A One Cylinder HEER ENGINE

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3156 Waldron Rd. Kankakee, IL 60901

Most engine collectors are of the opinion that Heer (pronounced
Her) Engine Company, of Portsmouth, Ohio, only made two cylinder
opposed engines, and for all practical purposes, they are correct.
However, a one cylinder Heer engine does exist. The Heer Engine
Company was a takeover of The Ideal Manufacturing Company, of
Portsmouth, about 1910. Chris Heer was president of the company and
Oscar Ehrman was chief engineer and tool designer. The Ideal
Company did make an upright single cylinder engine for a short
time, but their main product was a two cylinder opposed engine.
Chris Heer evidently agreed with the Ideal thinking, and all of
their engines were of the two cylinder opposed style.

In 1912, Oscar Ehrman, designed a small, one cylinder, hopper
cooled engine to see if Heer wanted to get into the small engine
field. At this time, the smallest gas engine being made by Heer was
a 10 HP opposed type. The 3′ bore engine was built, but for
some unknown reason, Heer decided against manufacturing them, and
the idea was discarded. Mr. Ehrman evidently kept this sample
engine, and used it at his home. In 1915, the firm was again
reorganized as The Reliable Engine and Tractor Company, with Chris
Heer as president, and Oscar Ehrman, chief engineer and designer.
Mr. Heer evidently valued Mr. Ehrman’s services as engineer, as
the accompanying photocopy of a letter I have, concerning Mr.
Ehrman’s draft status shows. Whether the letter was effective,
is unknown.

After the death of Mr. Ehrman, this engine was given to Cliff
Comer, of Dayton, Ohio, by Mr. Ehrman’s widow. Ehrman and Comer
were close friends, both men being tool and die engineers. Upon Mr.
Comer’s death last February, (1985), I purchased the engine
from his widow.

This engine has a 3′ bore and a 3′ stroke. Cast in the
crankcase is: HEER, PORTS, O, EXP-ENG, 3 x 3. There are no other
markings or numbers on the engine except the cam gear, which has
number 2115/8 cast into it. The engine is
throttle governed, battery and spark plug ignition, and has a ‘
Lunkenheimer mixer on it. The odd thing about the engine, is that
Mr. Ehrman designed the engine to run counter-clockwise! It took
Mr. Comer considerable time to realize this fact, the first time he
tried to start it, after he acquired it from Mr. Ehrman’s
widow. I’m thankful that I had seen the engine run, while Comer
owned it, and was aware of that fact. Otherwise, I might have
fought it for some time, also. The engine is VERY heavy for its
size. Possibly that was a factor when Chris Heer rejected it. Heer
engines were noted for being lightweight in comparison to their
horsepower.

The large Heer engines were utilized in the Heer four wheel
drive tractor. I don’t know if any of these tractors exist,
todayI have never seen any at the numerous shows I have visited. I
do have a brochure on the Heer tractor, and a brochure of the
Reliable Heer two cylinder opposed portable engines, ranging from
ten to fifty-five horsepower.

Editors Note: At the time this article was written, Mr. Irps
intended to show his experimental engine at the following 1985
shows: Will County, Illinois, Sycamore, Illinois, Boswell, Indiana,
Portland, Indiana and Colchester, Illinois.

  • Published on Sep 1, 1985
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