This week I was on the hunt for old barns and I found a few. So for the Saturday post of the “old” week, I’m going to post a very precious old barn. This barn was my grandfather’s and the farm is still in the family.
Old Family Barn
Picture of the Day for August 24, 2012
For the Friday picture of the “old” week, I decided on a close up shot of a barn door and the “Big 4” door hanger. By zooming in on the metal washer, I was able to read the company and name of the hanger. The old white barn that was on my home farm had these door hangers before the tornado took the barn down.
I found an advertisement in the November 1922 issue of the Building Age and Builders’ Journal for the Big 4. Below is that ad.
“You Need the NATIONAL “Big 4” Flexible Door Hanger and “Braced Rail”
That barn – or similar job – that you are handling, calls for a heavy-duty Hanger and Rail; for an easily sliding door gives the stamp of the right construction to the whole building.
The Big-4 Flexible Door Hanger has as its keynotes Simplicity and Strength. Note its sturdy appearance in the illustration. Thousands of pairs in use for years in all sections of this country and Canada prove its Serviceability under varying conditions. Made entirely of steel and supplies with anti-friction-steel roller bearings, giving a perfectly free motion to the door.
Brace Rail: Millions of feet of this rail are in use and giving uniform satisfaction for these reasons: brackets only 12 inches apart and double riveted – giving extreme rigidity. The brace below the screws trebles the holding power of the screws. Brackets are same width and thickness as the rail itself, and holes are staggered so the screws will not go into the same grain of wood. A fitting companion for the Big-4 Hanger.
National Manufacturing Co., Sterling, Illinois”
So I wonder what year this “Big 4” was installed and how many times it rolled on the rail track.
The “Big 4” Door Hanger
Picture of the Day for August 23, 2012
Continuing with my old theme week, this old wooden corral has seen better days and doesn’t look like it would hold any fighting bulls but I wouldn’t mind seeing a cowboy sitting on the fence rail.
Old Corral
Picture of the Day for August 22, 2012
This old wheel rolls right in with my old theme week. After being on the road for a while yesterday, it would have been a much bumpier and rough ride with old wooden wheels than rubber tires. Yet wheels like this carried settlers across the nation and were a critical part of survival. Wooden wheels of different sizes were part of their daily life for transportation and work.
The earliest known examples of wooden spoked wheels are in the context of the Andronovo culture, dating to ca 2000 BC. Soon after this, horse cultures of the Caucasus region used horse-drawn spoked-wheel war chariots for the greater part of three centuries. They moved deep into the Greek peninsula where they joined with the existing Mediterranean peoples to give rise, eventually, to classical Greece after the breaking of Minoan dominance and consolidations led by pre-classical Sparta and Athens. Celtic chariots introduced an iron rim around the wheel in the 1st millennium BC. The spoked wheel was in continued use without major modification until the 1870s, when wire wheels and pneumatic tires were invented.
I much rather look at wooden wheels than a pile of rubber tires especially considering the skills the wheelwright needed to make the spokes, rim and hub and to fit them all together.
Wooden Wheel Spokes
Picture of the Day for August 21, 2012
Since I had an old windmill yesterday, I thought maybe this week would be an ‘old’ theme. And this barn fits right into the old theme, even though this view looks fairly good, the other sides have not fared as well since there are missing or broken boards.
Besides the old boards, the foundations of the older barns are interesting and vary from area to area, from round rocks in cement, to limestone rocks or all wooden foundations. And the function and location of doors vary so greatly too.
Rustic Old Brown Barn on Rock Foundation
Picture of the Day for August 20, 2012
There are less of the old style windmills gracing the landscape around my area. Some that I used to take pictures of are now gone, but most in my area were the Aermotor windmill, with the name proudly stamped on the tail. I didn’t realize Aermotor Windmill has continuously manufactured windmills since 1888 and is the only windmill manufacturer still left in the USA.
The Aermotor only sold dozen windmills the first year and was called mockingly by competitors as the new “mathematical” windmill. But the new “mathematical” windmill incorporated principles learned from previous experiments and had great lifting power due to the back gearing which allowed the wheel to make about 3 revolutions for each stroke.
By 1892, Aermotor sold 20,000 windmills and the “mathematical” windmill’s image had changed from a joke to a true necessity and was on its way to becoming the dominant windmill dotting the landscape.
Mass production helped lower the price and enclosed gear case introduced in 1915 reduced maintenance to once a year instead of weekly.
Aermotor’s founder, La Verne Noyes, donated nearly two and one half million dollars in 1918 to establish scholarships at many colleges and universities for veterans of the World War. These scholarships are still available today.
After Noyes died in 1919, the company was left to a trust and over the years, was acquired by different companies and moving the manufacturing site to different states, until it settled in San Angelo, Texas in 1986..
I know this windmill is older than I am since it still has Chicago stamped on the tail by the name, but even if it’s old, I love looking at them since I love old, rustic things (except when it is my old, creaky body).
Aermotor Windmill
Picture of the Day for August 19, 2012
The fall like weather is providing more colorful sunsets again. It always amazes me the variety of colors which can appear for a few minutes before the sun retreats for the day.
Colorful Sunset
Picture of the Day for August 18, 2012
The image and history of the old west tug at many hearts. I know it tugs at mine, whether it is because of the image of western scenery, the hard working cowboys that had grit and stood their ground, or the quietness of the range filled with the sounds of cattle grazing instead of motorcycles, cars and planes roaring loudly in a hurry to get somewhere. It was a simpler time, even though living conditions were harsher and required a lot of physical work, but you knew your neighbors and helped each other when trouble happened.
And trouble could happen if a cowboy got hooked by a longhorn. Countless cowboys perished while working; the stampedes, thrown from a horse, range wars or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I suppose they rather would like to go out in the blaze of glory than to be an old crippled cowboy who could only ride a rocking chair.
But for all the glory of the old west, I’m not sure I would want to push a herd of longhorns on the trail. I have had my share of bruises just from little calves without horns!
Longhorn Cattle
Picture of the Day for August 17, 2012
Since the sun came back out after two cloudy days, I figured a bright cheerful flower picture was needed to end the work week. The flowers were still a little damp from the passing rain shower but they glistened in the sunlight once the sky cleared.
Rudbeckia Goldsturm after the rain
Picture of the Day for August 16, 2012
While looking at milkweed plants in search of a Monarch caterpillar, I spotted these caterpillars that looked like variegated yarn instead. They were munching on the milkweed and when I looked them up later, I found out they are caterpillars of the Milkweed Tussock Moth so I guess that is why they were on my milkweeds.
Both the Milkweed Tussock Moth and Monarch caterpillars have similar color scheme of black, yellow / orange, white stripes. The colors advertise to predators the toxin they incorporated from the milkweed diet.
But I much rather see a Monarch butterfly flying around than a Milkweed Tussock Moth so these little pieces of yarn better save some milkweed for the Monarch caterpillars since the Tussocks are communal feeders and will feed in large groups. I guess I was lucky that I only spotted three that day before finding one Monarch caterpillar.
Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillars
