Exhibitors hope show picks up steam

By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Big tractor. Big draw.
At least that's what exhibitors at the Canfield Fair's steam show are hoping.
"We're trying to build the show up by bringing in rare and unusual things. You'll never come back and see the same thing from one year to the next," said Clyde Foor of Poland, one of the exhibitors.
This year the big draw is a big tractor, a 1912 Rumley Oil Pull that weighs 16,000 pounds, stands 8 feet tall and is capable of pulling a six-bottom plow.
Ethan Lehman of Kidron, Ohio, owns the Rumley Oil Pull, Model F, one of only 24 known to exist.
Three types of these tractors were produced in La Porte, Ind., in 1912, and this was the smallest of the three, Foor said. "So you can imagine how big oil pulls could go."
The tractor is part of an extensive collection of antique farm equipment Lehman owns and is usually on display at Lehman's Hardware, which specializes in hardware and appliances that operate without electricity and are popular with the Amish.
Foor, who also collects and exhibits antique tractors, knew about the giant oil pull and suggested it be displayed during the fair.
Also on display
His 1926 Hart Parr, which is even rarer, is on display, too. "Only 500 were made and I only know of six that still exist," he said.
Foor also brought a Tangley Calliaphone, a contraption that resembles a miniature pipe organ and in the old days provided festive music at Ringling Bros. Circus.
Early steam-powered calliaphones could be heard up to 13 miles away. "You can hear this one half a mile away," he said. Foor's calliaphone operates off a generator.
One-of-a-kind antique hand tools, phonographs and firefighting equipment also are on display. Most come from private collections and area museums.
Mike and Diane Tabor of Goshen Township brought an extensive collection of tools from 1840 through 1910, including a treadle-powered table saw from 1876 and a nail gun from the early 20th century.
Antique steam engines, power equipment and tractors, including the Rumley Oil Pull, operate every day of the fair. The exhibit is at the north end of the fairgrounds on the corner of Goshen and Ellsworth drives.
kubik@vindy.com