tumble bug

[john [mo]]

anybody ever use or see a tumble bug dirt scraper? do they work good or only under the right conditions?

 

[Anonymous-0]

My US to Australian Dictionary doesn't list a "tumble bug". (Didn't list "brush hog" either, but I worked out that was a "slasher".)

What is a "Tumble Bug"?

There's no doubt about it - Americans and Australins: joined by a common British heritage; divided by language!!!

 

[Boss Hog]

Here"s a tumble bug for sale on ebay.


http://nnalert.com/ytapcd

It"s basically a dirt scoop that was drug along on top of the ground. There were trip levers to load the thing, then another one to dump it.

I never have used one, so I"m a little fuzzy on just exactly how they work. I think they were mainly used before there were 3 point hitches and hudraulics.

 

[Allan in NE]

A tumble bug was used back before the loaders and scrapers were common.

An implement used to move soil from one place to another. They worked very well.

Allan

 

[Goose]

They were a cylinder about four feet wide and three feet in diameter, with about an 18 inch opening on one side. There was a scraper blade on one side of the opening. They were dragged along on the ground until they were filled with dirt. You then had to back up to let them rotate until the opening was on top and they were dragged to where the dirt was wanted. Another pull of the lever let the thing rotate again and dump the dirt.

They were horse drawn before tractors became popular, then pulled behind a tractor. I had one once, but never had much luck with it. The dirt had to be rather loose or the tumblebug wasn't heavy enough to dig in to load, it would simply skid across the ground. With the advent of rear mounted three point scoops and front mounted bucket loaders, the tumblebugs disappeared overnight. Mine sat unused for years till I finally sold it for five bucks to someone who didn't even know why he wanted it.

 

[NEsota]

The Tumble Bug in Allen's photo looks like one that I inherited. These go back to the horse-drawn days and I believe I have seen them after the long horse tongue was shorten, to pull with tractors. The center section is like a barrel sliced open, the long way, with a dirt blade on one side of the opening. The lever sticking up is tied to a rope which the operator activates from tractor seat. In one position of rotation the blade is scooping up dirt and filling barrel. When full, you pull the lever and the barrel rotates prox 120 degrees and locks so that the opening is up and dirt stays in barrel. You drag it along to where you want the dirt and when you pull lever again the barrel rotates and dumps the dirt. It takes more power to drag this on the ground than it would if it had wheels under it but it does work well if what you are moving is not too hard to pick up, as in loose material. You do not have a lot of weight to force the blade into the ground.

 

[Anonymous-0]

thanks for all the info. i think i got it figured out how it works now.seems like if you get it loaded it would be nice to be able to lift it up if you wanted to move it.

 

[John (MO)]

No need to pick it up, it drags along fine.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I used one of those things, I thought the name was a pet name, not an industry name. We used ours to move dirt one place to another, help build up small roadways,etc, actually quite usefull for some things. A tractor loader would be less effective in these tasks. Too bad they disappeared from the market.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I have not heard that word(Tumblebug) in more than 40+ years. I allways thought it was a nickname of sorts,but apparently it was a model name like (mower,disk, etc). You Ausies may not have been introduced to this device, no loss to you, it was just an old farm artifact that went by the wayside. Quite usefull in it's day for dirt moving.

 

[lonestarjeff]

John...here's one made by Towner.

Jeff