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Crazy Tractor Is Real Crowd Pleaser
Showgoers at the recent Farm Progress Show in Illinois got a big kick out of a 1949 Minneapolis Moline R tractor that was running around by itself with no driver in sight, squirting water at unsuspecting people and talking to them.
Eddie Sloan, who put radio controls on the antique tractor, had just as much fun,
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Crazy Tractor is Real Crowd Pleaser TRACTORS Miscellaneous 15-6-20 Showgoers at the recent Farm Progress Show in Illinois got a big kick out of a 1949 Minneapolis Moline R tractor that was running around by itself with no driver in sight, squirting water at unsuspecting people and talking to them.
Eddie Sloan, who put radio controls on the antique tractor, had just as much fun, operating the rig from out of sight.
"It shocks people when they see water squirt out from the tractor and hear it talk," says Sloan, who farms near Atlanta, Ind. "Someof them look up in the air to see where the water came from. Once they see what's happening, most people stand off to the side and wait for someone else to get squirted."
Sloan uses a radio transmitter to send signals to a receiver mounted inside a box at the rear of the tractor. The receiver activates all of the driverless tractor's electric control systems.
Besides squirting water and talking, the crazy tractor can also blow bubbles, sound a siren and horn, and flash its lights on and off. It can also start itself up by remote control.
"Sometimes in parades the tractor goes along by itself until there are a lot of people around, then I shut the engine off," says Sloan. "Little kids become curious and walk over to investigate. As soon as they kick the tires, I start it back up again. They really get a surprise."
A windshield washer is used to squirt water out of a hole at the front of the tractor. A hidden paddle wheel dips into a tank full of solution and a fan blows it through a hole to make bubbles that float up from the rear of the tractor. The siren and horn are mounted inside the radio signal receiver box at the rear of the tractor. An electric motor, mounted inside another box on the side of the tractor, controls the steering. Sloan uses a wireless intercom and a speaker mounted in the seat to make the tractor "talk" to people.
For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Eddie Sloan, Rt. 1, Atlanta, Ind. 46031 (ph 317 963-5434).
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