|
Fruita CO | My crank story...
The Diesel school I went to in Kansas city had several of the old Witte Diesel engines in the shop. (Witte factory was in KC...). Those engines were started with a crank that weighed about 10 lb., cast iron, about 2 ft. long. You released the compression, got it spinning as fast as you could, pulled the crank off the shaft, & hit the compression. No way you could hump it over compression without it spinning.
We were in the shop one day & the instructor asked for a volunteer to crank the Witte. A big ol' husky kid that had only been in class for a week or so stepped up-obviously had never cranked anything in his life, but he was ready...he grabbed the crank, made about 2 revolutions, & the crank slipped off the shaft...kind of rotated around his hand, & the big end caught him right between his nose & upper lip. He went down like a big ol' tree, & kinda curled up with his arms & legs twitching. They called the ambulance & hauled him off, conscious but bleeding like heck out of his nose & mouth.
He was back in class the next day, with a big bandage on his upper lip, said his front teeth were loose but not knocked out. He dropped out not long after that.
The old gal that ran the school came down to the shop & confiscated the crank...no more running the Wittes... | |
|
Tractors that I have known - the Farmall F-20
