An Early Farm Gas Engine Model

By Staff
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Courtesy of H. B. Upshur, 290 Appletree Drive, Media, Pennsylvania 19063.
Courtesy of H. B. Upshur, 290 Appletree Drive, Media, Pennsylvania 19063.
2 / 10
Courtesy of Cletis Beckman, 105 Third Avenue, Mt. Lake Park, Maryland 21550.
Courtesy of Cletis Beckman, 105 Third Avenue, Mt. Lake Park, Maryland 21550.
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1972 condition of the Fairbanks Morse model.
1972 condition of the Fairbanks Morse model.
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Courtesy of Willard Hughes, 385 Indian Road, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.
Courtesy of Willard Hughes, 385 Indian Road, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.
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7 / 10
Courtesy of Andy Kruse, Box 14, Park Ridge, Illinois 60068.
Courtesy of Andy Kruse, Box 14, Park Ridge, Illinois 60068.
8 / 10
Courtesy of Andy Kruse, Box 14, Park Ridge, Illinois 60068.
Courtesy of Andy Kruse, Box 14, Park Ridge, Illinois 60068.
9 / 10
Courtesy of John M. Hamilton, 2015 Arthur Avenue, Charleston, Illinois 61920.
Courtesy of John M. Hamilton, 2015 Arthur Avenue, Charleston, Illinois 61920.
10 / 10
Courtesy of W. H. Dittemore, Jr., 604 North Lincoln, Route 1, Box 305A, Fredericksburg, Texas 78624.
Courtesy of W. H. Dittemore, Jr., 604 North Lincoln, Route 1, Box 305A, Fredericksburg, Texas 78624.

290 Appletree Drive, Media, Pennsylvania 19063.

I am writing this story because it may be of general interest to
readers and in particular to the many people who have asked for
more details on this farm gas engine model at the many meets where
it has been run over the past six years. I have been asked if plans
or castings are available for it and unfortunately they are not at
the moment, except perhaps for the flywheel castings which are the
only castings used in it. I hope to find time in the future to
measure and draw plans for it.

As a teenage farm boy on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, part of
my chores were to maintain and operate three engines that we had on
the farm. One was a 5 HP Economy on the complete portable sawmill
rig Sears sold. Another was a 3 HP Fairbanks Morse on the main farm
water supply pump and the last was the smallest Economy on a corn
sheller. I became fairly familiar with them, all but the Fairbanks
got the most use and therefore required most attention.

I left the farm in 1941, was drafted into the Air Force in 1943
and spent two years overseas mainly in Italy with a bomber repair
crew and mobile machine shop. After Germany yielded in 1945, work
diminished and to fill spare time waiting for rotation home, I made
several model engines. One of these was a simple model of the
Fairbanks

Morse engine from memory of it. As can be seen in the picture of
its original condition in 1945, the frame and crankshaft were
fabricated assemblies from soft steel plate and drill rod. Two
thick headers of proper shape were match bored and a steel sleeve
cylinder silver soldered to space them apart. Side plates were
screwed and soldered to the rear header thus forming main bearing
supports. Base and rear plates were added and a thin top plate and
copper wrapper screwed and soft soldered on the water hopper. The
cylinder head was crudely milled and hand ground to shape. I had no
gears, but using an index plate and slitting saw on the lathe I cut
equally spaced slots, filed them to crude shapes, and ran gears
together with valve grinding paste so the teeth shaped themselves.
Originally no governing was used, just a straight push rod with
breaker point cam on the flywheel hub. The original flywheels were
turned from steel plate. Engine bore was 11/16 inch and stroke 7/8
inch. Rings were tried but dragged too much, so just a snug fitting
steel piston and brass connecting rod were used. My mother sent
over a model plane spark plug by mail and it ran once or twice but
was very hard to start.

The engine was mailed home from Italy in late 1945 and remained
buried in my junk until I joined Rough and Tumble in 1959. After
they moved across the road to the present museum grounds in the
early sixties, Mr. Shaeffer brought his now well known York gas
engine model to the meet one August which began a friendly
competition between us. This occured because by the next year’s
meet I had dug up my model and begun a series of additions which
continued for several years improving it and adding working
details. This included spoked flywheels made from castings for the
Stuart 10 steam engine models, working flywheel governor and hit
and miss rig, muffler, lubricators, better carburetor as well as a
lot of better finishing on the original parts. However, each year I
made sure the engine would run in some form at the August meet.

1945 condition of Fairbanks Morse model.

1972 condition of the Fairbanks Morse model.

Some pictures of some of the gas engines hard to find.

After a year or so Mr. Shaeffer said he was going to make one
smaller than mine and he sure kept his word. Next August he showed
up running one of only 1/2 inch bore so new it was not yet painted.
I conceded the distinction of building the smallest working farm
gas engine model to him and he went on to an even smaller one, 1/4
inch bore, which is frequently seen at the meets. However, I think
my engine is still the oldest model farm engine. Not so long after
Moses Stauffer built a larger one and then others until the 1972
Rough and Tumble meet exhibited no less than 11 working farm gas
engine models.

I hope this article may prompt other builders to describe how
they became interested and built their farm engine models.

Otto 5 HP, No. 6736. Restored by Andy and shown at the Baraboo,
Wisconsin Show in 1971.

Otto 15 HP, No. 6204. Restored and built into a portable by
Andy. Shown at Northern Illinois Show in 1970.

1-1/2 HP Fairbanks Morse used for many years to pump water by a
German farmer northwest of Fredericksburg, Texas.

New Holland 5-HP Engine which came from Pennsylvania and is now
making its home at B. J. K. Helmeth and his Son George, Arthur,
Illinois. They have several other engines and own a small engine
repair shop.

Thermoil 21/2 HP. No. T2630. Will burn No. 2 fuel oil or
kerosene mixed with motor oil. No history.

  • Published on Jan 1, 1973
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