|
Fred: I just had the book 150 Years of IH out and he does not go into a lot of detail on the rake model numbers or precise dates. It is quite clear however that rakes produced prior to 1935 had just one angle iron going over the back of rake reel to one caster wheel. The later models had two angle irons like yours going to two caster wheels. The 4 bar rake that I mentioned is not even listed. I would put your rake at late 1930s vintage. It could be as late as 1950, but most of the rakes I remember after the war were on rubber even with hitch for horses. My dad bought one of the 4 bar rakes, on full rubber, with the crank for changing teeth angle. His rake also had a steel angle iron tractor hitch from the factory. He bought that in 1942 along with a new W4 and a No. Little Genius 2x14 plow. I later acquired another one of those rakes that the customer bought new in 1950. The interesting part is I continued to use those rakes until I stopped farming. I went through the 7 foot mower on to the 9 foot haybine, from baler with thrower and on to round baler. In all my years I never saw a rake I wanted to trade for. And yes I did have many demonstrations of other products. I used to be the subject of my fair share of humour using these rakes behind my SA and 130, amoungst all the haying technology of the 70s. I used to get remarks like aren't you afraid the 1066 will run over the SA without noticing. But you know one thing, those IH 3 and 4 bar rakes don't thrash the leaves off the hay like some of those modern monsters. And a SA or a 130 was just the greatest way to train 8, 10 and 12 year olds how to do a job responcibly. I remember one kid in particular, dad had him raking hay with 130 by the time he was 8. Dad was fussy about his windrows, so the presure was on the kid, and this job was not a 2-3 hour lark. Dad never baled less than 2500 bales per day and this kid raked all. Today the kid is 45 years old, and a long haul trucker that has seen every Province in Canada, every mainland State in the US and parts of Mexico. He has yet to put more than a minor scratch on a motor vehicle.
|
