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September 1941. Waterloo, Nebraska. "George Leaver, president; Don Shinaut, treasurer; Russell Smith, director; Henry Wollen and Jay Rowell, board of directors of Two River (FSA) Non-Stock Cooperative, looking at demonstration of Farmall 'M' tractor." Medium format acetate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
I agree about the PTO being a dangerous thing. We had table saw attachment that ran off the PTO. Talk about dangerous - 3 1/2 foot blade! Actually the belt on this one looks too tight. Our experience is that a tight belt will quickly walk right off the drum. To work the best the belt needs to be downright floppy. Thanks for the memories Shorpy!
As in the movie CARS. This looks like the tractors they scared and tipped (as in cow tipping).
... who, like me, haven't spent much time on a farm, PTO means Power Take-Off. It refers in this case to the shaft with the pulley that is driving the belt extending out of the picture to the right. As with all such things, you can learn more than you would have thought possible about PTOs on the wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_take-off
And yes, @TheDon, it looks like it could take off a hand in the blink of an eye.
I wonder what is up with the tiny truck on top.
You haven't lived (or nearly died), until you've gone too fast downhill on a gravel road, driving a tricycle gear Farmall.
Every time I see a machine with a PTO, I see what a dangerous thing that it is!
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