wuntwak watzit

Replied by on topic Re: wuntwak watzit

O.K., I had to pull on all my resources, to find the answer to this one. I sent my Arizona operative into the mine, under cover, and he got all the info on it!

It's a Byers Bearcat Junior. John F. Byers was based in Ravenna OH., from 1886, with his John F Byers Machine Company. Ravenna was the home of Quaker Oats, and Byers made his first big killing designing a machine to slice the oats.
His first excavator was the "Auto-Crane" in 1914, a flimsy clamshell/crane machine on 4 wheels, according to Keith Haddock.

In 1923, the 1/2 yd Byers Bearcat appeared, powered by a 48 HP Hercules gas engine. Byers produced a new model of Bearcat every year from 1923 to 1927.
In 1926, John F. Byers sold out, and the company operated under new ownership.
By the early 1930's the Byers Co produced a sizeable range of rope excavators (rather than face shovels), but by 1943, the line was consolidated to just 4 models .. the 3/8 yd Bearcat Jr .. the 1/2 yd Model 65 .. the 5/8 yd Model 75, and the 3/4 yd Model 83.

In 1953, the Thew Shovel Co purchased the Byers Machine Co, and Thew discontinued the Byers line in 1958.

Don was the gent who repowered the Bearcat Jr with the 4 cyl Ford engine.

Thanks for the pic Kirky, this has been quite interesting, I never knew of the Byers Machine Co before this, they really kept a low profile, and even ads for them are very hard to find.
I went through all my construction magazines of the 1930's and found no ads for them.

Keith Haddocks write-up on the Byers Machine Co .. books.google.com.au/books?id=8svyOXSaZkA...#v=onepage&q&f=false

An ad for a 1925 Byers Bearcat clamshell/crane on eBay .. cgi.ebay.com/1925-Byers-Machine-Ravenna-...-Crane-/310297920597

I was pretty well spot-on with my age estimate as around 1923-1925. You can always tell when you see riveted construction versus welded construction.
LeTourneau was the first machinery manufacturer to use all welded construction, in either 1922 or 1923. He saw the huge speed advantage in welding over rivetting, and accepted the new technology just as it was being perfected. The early welding electrodes were horrible things to use, apparently, as compared to modern electodes .. but they still beat rivetting, hands down.

I often wonder what % of the workforce ended up totally deaf from rivetters. My old man worked in a shipyard for a short while, just after WW1 .. and he said the rivetters would make you deaf within a relatively short time.

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Replied by hayseed on topic Re: wuntwak watzit

Hey One track,

You didn't by chance, get your mate, to track down. That pale blue long bonneted gadget.
that's the subject of another "watzit"..

You know how it is??

enquiring minds need to know

---

"Be who you are and say what you feel...
Because those that matter...
don't mind...
And those that mind....
don't matter." -

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Replied by on topic Re: wuntwak watzit

Kirky - It's quite likely the little shovel is a 1928 model. However, what I'm saying is, that the machine was first produced around 1923-25, and the model was probably still being built, up until the early 1930's.

Yes, my mate in Indiana actually rang Don up! So that's how we gleaned the make and model, and the story on the repower!
I've got "pull" in just about every country around the world! You'd be amazed at who I can call on!! ..

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