The Infamous Flaming Four

[wdfifteen]

A friend just finished restoring a 1915 International Harvester 15-30 Titan, better knows as the "Flaming Four." It was International's first four cylinder tractor and was famous for having 7 (seven!) carburetors and a propensity to burst into flames. Neither the model type nor the individual tractors lasted long. This is a rare, intact example.

[john70t]

7 carbs vs. 4 cylinders?
And what is that huge disk/flywheel doing within the rear drive area?

Do explain more!

[red-beard]

I'd really like to get a Reeves 40, since my Great-Grand father had one in North Texas.

[Evans, Marv]

Those old beasts are really beautiful. I remember as a really small kid being in a field in Illinois, maybe my granddad's, when they were bailing hay or something using a big machine. It was powered by a huge steam tractor via a long, leather belt. It was all black, though & not a pretty at that IH.

[Cooper911SC]

Great machine! Predecessor to stream traction engines.
Nice to see another IH restoration.

We have a '38 Oliver 70 Orchard. It worked several acres of orchard here in our home town.

Been enjoying going to the tractor shows in Vista CA the last couple of years to see many old tractors and antique steam engines running.

Thanks for sharing.

(The big flywheel is sort of just that. It's essentially a PTO used to drive a belt to an implement)

[targa911S]

Nice!

[Jeff Higgins]

Awesome! Any video of it running?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by john70t

7 carbs vs. 4 cylinders?
And what is that huge disk/flywheel doing within the rear drive area?

Do explain more!

The disk is the flywheel. The tractor is designed to run on gasoline until it warms up enough, then run on kerosene until it gets too hot, then it runs on a combination of kerosene and water to control detonation. It has basically three manifolds. One for the right two cylinders and one for the left two and one with a carb on top that feeds into the other two. Each of these two has a water carburetor. Each cylinder has its own kerosene carburetor. You start it with the gasoline carb, and once it’s warm enough you close the supply valve of the gas carb and quickly open the fuel supply valves to the 4 kerosene carburetors. When it’s running hard and gets hot and starts pre-igniting you open the water supply to the two water carburetors and adjust them to use just enough water to stop the knocking. 4 kerosene carbs +2 water carbs + 1 gas carb =7.

Here is a picture of the other side, showing the belt pulley and the crankshaft extension for starting the engine. You can see the crank on the front of the tractor.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by john70t

And what is that huge disk/flywheel doing within the rear drive area?

You could slip a belt over the flywheel and use the tractor to power other equipment.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

You could slip a belt over the flywheel and use the tractor to power other equipment.

They always had a separate belt pulley with a clutch. I've never seen a tractor drive anything major from the flywheel. There were some that had a belt from the flywheel to a power steering system though. I've never a tractor without a clutched belt pulley.

[asphaltgambler]

THAT......... my friends is a stunning restoration!!

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

They always had a separate belt pulley with a clutch. I've never seen a tractor drive anything major from the flywheel. There were some that had a belt from the flywheel to a power steering system though. I've never a tractor without a clutched belt pulley.

Ah, so the belt pulley is the smaller one on right side, yes?

[herr_oberst]

Always enjoyable to see these great pix!

Riveted steel chassis! Cast iron must've been a huge technological advance?

[wdfifteen]

Hardrive, yes.

I found a video of it running - blasting down Wendell's runway wide open in high gear.

[Laneco]

Okay that is just incredibly cool! I've never seen one before - not even in pictures!

Thanks for sharing!

angela

[fastfredracing]

Another vote for very cool, and nice job on the restoration . Is this something he sought out, or did he already own it , or fell into it ? Old fashioned mechanized America is super interesting , in all aspects .

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Hardrive, yes.

I found a video of it running - blasting down Wendell's runway wide open in high gear.

That is just too darn cool.

Ellensburg, WA throws a pretty good little shindig every Labor Day weekend. The biggest part of it is the rodeo (a stop on the pro tour), but the parade on Saturday isn't far behind. They are known far and wide for their turnout of vintage tractors, from early steam to early gas or diesel. Never seen one of these, though.

[wdfifteen]

Hmm. I thought the 15-30 was kind of small and kind of plain. What do you think of this 1914 Hart-Parr 30-60? The rear wheels are almost 7 feet in diameter, it has two cylinders, 2100 cubic inches, and weighs 22,000 lbs. It has hit and miss governing and when one of those cylinders fires it'll rattle windows a mile away. I shot this one in Illinois last fall.

edit: This one is on the opposite end of the complexity scale. It has NO carburetor (it just drips kerosene into the intake manifold) and only has one cam lobe per cylinder.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

edit: This one is on the opposite end of the complexity scale. It has NO carburetor (it just drips kerosene into the intake manifold) and only has one cam lobe per cylinder.

And you can smoke enough brisket to feed the whole crew while you plow!

[HardDrive]

Patrick, can you recommend a site where I can keep up on steam/vintage tractors shows in OH? I love steam traction.