As many of you probably know, John Deere purchased the Caterpillar combine line back in the late twenties or early thirties.  My question is related to the Deere 36B pull type combine.
My dad had a Deere very similar to the 36B back in the '50's but there were a couple differences such as it used a cluster of springs to counterbalance the header rather than weight and did not have an unloading auger but rather a single flip down chute for unloading into a wagon or truck.

I see a lot of the Deere 36B models on the web and particularly on Youtube but don't see any like ours described above.  Wondering if any of you guys have any info on what model ours would have been and/or web links.  It's a nostalgia thing for me as I used to ride up on the combine and run the "ships wheel" to raise and lower the header as Dad pulled it with the 1936 Cat RD6.

Is it possible it was not a JD? Seems like Deere bought Cat combines about 1935 or 1936 but could be off a few years.
At that same time there were Baldwins and Woods Brothers combines around that used an unloading chute rather than an auger. Early JD Combines were more compact than others and consequently the ones I know of used unloading augers. The Deere 36 seems like it always had an unloading auger and not a chute. The very early 36 combines had a belt in the header and about 1940 it went to a horizontal feeding auger in the header.

That is about all I remember about the 36.

Bruce Petty aka BP probably knows all about these "older" combines. Hopefully he will chime in. JM

 

This pic shows the model we had only difference is ours was equipped with ribbed tires that may have have been retrofitted as WWII surplus bomber tires.  It had the canvas draper 16' header.   Would sure be interesting to find some history on when this model was built!

Edit:  Ours didn't have the brace extending to the top of the clean grain elevator like shown in this pic..  

In this part of the world (coastal central Calif) until WW2 made jute bags hard to get all grain was sacked on the combine. So I have never seen the bulk tank without a auger as the picture here is.

I would also like more information on the a auger to feed the header into the JD 36 combine. There where a lot of the JD 36b's running when I was a kid. As well as some Case, IH, and Harris pull combines and none had anything but a draper to feed the combine. Also remember the combine sales men promoting the superiority of the auger header on the new self propelled combines they where selling. But now 50 years latter the draper is the "new go to thing" that is better.

Yes, regarding the draper headers, its interesting how "what goes around comes around". That could be said for the belt buckles that connected the ends of the canvas draper belts also.
I did some more digging and will post some more pics. The one labeled "John Deere no. 17 Combine" looks exactly like the one we had on the North Central Kansas farm back in the 50's and prior. The one labeled "John Deere No. 2 Combine" shows the double fold down spout on the bin. According to the timeline, Deere built a total of 38 No. 2 combines in 1927.and then other models are shown in 1935 and 1939.

I tend to agree that all the Deere pull types were draper header and I think that Baldwin/Gleaner first introduced the auger in the header but could very well be mistaken.

So finally discovered that our Deere No. 17 was apparently built in 1932 according to this article.  

"So finally discovered that our Deere No. 17 was apparently built in 1932 according to this article."

That timeline sounds right.

My dad and uncle cut barley in 1980 or maybe 81 with JD 36 B with Hanson add on of electric solenoids controlling the leveler and air cylinder to raise and lower the header. My uncle had added a ladder on the hitch so you could step of the tractor drawbar to the combine lounge up the ladder to the separator clutch and the grain tank unloader control.

They had bought a JD 36b the first year after WW2 that JD had any to sell, I think it was 47 but sure. In mid season 64 the header tender got momo and they sat 3 or 4 days looking for a replacement. Don't know if good or bad at 9 I was considered to young. Then they where told of a JD36b with the Hanson add on. It had been sitting several years already. This one was used every year until 80 or 81.

There was another much larger operation here in Paso Robles that ran JD 36b for several more years. I believe they had one Case (maybe W4), 1 IH 51, 2 JD 36's, 1 JD 95H to cut field boarders. They replaced the old pull machines with 3 JD 6622's which where parked in only 2 or 3 seasons as they retired with the Conservation Reserve land retirement of 1985. Oh to bring it back to Cat I believed they had 3 RD 6's pulling loose old combine and a 3t D 7 on one.

The true John Deere’s had the Shute unloader springs on the header balancer maybe an auger header, the Holt Cat version never had any of that, I still have a good 36A which is full side hill a 36 B is a half side hill I am pretty sure the auger tank unloader goes back to the Holt rigs. I have run a lot of different machines in my time but the. JD 36 is about sweetest one I’ve ever ran and I ran it in 1985-86 and 87 I ended up getting married because of it I will keep it for EVER. 17afarmer