|
WDM Home
Special Features
>>Artifact Articles
|
Artifact Articles: Blowtorch,
The Mechanical Horse
 By Collections Curator Ruth Bitner
February 2008
Allan Jacobs riding Blowtorch in the Swift Current parade, 1968
- WDM Archives
“The only horse in the world you have to choke to start”
W.J. McIntyre, inventor
Blowtorch, a life size mechanical horse, was the pet project and
creation of W.J. McIntyre, a Swift Current, Saskatchewan
inventor. Described by former employees as “rather eccentric
with a keen, creative mind,” McIntyre built his first mechanical
horse about 1947. Over the next five years he made design
improvements, perfecting its look and mechanics. Blowtorch III,
his third horse, was his best and last.
Blowtorch’s body was fashioned from sheet metal. A nine hp
gasoline engine provided the “horsepower.” Small wheels were
hidden under his hooves. The legs slid back and forth. A foot
throttle controlled the speed; a brake cable slowed it down. A
coat of black and white paint and a horsehair mane and tail
completed his “horsey” look.
McIntyre rode his mechanical steed at local fairs where its
peculiar lurching gait delighted the crowds. Blowtorch’s fame
spread beyond Swift Current. Horse and rider reportedly appeared
in a Grey Cup parade in Toronto, the Red River Exhibition in
Winnipeg and events in other Canadian cities. Newspaper stories
spread the story even further. Even Walt Disney wrote to inquire
about Blowtorch.
After McIntyre’s death in 1965, Blowtorch was put out to
pasture. Neglected and almost forgotten, the elements took their
toll. Rust began to eat away at his shiny coat. The bearings in
his mechanical body seized up. That’s when Allan Jacobs, a
welder at McIntyre’s shop, spotted the tired horse and decided
to do something about it. Along with McIntyre’s son Jim, he
decided to bring Blowtorch out of retirement, restoring him to
his former glory.
On a $20 dare by Jim, Jacobs headed for the fairgrounds astride
Blowtorch in the 1968 Swift Current parade. However, disaster
struck when the horse’s tiny wheels got stuck in an expansion
joint on an overpass. The jolt was more than Blowtorch could
take and the poor horse lost his head. Jacobs managed somehow to
put the head back on, holding it in place with the halter and
bridle. But things did not go well for long. As they turned a
corner, Blowtorch snapped a leg bolt, and down went horse and
rider. Jacobs, dressed as a cowboy, pulled out his toy gun and
“shot” the crippled horse as the crowd roared its approval.
But this was not the end of Blowtorch. A decade later, Jim
McIntyre donated his father’s favourite horse to the Western
Development Museum. Treated to a “tune up” both inside and out,
Blowtorch found a safe home at the Moose Jaw WDM. In 1986, he
made the trip by rail to Vancouver where he was stabled in the
Saskatchewan pavilion at Expo 86.
W.J. McIntyre was also a practical inventor. In addition to his
rather fanciful horse, McIntyre invented many things for use
around the farm. Some were patented; others were not. His
foundry and machine shop turned out land packers, windchargers,
seed treaters, grain loaders, animal dehorners, swath turners
and tractor cabs.
In the late 1950s, McIntyre organized the Inventors’ Association
to encourage inventors like himself who had experienced
difficulty in patenting his ideas and promoting them to likely
buyers. By 1958 the Association had over a thousand members
scattered across Canada and the United States.
Blowtorch is featured at
the Moose Jaw WDM.
Blowtorch gets a tune-up at the WDM, c. 1980
- WDM Archives
Be the first to hear about new artifact articles, events, and
more!
|
