[TheForge] Re: [TheForge]Simpleton Farmer YAK was Suggestions needed for scroungeable steel

Thu Nov 20 17:17:06 2003

Never treat you friendly neighbor farmer as a simpleton -- wisdom is won the
hard way.  Several years ago I bought a tractor to use around my place and
the rear tires were to be liquid filled to help prevent tip over.  Well I
thought this tractor was rather "tippy" to use an engineering term on our
hills around here.  So I wondered if I got short changed since I had a bunch
of other problem with the dealer.  I told "Ralph" (my 75 year old wise
farmer neighbor) that I didn't think they had filled them -- he say why
don't you check -- I the engineer said "How"?  Just push on the valve stem
when it is at the bottom -- Da -- and it is the engineer that is the
simpleton.

Dave Smucker
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 3:05 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Suggestions needed for scroungeable steel

> You know, Phil's comments can be taken as just a little ribbing or the
> product of a small minded dickhead.  Either way doesn't matter and
> shouldn't effect you sharing ideas with people you respect and who
> respect you.    Years ago one of my mentors recounted the story of his
> father, who was not highly educated, but was a very stubborn farmer.  He
> came up with a new hitch design that allowed a small tractor to take a
> load that would ordinarily put the front end in the air.  He got the
> idea from the little gravity defying belt hooks sold at carnivals years
> ago.    It took him several years to work it out, and when he finally
> did, he patented it and then got John Deere interested in it.  They sent
> two engineers to his farm to look at it.  He recounted to them how he
> had tried over a hundred different variations until he hit upon the
> solution. One of the engineers, who had already taken up treating him as
> a simpleton, commented that he sure had a lot of time to waste.  He
> looked at the engineer, paused to get his full attention and said " I
> know a hundred different ways that don't work, how many do you?"    The
> tenor of the conversation changed after that.
>
> Charles
>
> Bruce Freeman wrote:
>
> >Of course it's exactly because of feedback like this that I don't share
> >design ideas before publishing the plans anymore.
> >
> >Bruce
> >NJ
> >
> >
> >
>
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