By DEBORAH BEHRENDS
Illinois Correspondent UNION GROVE, Wis. — Collections come in all shapes and sizes, and one might be surprised at some of the vintage farm machinery people collect.
Take Carl Friesch of Sullivan, Wis. With no farming background, the retired carpet layer and factory worker collects hog oilers. He figures he has about 80 hog oilers collected over a dozen years.
“I just saw another guy’s collection and it fascinated me,” Friesch said.
Hog oilers were patented and manufactured from the early 1900s to sometime in the late 1960s by as many as 200 Midwest companies. Friesch said the largest quantities were manufactured in Illinois and Iowa, but companies in Nebraska, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota and Ohio also produced the items.
He explained the oilers were filled with any drain or crude oil readily available, or medicated oil that could be purchased for 25 cents a gallon. The oil helped to control lice, mange, bugs, chafing, sunburn and scale. Friesch said he has purchased many from other collectors and at auctions and swap meets.
Like any collector, “I’m always looking for something I don’t have,” he said. He figures the least he’s paid for one is $50, and, a little sheepishly, he admits paying $2,500 for one he didn’t have at the show with him.
Many of the oilers he’s purchased were covered with rust, he said. He takes them home, sandblasts and repaints them. Most are cast iron, and very heavy.
“The earliest I have has a patent date of 1912,” Friesch said.
Traveling to shows that highlight antique farm equipment, he said, in August he participated in the Great Hog Oiler Roundup that was part of the 46th annual Badger Steam and Gas Engine Club Show in Baraboo, Wis. Although he has never exhibited at either event, he travels as far south as the Northern Illinois Steam Show and Threshing Bee in Sycamore, Ill., and the Sandwich Fair in Sandwich, Ill.
Fall Harvest Days Friesch, along with collectors of a variety of other antique tractors, engines and other machinery, displayed their collections at the 18th annual Fall Harvest Days the weekend of Sept. 18-20 at the Racine County Fairgrounds in Union Grove. The event is sponsored by the Southeast Wisconsin Antique Power and Collectibles Society (SEWAPAC).
The three-day event includes truck/tractor pulls, an antique equipment parade each day, children’s pedal tractor pulls, craft and farm toy vendors, food vendors and raffles. Each year, the event features a different make of tractor; this year the featured makes were Ford and Fordson tractors.
SEWAPAC Secretary Steve Parker said the event celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Ford 9N tractor and the 50th anniversary of the Select-O-Speed transmission. Special guest at the event was Harold Brock, 94, who was chief engineer and head of tractor production at FoMoCo from 1939-59.
For additional information about SEWAPAC, visit www.fallharvestdays.com |
