Planet Jr., hillside mower, cream separator and Ingersoll-Rand engine

By Staff
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Ingersoll-Rand steam engine discovered by Chris Cecil, housed in the CSX rail yard in Saginaw, Mich.
Ingersoll-Rand steam engine discovered by Chris Cecil, housed in the CSX rail yard in Saginaw, Mich.
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Ingersoll-Rand steam engine discovered by Chris Cecil, housed in the CSX rail yard in Saginaw, Mich.
Ingersoll-Rand steam engine discovered by Chris Cecil, housed in the CSX rail yard in Saginaw, Mich.

Planet Jr. Products
The pages of Gas Engine Magazine assume everyone owns a computer – I don’t! Do you have any information on Planet Jr. products?

Robert H. Schneider, 2154 Crahn Drive, Santa Rosa, CA 95404, (707) 528-6226

We don’t have any Planet Jr. books or manuals in our book catalog, but you might contact Ken Scales or Stuart Hall, who write about Toro engines and their use in Planet Jr. cultivators (page 24). Also, anyone interested in learning about the Internet, but lacking a computer, should check out their local library to see if they provide free Internet access. – Editor

Cream Separator
I noticed the picture of the cream separator at the Pawnee, Okla., show (GEM, August 2004). Mice. I’m enclosing a photo of my 1/2 HP Standard.

The carburetor and fuel tank were built by Jim McQuaters in Rio Rancho, MM., exactly like original ones. It has an American Bosch magneto. When I got this engine, the timing gear had 18 teeth, and it needed 20. Jim gave me his!

This picture was taken at the Cottonwood, Ariz., show, where Jim found a 20-tooth gear for $2!

William Brown, Santa Fe Skies, R.V. Park, Santa Fe, NM 87508

West Virginia Hillbilly Hillside Mower
I have 6 acres where I live, none of it level. Some places are too steep to mow safely with a mower or brush cutter, so I assembled a power unit to winch a 20-inch mower up and down the slopes. It uses a 1 HP, 3,450-rpm reversible electric motor belted to a 25-to-1 worm gear reduction, with a chain reduction to the rope drum. The drum has a 100-foot rope that lets me cut a lone strip up and down the slopes. I have a brake on the motor to keep it from coasting.

I have four ‘T’ -handled drive stakes to secure it to the ground while winching the mower up and down the slopes. Most of the time, I only use one stake directly behind the drum.

I installed a Lawn Boy engine to a very old, heavy Toro mower deck. I mow a strip down the hill and then back up until it cleans up the area. Then, I pull up the stakes and move the mower over, drive in the stakes and restart.

Robert W. Doss, 5950 Wilson Drive Huntington, WV 25705

Ingersoll-Rand Engine
I came across this Corliss Ingersoll-Rand double-acting engine in the CSX rail yard in Saginaw, Mich. It has a cylinder/piston assembly on each side of the armature. It appears steam goes in one cylinder and exits the other. It still has oil in the crankshaft wells. It’s all there, just neglected.

Maybe someone with more resources than myself could recover this engine. I do have limited access to the site, and I can be contacted for more information.

Chris Cecil, 4716 Shoemaker Road, Almont, MI 48003

Worthington Engines
Some comments are in order concerning the Worthington pictures in the July 2004 GEM. The engines pictured were built in the Buffalo (New York) Works of Worthington Pump & Machinery Corp. Prior to 1916, the Buffalo Works had operated as the Snow-Holly Steam Pump Works. Snow produced its first spark-ignited gas engines in the 1901/1902 era.

In 1902, Power & Mining Machinery Corp., a Worthington subsidiary, began production of diesel engines for American Diesel Engine Co. The Snow-Holly Works and Power & Mining both became part of Worthington while the company was operating under the name International Steam Pump Co. In 1916, the company was reorganized and began operating as Worthington Pump & Machinery Corp.

Power & Mining became part of International Steam Pump Co. in 1907. Power & Mining was a consolidation of the Loomis-Pettibone Gas Machinery Co. and the Holthoff Machinery Co., which produced products including internal-combustion engines. Power & Mining established a plant in Cudahy, Wis., which became known as the Cudahy Works. In 1909, a new department, the International Gas Engine Co., was added to the Cudahy Works. International Gas Engine Co. produced the Ingeco engines in a range of sizes from 1 to 300 HP. The Ingeco product line was discontinued in 1924. Power & Mining Machinery Corp. was sold that same year.

I have faith in the accuracy of the information I have cited because it comes from a Worthington publication titled 100 Years, 1840-1940, Worthington, which reviews the company’s first 100 years.

Mac Sine, 13 Main St. Lawrenceville, PA 16929

Send letters to: Gas Engine Magazine, 1503 S.W. 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265; rbackus@ogdenpubs.com

  • Published on Oct 1, 2004
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