Building and repairing machinery comes naturally to me from my farming days, but it still took lots of test fitting to get the parts to work. I bought the refurbished tractor from an antiques dealer for $1100. So, I bought a small stick welder at a hardware store and drove my pickup to a scrap-metal dealer to buy the materials. The loader has a self-leveling bucket with its swing dampened by an automobile shock absorber. With just one click of a mouse, you can rotate, animate and explode...

Locally, shares of Exelon inc. got a favorable jolt as the nation's largest nuclear utility said it selected a site in Texas for an atomic-powered plant, although it has not made a commitment to build it. Another Texas site 50 miles away has been identified as a possible location for a nuclear plant, should the application run into difficulties, Exelon said. Abbott Laboratories stock gained ground as the North Chicago-based pharmaceutical leviathan said it is teaming with Genentech inc. to...

The yard is used as a scrap yard, to store trucks and machinery imported from abroad, as well as a shed for repairing agricultural machinery. The owner of an illegal scrap yard next to Mgarr s parish church had to be held by police after he threatened to drive a large Caterpillar excavator onto Mepa officials, and their vehicles, as they started an operation to clear the site. But when Michael Galea, the owner of the yard, saw that his time was up, he resisted the operation by blocking the...

For the past year, Penn State has been running two new, unmodified New Holland tractors on B100 biodiesel (fuel made from soybean oil with no petroleum-based component) with no ill effects. Cauffman and his staff decided to stretch the envelope even further, in collaboration with machinery company Case New Holland, by operating the two tractors on B100 biodiesel. At that time, engine manufacturers were not endorsing biodiesel blends greater than B5 (5 percent biodiesel) and threatening to...

A tag or label on either the tool or the power cord will indicate that the equipment was designed and manufactured in accordance with established safety standards. Another 7 percent are attributed to power tools, and 4 percent are linked to lawn, garden and farming equipment. Oncor Electric Delivery offers tips this month to help homeowners avoid injury while making the most of labor-saving yard and gardening equipment. Once tools and accessories are inspected, the following safety rules...

Prosecutors say a farmer accused of intentionally running over a woman with his tractor has been charged with capital murder. Charges Filed In Tractor Death. Prosecutors filed the formal charge yesterday against 44-year-old Glen Homer Shelton Junior. Shelton is accused of killing 26-year-old Melanie Hughes on May Fifth in Jefferson County. Authorities say Shelton ran over Hughes, then evaded police for 24 hours. He was arrested May Sixth. Shelton, who lives in Jefferson County, reportedly...

A 19-year-old motorist was critically injured and three other persons sustained apparently minor injuries in a collision Friday afternoon, May 25, involving a Chevy Suburban, Ford truck and a tractor-trailer loaded with road construction machinery. Hampton was attempting to make a left turn into the former ranger Station and was stopped waiting for eastbound traffic. Hampton attempted to moved to the right shoulder, but Sayre struck the left rear corner of the Ford truck and this impact...

Jim Geyer, Senior Vice President of Gold Reserve, said, "We have established an excellent relationship with Caterpillar and Venequip and we are very happy that Caterpillar views our Brisas mine as strategically important within Venezuela and has agreed to support our mining plans with a steady supply of high-quality equipment, spare parts, and technical expertise. Jim Geyer, Senior Vice President of Gold Reserve, said, "We have established an excellent relationship with Caterpillar and...

Its going to be a great harvest, and if Im lucky the money I spent on materials for the cage will be offset by thousands of fresh berries in the years ahead. Out in the Midwest, farming is a bit easier; the flat wide-open spaces - and no rocks - at least mean large machinery can be used productively. What with the rocks, the hills, the short growing season, the expensive labor and the high cost of land, its no wonder the number of farms continues to shrink. In the first quarter, it saw...