The International Harvester Company was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household equipment, and more. It was formed from the 1902 merger of McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company and three smaller manufacturers: Milwaukee; Plano; and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner. —From Wikipedia
Dixie’s dad had been a Kansas farmer. After moving to California, he started collecting agricultural implements, which included this McCormick-Deering № 7. Decades passed while it sat in the field until we decided to resurrect it, and use it to mow weeds. Notice the condition of its deteriorated tongue.
The first order of business was to drag it out of the field and move it next to our shop where we could begin, starting with a new tongue.
Here’s what’s left of the original tongue.
The replacement is this 10½-foot-long 4×6 from Karl’s Hardware.
The next phase is to bring it into the shop for inspection, adjustments, repairs, lubrication, and replacement of missing parts.
This illustration shows the “Pitman” and its associated parts that were needed if we wanted to be able to use the mower. A company in Texas maintains an inventory of original-design parts.
Our № 7 was designed to be drawn by a team of two horses, critters not seen on our property since the sixties. We will be towing this mower with our John Deere Series 3 Diesel-powered tractor, so we added a coupler to the tongue. No equines, singletrees, doubletrees, whiffletrees nor leather harness for us.
If you’ve never seen a sickle bar in action, now’s your chance. This is a two-minute video with audio. Those who are able to remember hand-operated hair clippers will recognize similarities. To alert our visitors, videos carry violet borders to differentiate them from photographs.
Prior to adding the hitch adapter, the mower’s tongue was coupled flat (level) with the tractor’s drawbar, contrary to Illustration № 16 in the manufacturer’s instructions pamphlet.
Adding the hitch adapter brings the angle of the tongue into compliance with instructions, including carrying the mower’s Gear Case at the appropriate angle to provide specified lubrication requirements.
The trailer coupler is now 31" above the soil’s surface as prescribed. Refer to Illustration № 16 above, with the tongue now at the specified angle.
A sequence showing the hydraulically-activated hitch. Only the two lower arms are powered. After mounting and raising the trailer ball adapter, the third arm, top center, becomes visible, giving credence to the name “three-point hitch.” Although passive, this third arm adds stability by holding the adapter vertical. Duration: 33 seconds.
Fine-tuning and trial runs have helped. This video was captured the afternoon of Thursday, October 12, 2023, with Dixie at both the cutter and camcorder controls while seated upon the mower. It’s easy to appreciate the progress we’ve made. The rhythmic percussive sounds are that of the sickle bar sliding back and forth. Meanwhile, Stan is up front operating the tractor. This has been a grand and glorious day. Duration: 28 seconds.
Dixie rides the mower while watching the cutter bar’s height above the soil, raising it when a rock or large gopher mound appears.
A one-minute video showing Dixie mowing is available here, and it bounces around. There is no doubt you will experience what the ride is like. The final three seconds feature her driving the tractor.
The land east of our house begins at the porch, slopes down 51 feet to Old Town Road, and is seen here after having been freshly mown during 2023. A YouTube video is available showing Stan coming up the slope sans Dixie (or anyone else) riding the mower. As the tractor gets close, you can see the mower bar take a “bounce” up into the air. This is due to the fact there was no one sitting on the mower while holding its lever to prevent the bounce. If you follow this link, you will be transferred to YouTube. At the video’s conclusion, you will be shown another YouTube video that is probably not one of ours. You can close the new window YouTube opened when you clicked the link. If YouTube did not open a new window, you can use your browser’s BACK button to return to this page. The reason no one was riding the mower is someone had to shoot the movie!
UPDATE—This October morning view brought the final component to our mower. Look carefully at the image above, and you will see something new has been added to the end of the cutter bar. It’s called the grass board, and its function is to gather the crop and gently pull it toward the mower, clearing the way for the next pass. New boards are available for between $50 and $85, which we considered, with the ultimate decision being that we’d make one. It’s not complicated, and by looking at the cover page of the instructions pamphlet below, one can see the grass board is resting on the soil as it does during mowing. Ours is missing the streamlined trailing point, but it could be added.
This is the cover page of the 1934 Instructions pamphlet, with a press run of fifty thousand, printed on December 18, 1934. Notice the single tree yoke harness at the leading end of the tongue that is missing from our mower since we modified it for use with a tractor.
This is the cover page of the 1940 Instructions pamphlet, printed on July 1, 1940. Most of the instructional illustrations are the same in both pamphlets; however, the 1940 version’s List of Repair Parts and component illustrations are more extensive, as well as details of the Big 7 Vertical Lift are included. Both pamphlets can be printed.
