✅ SOLVED Antique farm equipment

[tamrock]

Going through the old family photo albums with the kids when they all back for Christmas, which they all enjoy looking at all the ones from when they all little and living at home. I also have ones that my mom put together of my grandparents time. This is one of my grandpa on my dad's side and he was a farmer most his life. He lived from 1892 to 1963 and I do remember him. This photo is of him on this old horse drawn wagon, which is rather large and has a tank for what appears to hold liquid with a hose and what may be a hand pump of some kind mounted on the rear. I'm not sure if it's a piece of agri quipment or maybe a rig for something else, as he was said to also do other things outside of running a farm, as my dad told me one time as we were pheasant hunting we headed down a wet road on a cold rainy day, he recalled a time he was helping his Dad delivering all this empty milk containers to the dairy farms and they were in an old Ford Model T flatbed truck going all over through a thick muddy road that was worse than the one we were on. He said grandpa contracted the delivery of those old metal milk containers too and from the dairy farms of the area and took them to the milk processing plant. I guess riding around in that old model T flatbed in the mud was quite an adventure my dad would recall. I'm not finding any images of a wagon like this online, so maybe one of you with a bit more knowledge of farming implement history might recognize this and I can add to what is my grandpa might be doing with this wagon.

 

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[creskol]

Cool photo! It looks like a water wagon. They use to use one at my aunt and uncle's house to haul water from a local spring back to their cistern tank.

 

[bowwinkles]

Judging from the wheel size and weight I think what ever was in the tank was fairly light. It is being pulled by a single team so that also is an indicator. We had a similar set up for carrying water out to the cattle watering trough and to the hog feeders. We would take the tank down to the creek and prime the pump and then fill the tank with about 100 gallons of creek water. Filling more than that was very dangerous due to sloshing on rough terrain and limited suspension on the wagon.

Check some of these pictures. https://www.google.com/search?q=vin...mAhVDU98KHUvFBGUQ7Al6BAgKECQ&biw=1244&bih=528

 

[tamrock]

Cool photo! It looks like a water wagon. They use to use one at my aunt and uncle's house to haul water from a local spring back to their cistern tank.

Yeah maybe, one would sure need a lotta water to put in the cattle tanks, but I remember those all having wind water well pumps next to the tanks and one had big gold fish living in it. They got there by my uncle and he said he put a dozen little ones in there and they all grew large and multiplied. I still recall those old harnesses hanging up and all dry rotted in an old machine shed when I was little and exploring around the farmyard.

 

[creskol]

After blowing it up to the max, I see now that it has two horses pulling it, the tank is riveted, it has a motor on the back, and what appears to be a spray nozzle. Also, the hose isn't gravity flow to empty. I am guessing now that it is an orchard sprayer.

 

[Red-Coat]

That's a great family history picture. I'll bet your grandpa wouldn't have believed that one day he would be the subject of discussion via information transmitted through the air all over the world in real time.

 

[tamrock]

Judging from the wheel size and weight I think what ever was in the tank was fairly light. It is being pulled by a single team so that also is an indicator. We had a similar set up for carrying water out to the cattle watering trough and to the hog feeders. We would take the tank down to the creek and prime the pump and then fill the tank with about 100 gallons of creek water. Filling more than that was very dangerous due to sloshing on rough terrain and limited suspension on the wagon.

Check some of these pictures. https://www.google.com/search?q=vin...mAhVDU98KHUvFBGUQ7Al6BAgKECQ&biw=1244&bih=528

That be it. Found one very similar with a pump. I guess motorists had to keep an eye on them back then.

 

[tamrock]

After blowing it up to the max, I see now that it has two horses pulling it, the tank is riveted, it has a motor on the back, and what appears to be a spray nozzle. Also, the hose isn't gravity flow to empty. I am guessing now that it is an orchard sprayer.

They were all Iowa farmers and there were never any orchards I recall. I did think maybe an early liquid fertilizer applicator, but what bowinkle provided, leads me to believe transporting water this way was pretty common on the farm back then. Probably wasn't cheap to drill a well and put up a windmill everywhere you needed to back then.

 

[tamrock]

That's a great family history picture. I'll bet your grandpa wouldn't have believed that one day he would be the subject of discussion via information transmitted through the air all over the world in real time.

I also think he would of thought taking half a day to complete a task might of been a better way than today with everyone in a rush to get things done. I know I do.

 

[flinthunter]

When I was a kid we had a water tank very similar to the one pictured by the OP that we used to haul water to our cattle that were confined to dry pastures. It was also riveted just like the one pictured. Our tank was originally the water reservoir off of an old threshing machine.

 

[Tony in SC]

The wagon in this pic is a water wagon for a Rumley steam traction engine. The wagon in the first pic could have been used for this also.

 

[Plug N Play]

The Myers Brothers grew up on a farm with the Studebakers as neighbors. The Studebakers went on to develop wagons and, later, the Studebaker car. The Myers specialized in hay equipment and pumps ... the business grew to include catalogs of farm equipment.

Already successful by the turn of the century, it was the mosquito that really thrust them into the big leagues.
1910, building the Panama Canal ... malaria became a HUGH problem.
The Myers were inventors on the edge of the curve with their orchard sprayers, pumps for every use you could think of, and equipment and parts that they held tight patent claims to. Their company thrived ... to say the least, thanks to the mosquito.

The picture of your grandfather must be from the 20s or 30s ?
Trucks and tractors were rapidly replacing the horse and wagon. The Roaring 20's !
But the depression hit in 1929. If this was shortly after, it would of been a time when people were pinching pennies and making due with what they had.

He has an old Myers Bro hand pump on the wagon.
It's interesting, in this ad below, how the company would shortened the tank to add a motor and sprayer to old wagons such as this.
Easy to see how they were poised to face the mosquitoes in Panama.
Your grandfather lived through some epic times development wise ... well, I guess we all are, as well ... but, he did too.

 

[tamrock]

The Myers Brothers grew up on a farm with the Studebakers as neighbors. The Studebakers went on to develop wagons and, later, the Studebaker car. The Myers specialized in hay equipment and pumps ... the business grew to include catalogs of farm equipment.

Already successful by the turn of the century, it was the mosquito that really thrust them into the big leagues.
1910, building the Panama Canal ... malaria became a HUGH problem.
The Myers were inventors on the edge of the curve with their orchard sprayers, pumps for every use you could think of, and equipment and parts that they held tight patent claims to. Their company thrived ... to say the least, thanks to the mosquito.

The picture of your grandfather must be from the 20s or 30s ?
Trucks and tractors were rapidly replacing the horse and wagon. The Roaring 20's !
But the depression hit in 1929. If this was shortly after, it would of been a time when people were pinching pennies and making due with what they had.

He has an old Myers Bro hand pump on the wagon.
It's interesting, in this ad below, how the company would shortened the tank to add a motor and sprayer to old wagons such as this.
Easy to see how they were poised to face the mosquitoes in Panama.
Your grandfather lived through some epic times development wise ... well, I guess we all are, as well ... but, he did too.



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View attachment 1789498

Interesting info plug n play. Indeed the crash of 29' resulted in the loosing of my grandpa's farm. He packed the family up and planned to head to Seattle Washington, as it was said there were job's out there. They didn't make it to Seattle, but came by a sugar beet farmer in Gooding, Idaho and he put my grandpa to work until thing got better.

 

[creskol]

Interesting info plug n play. Indeed the crash of 29' resulted in the loosing of my grandpa's farm. He packed the family up and planned to head to Seattle Washington, as it was said there were job's out there. They didn't make it to Seattle, but came by a sugar beet farmer in Gooding, Idaho and he put my grandpa to work until thing got better.

So is it a water wagon or sprayer?

 

[Tony in SC]

It's a water wagon. A sprayer's tank is about half that size. Google antique Hardee sprayer.

So is it a water wagon or sprayer?

 

[Plug N Play]

My guess is that it is strictly a water wagon. When you think about it, one who owned a "sprayer" would almost certainly have to own a water wagon (or several) also. More of a rich man "extra" ... owning an orchard and being able to afford a very limited use "sprayer wagon".

Example ... you want to take water to go camping. There's several ideas for what to put the water in ... canteen, jars, jugs, etc. What you don't do, is grab the lawn weed sprayer and use it for usable water. Chemicals. The sprayers couldn't be used to "water the livestock", fill the house cistern, or fill a bath tub.

The " poison" only wagon would have to be in addition to an already established way of getting "usable" water. Compare how often you turn a faucet or grab a bottle of water, today ... compare that to how often you use your lawn and garden sprayer. You wouldn't even consider using the pump up sprayer in the shed for "potable" water.

I just got this funny image in my head. You have a beautifully laid out table for a big holiday feast, and the first thing people notice is a pump-up garden sprayer with it's hose ... sitting on the table. "It's for water", you say. "Fast, efficient, and simple. Pass it around and simply push the handle to fill your glasses."

And ... every one crinkles up their noses, and decides to forgo the water.

Insecticides, herbicides, fertilizers, ... all need to be kept apart from your normal water needs. You'd need the safe water delivery systems first, which, at one time, might very well be the water wagon. Then, the "extra" would be, "can we afford a sprayer wagon" also.
They would have a limited use, and often sit around, seasonally. Keeping one maintained and working would require much more time and expense than your "daily use", multi-functional water wagon.

I'm just guessing the odds, when I say that the wagon gramps is standing on is a "normal, multi-use" water wagon, and not a specialized, insecticide, herbicide, fertilizer sprayer.