Question for seniors.

[Renee]

I am searching the web for pictures of an antique (or at least very old) road scraper/grater/ plow.
We had one which sat in the weeds when I was a kid. It was referred to, I believe, as “the scraper”. It was a big piece of equipment with one very large and some smaller iron wheels that were turned to adjust a blade. I think there were two blades- a smaller one in the center and large one in front. It was big. My brother and I played on it pretending it was a ship because the large wheel reminded us of the wheel that guides a ship. I once heard that my Grandfather used it to remove snow from the roads.

Does anyone know what I’m talking about and what these things were called? We played on it in the 50’s and it was already retired. I couldn’t say if it would have been pulled by horse or tractor.. but it was a very heavy looking thing so I would guess tractor.
I would like to know what it was called so I can find pictures of them on the web. I want to make a sketch of it to give my brother but my mind has lost too many details of what the thing looked like.

Weird request, I know. Thanks!

Renee

[SFM in KY]

We still had a small one when I was a kid on the ranch and I always heard my fatherand grandfather refer to it as a scraper, but I don't remember it having the adjusting wheels.

I think what you may be referring to is a "fresno" ... or a fresno scraper. My father worked for a road contractor in western Montana in the 1930s on a road building project. They were still using horse powered equipment then and I recall him referring to some big scrapers as "fresnos" ...

Here is a link to several different types ... what we had on the ranch looked more like one of the earlier ones pictured, one of the "buckets" that could be handled by a single team but I remember Dad talking about 8 to 12 head of horses on the big road building equipment about how the teams were trained with the lead teams trained to actually jump the center chain and pull sideways to get around corners, etc. ...

http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Commun...marks/5550.pdf

[Windy in Kansas]

Road grader. http://www.tractorshed.com/cgi-bin/g...l&what=iphotos

[Renee]

Wow! I didn't expect such quick replies! SFM The Fresno scraper is not it. This thing had no bucket. Interesting story about your dad.

Windy your road grader looks a lot like it only the one we had seemed more complicated and larger/taller looking. Grader must be the term I need to search with. Thanks.

[Harry Chickpea]

Like this? Road grader.

http://image64.webshots.com/64/5/52/...8MTcGFU_fs.jpg

A large blade on the front would have been a problem, but maybe in light snow it could work without forcing the thing off the road from the pressure of the snow on the angled blade?

[FarmboyBill]

I have one of those as in the pics, other than it has never had the front wheels since ive had it. That works ok as I just hook to the tractor where the front axle went. Also, the brace that goes to the blade hooks there . When I was home, dad had a scraper that was 2 pieces of 4 X 4 by say 3/4in thick and around 8ft long. There was one lever that could change the angle of the angle iron scrapers. There was a seat, and a piece of plate say 10/12in wide by 2in angles running the length, for the feet. No wheels. Dad said grandad went to the county and got it when they had quite useing it. It had been used by 2 horses or a small tractor. I saw a scraper such as in the pic at the county yards as a kid , but was large and used by a cat. and before that, by a large gas tractor. I havnt used mine in 20 yrs.

[Renee]

Yes Harry! It was more similar to the picture you found. Maybe there was no blade in the front but my mind is thinks there should have been. I also think there were two wheels like the one you show plus another one situated in the opposite direction. I remember that we could look down at the blade in the middle. Seems there was more frame on the one we had.. there was plenty of framing for us to stand on and I can't remember a seat.
Maybe instead of surprising my brother with a sketch I should ask him what he remembers about it. I actually wanted someone to sketch it with a little boy and girl playing on it underneath the big old bartlett pear tree where it was parked with the hay field in the background.
It's fun to see pictures of something long forgotten.
Thank you. Renee

[uncle Will in In.]

Galion started making horse drawn road graders, then switches over to motor graders.
I got the end pinched off my index finger in a sprocket while playing on a horse drawn road grader when i was 7 years old. <>UNK

[Windy in Kansas]

The drawn road grader we had was a lot more complicated than the one in the photo.

Ours even had rear axle extension so that you could crank out one specific wheel.

Blade angle was set by a cast iron steering like wheel. Tilt change easily via lever.
The blade even featured side shift for specific use.

Two large vertical cast iron wheels raised each side of the blade independently and were held at the desired height by short chains. Each of the large raising wheels had a grooved pulley in addition so I suspect at some point it might have been raised by electric motors.

Ours was old and worn out as the wheel hubs were 50% or so worn out, no bearings, instead similar to old covered wagon like axles.

Expect before being a worn out has been it had been a top of the line grader. I wonder if it hadn't been a state highway or country unit before our family acquired it.
Even though worn out it was kept and used until dad finally died. My brother was going to take over the farm and wanted it to use, but died a few months later so it was sold at auction. Probably went to scrap, don't think I want to know as like yours it yielded many hours of pleasure playing on it.

[trucker101]

Here are my neighbors redoing a lawn.

[ronbre]

I was going to say they were refferred to by the old timers here as Gallions..but it might have been spelled more like the above thread..and that might have been a brand name

[agmantoo]

http://www.tractorparts.com/images/g...0%20GRADER.jpg

[Renee]

These posts are all interesting. I emailed Harry's picture to my brother as so far it is the closest model to the image I have in my memory. I asked him to comment on how it compared to the old grader we played on. Maybe sometime this week he will check his email.
Renee

[Wis Bang]

Originally Posted by ronbre

I was going to say they were refferred to by the old timers here as Gallions..but it might have been spelled more like the above thread..and that might have been a brand name

Galion made graders & rollers & box spreaders. They were in Galion. OH