Re: Electrall

[n9ads@domain.elided (Howard R Pletcher)]

On Fri, 4 Sep 1998 09:33:54 -0400 (EDT) Chris & Ranae Procyk
<procyk19@domain.elided> writes:
>Told you those guys would know, but they never said exactly what it was:
>
>At some point, IH decided that farmers might like "portable" 
>electricty.  So they had GE design and build a big generator that 
>would mount on the back of a tractor- hence the belt drive  I don't 
>know what the output was but it looks impressive in the one picture 
>I've seen-- imagine just a really, really huge alternator.
>
>I guess it pre-dated the 3pt hitch/540 pto, otherwise you could have 
>stuck it on the back of a UTEMCO-equipped Scout.. but I think the 
>front wheels would float into the air.
>
>

The Electrall was available in the mid-50's time frame, so it didn't
really predate the standardized PTO and 3-point hitch (although Ford and
Ferguson had the 3-point hitch patents locked up at that time and IH was
selling the Fast Hitch instead.)  This generator hung off the side of the
engine and not the back.  I've never heard about how well this all
worked, but I'd suspect the cost of the big motors for all your equipment
compared to the relatively inexpensive PTO shafts probably made the
concept impractical, even if you could afford the generator.

Howard Pletcher
Howteron Products Scout Parts

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