The
prospect of seeing something I’ve never seen before is the main reason I go to
these shows and the Foothills Antique Power Association’s (SC.) 25th
Power From the Past Show on May 30, 2015 at Greer, SC. didn’t disappoint.
I
was taking some photos of his McCormick-Deering engine when Jerry Neely walked
up.
We
talked about his engine for a while and then he directed my attention to what
was sitting behind it on the trailer which up till then had pretty much gone
unnoticed. It doesn't exactly jump out at you, it looks more like a piece of
furniture than a machine but that's fitting for the period it's from, when the
world was transitioning from an agrarian past to an industrial future. Be
honest. Did you pick up on it?
What
I was looking at was a reconstructed Griswold Cotton Gin that was originally
made in 1844 which is pretty unusual in itself but the real story lies in how
it came to be there.
Starting
with a pile of badly decomposed timbers and rusted metal parts he found behind
the barn on the family farm Jerry began a remarkable bit of reconstructive
mechanical archeology and reverse engineering.
With
little more to work from than an old photo from the 1920's and a few pieces of
wood that were still intact enough to dimension from he scaled off the rest of
the machine using a CAD program.
It
was an amazing story, and since there's no substitute for firsthand knowledge I
asked Jerry to work it up and send it for posting on The Mule.
He
said he'd give it his best shot so here's hoping he's burning the midnight oil
at the keyboard and one day soon you'll get the skinny straight from the
horse's mouth.
His
experience is bound to provide valuable insight for anyone who might be
considering undertaking a similar project and the photos he took illustrate the
reconstruction from debris pile to a working machine.
