[Racer X 69]

Orange jewelweed and pink jewelweed.
Best Regards, Bob

Very nice Bob.

What lens did you use?

[BruceBanner]

[fs999]

Really like the first flower image. Neat look with the 200.
Thanks for sharing,
barondla

Thank you very much !

[Rondec]

Field at Sunrise (DFA 24-70mm)

[fs999]

FF Mode • 100 ISO • Pentax DA* 55mm F1.4 SDM


FF Mode • 100 ISO • Pentax DA* 55mm F1.4 SDM


FF Mode • 100 ISO • Pentax FA 35mm F2 AL

[lesmore49]

It is a 1948 Adams 412 motor grader. The engine is an International Harvester UD14 engine is a 461 cu.in. 4 cylinder that has 303 lbs torque at 68.5 hp. Designed to be started on gasoline, and then once warmed up switched over to diesel. Normally aspirated it has a magneto and intake manifold on one side of the engine, and an injector pump and intake manifold on the other side of the engine. The cylinder head has chambers, called starting chambers. They are exposed to the combustion chamber above the pistons via a third valve, opened and closed via a lever in the cab. Each starting chamber has a spark plug, and is the only route to the cylinders for the incoming gas/air mixture. When the starting valves are closed another linkage grounds the magneto to stop the plugs from continuing to fire when the engine is switched to diesel, and the engine then begins to run on diesel, and the machine is ready to work.

All of the functions (blade, rippers, front axle lean) are all operated via a gearcase in the cab that is powered by a shaft that exits the front of the drop box which also sends engine power to the drive axles which sit below the engine. The lever for a particular function is either pushed or pulled, and the function is operated via a train of shafts, universal joints and gearboxes. When a function reaches the limit of its movement (deadheaded) the gears the lever is connected to kick back, sometimes quite violently. One learns real quick those limits, and to ease off on pressure of the lever, or it will spank the hand.

They are affectionately knows as "knuckle busters" by the men who operated them back in the day.

It has the optional full cab, although they never had doors, and someone has added them to this one.

The machine was once owned by a company called Northwest Roads, based in Seattle. It was used for road construction during the post war growth period in this region, building roads, highways, or whatever else one does with a motor grader. The guy I bought it from bought it from a guy who had it on an island in the Aleutian chain of islands in Alaska that had a few roads to maintain. Then he used it in Gig Harbor, Washington on a private road he lived on, before I bought it to do the same here in Arlington.

The knuckle buster gearcase and levers:



Pentax K-1, Sigma 600mm f8 Mirror.

Thx for the details. Interesting reading which lead to interesting thinking about how heavy equipment designers back then came up with effective technology (engine starting, machine function design) to make this utilitarian vehicle work effectively.

Thinking about your grader's powerplant being an International. We had an old International on the farm many decades ago. It was an early '50's retired municipal dump truck, reworked a bit to make it into a grain truck. Had the Black Diamond inline six, 4 speed manual. It was old, robust, tough as nails, would always start and always haul overloads from the combine to the grain bins on the farm property. We also hauled grain loads to the village grain elevator, but were more careful about not overloading it on the highway. It was a short distance from farm to elevator, but every so often the Mountie patrolled by.

I developed a lot of respect for Internationals or Cornbinders as we used to call them , as a result of many hours driving that old IH.

BTW, thx again for the great details on the mechanicals of your old Adams motor grader. I really love reading about how machinery operates.

That Adams in one year older than me. But in my view, older machinery can still do the job, if maintained during their lifetime. Again...on the farm...we had a '48 Fargo (Canadian market Dodge...sold by Cdn. Plymouth dealers) grain truck. It was old, dented but still did the job when called upon. We used it as a spare in case either our IH or our newer grain truck, a Ford F 700...had breakdowns. The trucks rarely had issues and if they did, they were easy and fast to repair.

[eaglem]

Pale Orange Hibiscus

[jabobby]

Very nice Bob.

What lens did you use?

Thank you for the kind word. The lens is the old SMC Pentax-A 645 120mm f/4 macro. Those shots were @ f/5.6 and hand held. Sorry I did not post that info with the photo. A fun lens to shoot with but the manual focus is a bit of a challenge when taking close shots. Much easier when using a tripod but I rarely use that. Most of the time I am just walking about the farm with the dog looking for something to photograph.
Best Regards, Bob

[jabobby]

The orange jewelweed with a sap droplet & a bug. Shot with the same A 645/4 lens @ f5.6 again and hand held. Of course I took 6 shots and these 2 are the best of them...
The second photo is a 1:1 crop of a shot taken about 5 seconds after the first one posted, and the flower appears to be made of gold, well at least on my monitor...
Best Regards, Bob

[GvilleRick]

A few photos of the band providing music for a local festival. All with my K1 and Bigma lens.

[BruceBanner]

Carpet Python.

[Franc]

1. some colour


2.

[fs999]

FF Mode • 100 ISO • Pentax DA* 55mm F1.4 SDM


FF Mode • 100 ISO • Pentax FA 35mm F2 AL


FF Mode • 100 ISO • Soligor C/D Wide-Auto 20mm f:2.8
Panorama 4 photos stitched together with Microsoft ICE 2.0

[Kerrowdown]

Just liked the sheen on the feathers... on this healthy looking specimen.

[Kerrowdown]

As you can see my race was over... see top right which was mine, against the lower right winner.