10-01-2019, 09:02 AM
I'm going to have to slow down Jan. I saw your description of the picture as "pick" and then failed to read the last two words "fire ax". Now the veil has been lifted and I thank you for that. This implement was designed for opening doors and exposing the interior of walls - not digging trenches in the dirt.
Here's something old you may find interesting because it is, in my opinion, a mechanical engineering marvel. The hay hook's function was obvious enough but the hay trolley it hangs from was not. When I found the trolley in my brother's junk pile, I brought it home and after cleaning it up, studied it for two hours and couldn't figure out how it worked. It's made to move loose hay from outside the barn into the hayloft and then, vice-versa. Help stopped by in the form of several farm neighbors later and even with the help of several cans of "thinking juice", still could figure out how it worked. We knew what it was supposed to do but couldn't figure out how it accomplished all it's tasks. I noticed a patent number on it that dated to the late 1800's and believe it or not, found the patent application on-line. With that description - all was made apparent. The trolley runs on a rail that extends the length of the barn. In use, it would have a multitude of smaller control ropes that hang down to the hayloft floor. It can be pulled along this rail to the desired location and the control ropes open the claw, close the claw, and raise, open or drop the claw. When the claw was dropped onto a stack of hay at ground level outside the barn, a team of horses or mules raised the hay to hayloft level and the open claw closed automatically when raised. Then a catch on the trolley was set remotely (via control rope) to keep the claw from lowering and it was pulled into the hayloft by a crew of men. Pull it to where you want it, dump it, and go get another load. It hangs from the end of my living quarters on the farm and is strictly for ornamental purposes today.
Somebody had their thinking cap on when they designed all of these functions into a single mechanical device.
Here's something old you may find interesting because it is, in my opinion, a mechanical engineering marvel. The hay hook's function was obvious enough but the hay trolley it hangs from was not. When I found the trolley in my brother's junk pile, I brought it home and after cleaning it up, studied it for two hours and couldn't figure out how it worked. It's made to move loose hay from outside the barn into the hayloft and then, vice-versa. Help stopped by in the form of several farm neighbors later and even with the help of several cans of "thinking juice", still could figure out how it worked. We knew what it was supposed to do but couldn't figure out how it accomplished all it's tasks. I noticed a patent number on it that dated to the late 1800's and believe it or not, found the patent application on-line. With that description - all was made apparent. The trolley runs on a rail that extends the length of the barn. In use, it would have a multitude of smaller control ropes that hang down to the hayloft floor. It can be pulled along this rail to the desired location and the control ropes open the claw, close the claw, and raise, open or drop the claw. When the claw was dropped onto a stack of hay at ground level outside the barn, a team of horses or mules raised the hay to hayloft level and the open claw closed automatically when raised. Then a catch on the trolley was set remotely (via control rope) to keep the claw from lowering and it was pulled into the hayloft by a crew of men. Pull it to where you want it, dump it, and go get another load. It hangs from the end of my living quarters on the farm and is strictly for ornamental purposes today.
Somebody had their thinking cap on when they designed all of these functions into a single mechanical device.