[TheForge] My new thingamajig

[Fred Zickrick]

I have no idea what I just bought.  Can any one help?  I have photos 
that I can email to anyone.
It was made by the Simplex Manufacturing Co. of McQueeney TX. The 
main portion is definitely a coal forge blower. But, it has three 
additions to the non-fan side of the gearbox. The fan housing is 
side-mounted like later Champions rather than end-mounted like a Champion 400.
The three additions are:
One. An extension to one of the gear shafts. It has an electric 
drive-type pulley mounted to it.
Two. A crank is mounted to one of the other gear shafts. This crank 
drives an axle that has several mixing?? arms mounted inside a 
galvanized container.
Three. An arm is mounted on the side of the gearbox itself that 
supports a bearing that the axle referred to above turns in.

On the blower intake-side of the fan box is the strangest contraption 
of all. It's a galvanized can (looks kind of like a can that would be 
on a seed spreader?) that held something??? that fell or was drawn 
through an adjustable opening down into a galvanized pipe. The pipe 
is open on one end and attached over the opening that air would 
normally be drawn into the fan. The open end of the tube has a small 
damper? that is about half the diameter of the tube and has a series 
of small notches cut out of it.

The normal blow side of the fan housing has marks on it that indicate 
it may have been attached to something.

The whole thing is mounted on a very sturdy angle iron square about 
30" by 30". There are two very large mounting points on opposite 
sides with large bolts in them. The third side has a mounting point 
that probably had a bolt through it. I haven't checked but suspect 
they are about right to fit on a three-point hitch. But if you did 
that the whole thing would be on its side and whatever you had in the 
container would fall out and/or probably not feed through the opening.


"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
                                                         Benjamin 
Franklin, 1755
Fred & Marilyn
fredz72 at cableone.net