'm missing something but I can't imagine a connection between the fire burning under the boiler and the cycling of the steam powered drive mechanism. Anyone care to elaborate?
Thanks for that. I went to see the Big Boy 4014 locomotive when it came thru town nearby. Burning oil due to the EPA weenies, would love to have seen that thing billowing that black smoke.
What an impressive feat to make one of these from the original drawings. Good for them for doing this. I think that must have taken a lot of money and finding someone to make the patterns to cast the parts must have been hard as well. Wow!!
About a quarter-century ago, I vaguely recall seeing something similar at the annual open-house at Pacific NorthWest Truck Museum in Brooks, Oregon. In this video, does each till require a tiller?
In another video of the rig: * on the dyno, the torque is around 5,000 at 126hp. The operator warns the crowd: * "Stand back in case she blows!"
I had the honor 42 years ago of being allowed to drive a small Case Tractor, at a Steam & Gas show in Piqua Ohio. What a Joy. The steering is a worm assembly under the boiler. Those chains you see hanging under the front of the tractor connected to the axle? That's how it steers.The worm gear connected to the steering wheel, operates that round gear with the chains on it. As is turns, it slowly lets one chain get longer, while shorting the other. The Front axle on it's single pivot, has a chain on each end. AS you can see, there is slop, in every part of the system. Want to make a 45 Deg right turn? Get started spinning the steering wheel. It has a Suicide Knob for good reason! 15-20 Turns to get that axle to pivot enough for the turn. The same to get it back straight again. Plowing straight lines? Easy-Peasy. The 180 turn at the end of the row? 10 minutes of frenzied cranking on the steering wheel........ It was un-forgettable.
WOW, thats a tractor.
ReplyDeleteVery cool.
If this is the one I am thinking about they built it from scratch. Just had the data plate.
ReplyDeleteJohn in SD
Jesus H. Christ!
ReplyDeleteThat monster must have enough torque to reverse the Earth's rotation.
I never knew where the phrase "running balls out" came from. Holy shit maynard, 45 year old question finally answered. Oh, and that's the biggest baddest tractor I've ever seen. Thank you, I learned something today :)
ReplyDeleteso, learn a couple more things:
Delete"balls to the wall" - airplane engine controls have knobs of different shapes, all called balls.War Emergency Power was push all the levers to the firewall: throttle, full rich mixture, maximum load on the prop. all balls pushed to the firewall - balls out
"fat, dumb, and happy" - WWII fighter drivers were having a good day if the fuel tanks were full ( fat ); they were maintaining radio silence ( dumb ) - and nobody was shooting at them - ( happy )
You are mixing your metaphors slightly there. You are correct about the origin of Balls to the Wall but then you incorrectly tie in Balls Out. As mentioned above the video gives a great representation of Balls Out. The spinny thing on top of the steam engine is a Fly Ball Governor. It's a rotating linkage that controls the throttle of the engine. As it spins centrifugal force causes the Balls at the ends of the linkage to fly outward and upward closing a throttling valve preventing the engine from over reving and potentially blowing up. If you are going as fast as you possibly can and working as hard as you possibly can you are Running Balls Out.
DeleteNow the Fat, Dumb and Happy thing I just don't buy. I've known too many people who are literally Fat, Dumb and Happy.
Now a question for steam engine aficionados. The Flyball Governor I understand but why does the smoke coming from the chimney seem to pulsate in time with the stroking of the engine. Clearly I'm missing something but I can't imagine a connection between the fire burning under the boiler and the cycling of the steam powered drive mechanism. Anyone care to elaborate?
The rear wheels on that thing must be the end gear of the biggest reduction gear ever built. What an amazing machine.
ReplyDeleteNemo
Well, that just consumed half my morning. Best bang for your buck power source. We may see this material again. Excellent videos, Irish. Ohio Guy
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. I went to see the Big Boy 4014 locomotive when it came thru town nearby. Burning oil due to the EPA weenies, would love to have seen that thing billowing that black smoke.
ReplyDeleteI've seen this before and i learned that tractor weighs 76,000lbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's quite a machine. Also, that's some mighty fine dirt.
ReplyDeleteYeah that is some mighty fine dirt. Where I grew up it was all red clay. We was dirt poor.
DeleteTech that helped propel America to front and center.
ReplyDelete-arc
What an impressive feat to make one of these from the original drawings. Good for them for doing this. I think that must have taken a lot of money and finding someone to make the patterns to cast the parts must have been hard as well. Wow!!
ReplyDeleteIt was probably people like Phil who helped.
DeleteAbout a quarter-century ago, I vaguely recall seeing something similar at the annual open-house at Pacific NorthWest Truck Museum in Brooks, Oregon.
ReplyDeleteIn this video, does each till require a tiller?
In another video of the rig:
* on the dyno, the torque is around 5,000 at 126hp.
The operator warns the crowd:
* "Stand back in case she blows!"
I had the honor 42 years ago of being allowed to drive a small Case Tractor, at a Steam & Gas show in Piqua Ohio.
ReplyDeleteWhat a Joy. The steering is a worm assembly under the boiler. Those chains you see hanging under the front of the tractor connected to the axle? That's how it steers.The worm gear connected to the steering wheel, operates that round gear with the chains on it. As is turns, it slowly lets one chain get longer, while shorting the other. The Front axle on it's single pivot, has a chain on each end. AS you can see, there is slop, in every part of the system. Want to make a 45 Deg right turn? Get started spinning the steering wheel. It has a Suicide Knob for good reason! 15-20 Turns to get that axle to pivot enough for the turn. The same to get it back straight again. Plowing straight lines? Easy-Peasy. The 180 turn at the end of the row? 10 minutes of frenzied cranking on the steering wheel........
It was un-forgettable.