Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/123858
• MAY 2013 • WORLD FENCE NEWS Self-propelled wheelbarrow project cures fencer of his "tinker's itch" LOGICAL DECISIONS, INC * 9, 6, & 11 GAUGE PREFORMED STEEL * 1 5/8 ", 1 7/8", 2 3/8", 3", & 4" * CORRECTIONAL & MILITARY APPROVED * GALVANIZED, ALUMINIZED, VINYL COATED, & STAINLESS STEEL 800-676-5537 www.LDI.com 225-274-1115 BY JIM HART In memory of Jim Hart, fencer, storyteller, world class humorist and World Fence News contributing editor emeritus, we will occasionally reprint one of the many articles that he contributed to World Fence News over the years. Here is one that was published in December 1998. Jim passed away in Florida, where he lived, a number of years ago. • • • Well, I finally got over a real bad case of "tinker's itch." What's that? I thought you'd never SWAN-BOND Fused-Bonded Wire COMPARE AND SAVE ON TEMPORARY FENCE PANELS N LI N C H E C AI N 600 W. Manville St., Compton, CA 90220 FE M AN TE U IT U FA C ST TU R ER IN 800-688-SWAN (7926) www.swanfence.com K WE SHIP COAST TO COAST 3,000 + PANELS of 6 X 10 & 6 X 14 ARE IN STOCK S ® 46 ask. It's a disease that can infect anyone, anytime, anyplace. It's sometimes chronic with perfectly normal people who have oddball tools, like the tripleacting, non-reversing, double-interlocked drill chuck that lets you drill at a 90-degree angle around a corner in a tight place. Or that odd-looking tool you bought at a yard sale for 25 cents that you thought was a Swiss Army knife till you got home and found out it was full of odd-size feeler gauges, a magnifying glass, auger, screwdriver and a bunch of other things that defy ordinary description. I am a chronic sufferer of this disease myself. It has a long medical name: "Inabilitytoleavewellenoughalone." I had a gearbox and some small gears lying around the shed, which turned out to be exactly what I needed to build a self-propelled wheelbarrow. I made a mount to hold the power head of a gas digger and a quick connect and disconnect shaft from motor to gearbox. I ran a throttle cable to the handle of the wheelbarrow from the digger, and used a wheel off a lawnmower attached to the gearbox output shaft as a friction drive to the wheelbarrow wheel. The thing worked beautiful in the yard; I let go of the throttle and everything stops, just as it should! So we take it to a job for a tryout. We have to increase the speed of the power head to compensate for the weight of the mud. The thing works fine, and dreams of patents dance in my head. My fortune's made! At last, a workable self-propelled wheelbarrow that ain't half the size of a three-yard front end loader. Since it uses a gas digger motor, you can kill two birds with one stone. Dig the holes, then mount the motor on the wheelbarrow and go to settin' posts. Well, I'm heading back to the truck to get a refill. I release the throttle and let go of the handles of the wheelbarrow. But the throttle is stuck full open! My self-propelled machine makes it out of the yard we are working in and gets on the highway. It was last seen headed north on the front end of a Diamond Reo semi tractor. Thank God traffic was heavy and the semi couldn't stop right away. We had time to gather our tools, load up and hide our truck in a used car lot 50 continued on page 48