The "Reeves" is big - very big, in fact it tips the scaled at 23,000 pounds. It is over 10 feet tall - the rear wheels are seven and a half feet in diameter; its tread is two feet wide.
The fuel tanks hold about 55 gallons of fuel; about six gallons of gasoline in a small gravity tank and 50 in the main tank. Fuel is pumped from the main tank through nine or 10 feet of fuel line.
Once started and warmed up on gasoline, the engine would be switched to kerosene. The starting fuel tank would then be shut off.
The crank shaft is about five feet off the ground and the two clutch shoes weigh a total of 164 pounds.
For its time, the Reeves was an iron dinosaur. Though it is much smaller than the biggest steam engines, big gas tractors like the Reeves were produced to compete in the market against steam engines. Eventually the big gas tractors won the competition and continued the transition away from steam technology.
In its day the Reeves was big enough to pull tillage equipment the smaller steamers used.
The Reeves at the WDM came from Strongfield and was used mostly for threshing. When the Reeves rolls by at its top speed of two and a quarter mph, the ground shakes; it sounds like distant thunder.
Sometimes there are growing pains when new technology is implemented. As well, 'old technology' can be challenging. There are stories around about pranks pulled on young people - like sending a school boy shopping for a radiator for an air-cooled engine - or a left-handed wrench - or 'plaid paint." Such a joke came back to land on me.
One day, I asked several people about the dip-stick to check the oil in the Reeves, and I was met with blank stares! If they knew, they didn't say anything. Later, I was perched in the operator's seat, about eight feet from the ground, to test the clutch lever. There in front of me was the oiler. It looks like a telephone exchange (sans wires) but with oil lines going everywhere - one to each bearing in the engine.
I don't usually hear voices, but at that moment, a wee whisper from nearby said, "the only dipstick around here is wearing your hat right now!" Oops.
The Reeves has no oil pumps or oil pan as we know them - oil is supplied by gravity from a small tank through external oil lines - no oil pump, no oil pan, no oil filter, and no dipstick. If anyone has a left-handed pipe wrench or a radiator cap for a Corvair, leave them at the WDM for me.
The Reeves was made for a short time before 1920 by Emerson-Brantingham Implements of Rockford, Ill. The engine is a cross mounted four-cylinder with a seven and a quarter by nine inch stroke, so do the math - the engine displacement is over 1,485 cubic inches. It rolls over at 500 RPM - small wonder it has a broken draw-bar.
The WDM showcases the mighty Reeves from Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
