KRUEGER’S COMMENTS!

By Staff
1 / 4
Courtesy of Gerard Wodarz, Wyndmere, North Dakota 58051
Courtesy of Gerard Wodarz, Wyndmere, North Dakota 58051
2 / 4
Courtesy of James Perry & Sons, Box 108, Prairie City, Iowa 50228
Courtesy of James Perry & Sons, Box 108, Prairie City, Iowa 50228
3 / 4
Courtesy of Col Houston L. Herndon, Box 5363, Sarasota, Florida 33579
Courtesy of Col Houston L. Herndon, Box 5363, Sarasota, Florida 33579
4 / 4
Courtesy of F. L. Williams 6694 Norcliff Drive, Sebastopol, California 95172
Courtesy of F. L. Williams 6694 Norcliff Drive, Sebastopol, California 95172

1615 San Francisco St., San Antonio, Texas 78201

‘Where San Antonio is celebrating it’s 250th Birthday,
with a WORLD’S FAIR, here in San Antonio, Texas, April 6 thru
Oct. 6, 1968’

Dear Readers: Check again the picture of page 25, in the Jan-Feb
1968 GEM. My letter printed in the May-June 1968 GEM, page 7 states
the tractor in the picture referred to above, is a cross-motor
HUBUR SUPER-FOUR. In this letter, I am adding that the tractor is
at least a 15-30 hp., with a 4-cyl. vertical, valve-in-head motor,
and, I am inclined to believe, just as strongly, that it could be
rated 18-36 hp. I would like to get the correct answer, if any of
you have it. Some may think the tractor is a FRICK; but, since the
FRICK has its belt-pulley on the right-side, and the rear-wheel
fenders coming down nearer to the ground in the rear, that lets the
FRICK out. Anyway, the tractor is not an AULTMAN-TAYLOR. I think
there is a caption mix-up, involving two pictures in two different
GEMs. These pictures are: top of page 25 in Jan-Feb 68 issue; and,
the other picture is on top of page 31 May-June 68 issue. Trading
captions with these two pictures would make more sense. HUBER
tractors, of the design pertaining to these comments, started out
with the. cross-mount HUBER LIGHT-FOUR 12-25 tractor with L head
Waukesha motor, which probably appeared as early as 1916 and first
tested at Nebraska in 1920. Then, in 1921, the cross-mount HUBER
SUPER-FOUR 15-30 with valve-in-head Midwest-motor appeared; and
this new tractor was tested at Nebraska, in 1921. This 15-30
developed so much power in test No. 74, that I believe, already in
1921, the HUBER COMPANY re-rated the tractor 18-36 hp. I don’t
know, right off, if the cross-mount HUBER 18-36 was ever tested at
Nebraska; in fact, I don’t think it was, only as a 1 5-30
tractor. I would like to find out how long these HUBER cross-mount
tractors with 4-cyl. vertical engines were built. The new HUBER
SUPER-FOURs, with motors mounted parallel to direction of travel, I
believe started appearing in 1926. The first one of this latter
type was an 18-36; with larger sizes following. The HUBER
cross-mounts are attractive collector’s items. Tractors of
similar design were the .PARRETT; the FRICK; the BESSER; and, the
(Canadian) MASSEY-HARRIS, the latter is very similar to the
PARRETT. All have 4-cyl. vertical cross-mount motors, and extra
large front wheels.

A rear view of the I.H.C. single cylinder engine at
Rathert’s Reunion.

On page 12 of the May-June 68 GEM is the subject of the FAIR-MOR
10-20 tractor. That is a nice picture of a nicely restored FAIR-MOR
10-20 tractor. Now don’t you just agree that the
FAIRBANKS-MORSE & CO. just probably jobbed these tractors, and
sold them under the name FAIR-MOR, for the short period they were
on the market, rather than equip their factory to build them, when
a firm named ‘The Reliable Tractor and Engine Co., Portsmouth,
Ohio, was already building them, the same thing, known as the
RELIABLE 10-20? Reliable started building them in 1919, not 1917.
The first ones had 3/8 in. wide piston-rings. In 1921, Reliable
changed to 5/16 in. wide piston-rings. The Reliable tractors were
built in the 10-20 size only. While we are on the subject of
FAIR-MOR tractors, how about the FAIR-MOR 1.2-25 tractor built by
the TOWNSEND TRACTOR CO., Janesville, Wis., which size also came
out about 1919? Don’t you think the F-M co. just jobbed them,
too, rather than set up to build them? I think so; but, maybe
Carleton M. Mull, ex F-M salesman, in Seattle, Wash., could give us
some concrete facts on the FAIR-MOR 10-20; and the FAIR-MOR 12-25
tractors that the FAIRBANKS-MORSE & CO. once sold.

Did you know that some jobbing companies will go to quite some
lengths to make an impression on the consumer public? Take as an
example, the DeLaval Separator Co., Chicago; and, New York; they
jobbed three sizes of engines from the John Lauson Mfg. Co., which
engines DeLaval called the ‘ALPHA’ engines, in 1-1/2;
2-1/2; and 3-1/2 hp. sizes, to power some of the DeLaval
Pulso-Pumps, by belt drive. DeLaval may have had a hand in getting
some certain engine specs, changed to better suit their special
application, that is well and good. And, naming the LAUSON engines
DeLaval finally selected as the ‘ALPHA’, is quite alright,
too. The tricky part is where DeLaval used the same LAUSON
factory-picture which LAUSON used in their 1916 LAUSON Engine
Catalog (long before ‘ALPHA’ engines were) on their
‘ALPHA’ engine parts-book, where the picture shows the
LAUSON factory-name changed to ‘ALPHA GASOLINE ENGINES’;
otherwise the picture is an identical aerial-view of the LAUSON
factory!

Page 20 May-June 68 GEM, Ruben Michelson presents us with a
picture of a Bat. ign. l-? hp. JOHN DEERE engine. Yes, Ruben, JOHN
DEERE did build a few Bat. and Buzz-coil model ‘E’ engines,
using the factory adapter-plate for the spark-plug, which plate
bolted over the original igniter-hole. This Bat. ign. applied only
to the 1-? and 3 hp. sizes; not to the 6 hp. size. Among other
changes from their regular model ‘E’ make & break, mag.
ign. engines, the Bat. ign. engines even use a different camshaft,
because the extra cam-lobe for igniter-tripping through the exhaust
push-rod, is not needed. The same camshaft fits both sizes. I
suppose a lot of users could get along better with Buzz-coil ign.,
so JOHN DEERE supplied it. I don’t know when, or how many, were
built, nor the engine numbers of the Bat. ign. models. The better
known JOHN DEERE engines, of course, are the 1-?; 3; and 6 hp.
model ‘E’ s, having hit & miss governoring, use
gasoline for fuel, and ign. by timed L. T. rotary magneto and make
& break igniter. But, JOHN DEERE also provided the necessary
changes in all three sizes, and put out the model ‘EK’
engines, which were throttling-governed kerosene-engines, with the
same regular ign. by timed L.T. rotary magneto and make & break
igniter. A different carburetor is used having two needle-valves,
one for gasoline from the starting-bowl, the other is for kerosene
from the regular tank in the engine-base. You pour a little
gasoline in the starting-bowl to start on, then switch to kerosene
when it is hot enough and has enough load to keep the engine hot.
For kerosene, the 1-? hp. ‘EK’ uses a different cyl-hd.
providing a flanged-connection, to which the kero.-carb. can be
bolted. A flanged-connection, for the carb., was always provided
for the 3 and 6 hp. sizes. One other JOHN DEERE engine is the model
‘EP’, made in the 3 hp. size only. It has timed WICO rotary
H. T. magneto ign. with impulse-starter. A cyl.-hd., different from
any of the other models, is used. This head has a tapped-hole for
the sparkplug (no adapter-plate used). The head-casting provides
for enclosure of both valves, with a cover and gasket that is
readily removable. The exhaust push-rod is enclosed, too, in a
metal-tube. The fuel is gasoline; the gov. is h & m; but, the
carb. is changed by providing a flange to which is bolted an
oil-bath air-cleaner. A long, vertical muffler is used, similar to
the late 2-cyl. J. D. tractor muffler. There is also a
cooling-hopper cover supplied. I presume this ‘EP’ engine
is for dusty out-door operations such as light hay-press and
potato-digger work.

Jaeger, 2? HP owned and restored by Tony Ullrick, Wauchula,
Florida. Tony is one of those young ‘old engine’
enthusiasts, clubs are fortunate to have, for they will be running
the old engines before too long. Tony showed several engines at the
Florida American Royal Gas and Steam Round-up in February 1968.

One more item, it’s on page 35 of May-June 68 GEM, submitted
by Ruben Michelson regarding the rare McCOR-MICK-DEERING type
‘L’ one-flywheel engine, with WICO reciprocating H. T.
magneto (the Wico type EK 1114). This engine is rated at 1-? hp.,
not 2-? hp. as Ruben thought. I do not know the bore & stroke
of this engine; the speed is listed as 500 rpm., if it has a bore
of say 3-1/8 to 3-?, then the 500 rpm. would be the cr. sh. speed.
The pulley shaft would then turn at 250 rpm., which is very slow
for lots of jobs, but ok for some; and, I figure it is a
fixed-speed engine, with no external speed-changing while running,
the reason Ruben’s engine has such a large pulley. Plain
pulleys for this engine are listed from 3 in. dia. through 8 in.
dia., in six sizes, each one-inch bigger, all have 4-54 in. face.
The regular pulley for this engine is the 4 inch dia. one. My
source of info. just gives the serial numbers for 1929, as follows:
‘EW 101 to EW 600 made in 1929’; but, another source states
the type ‘L’ was built 1929 to 1933. Then the ‘LA 1-?
to 2-?’ came out in 1934; the ‘LA 3 to 5’ came out in
1935, etc. Therefore, Ruben, your I.H.C. type ‘L’ is the
15th engine built, a 1929 engine. Thanks, readers, this will be
allf or this time! ‘Be Sure you’re right, then check your
figures.’

I, with the help of several other gas engine advocates, are
trying to recreate the past history of the Stover Co. in Freeport,
Illinois.

I have contacted C. R. Johnson & Sons in Freeport and I find
that he can establish date of manufacture as well as original
purchaser of the various Stover engines in our collection by serial
number. I truly appreciate Mr. Johnson’s help. I have found out
from GEM that Stover was sold to Freeport Machine Works and that
they have some parts for the late CT-1 Models. Any help from any of
the readers on color schemes, etc. would be appreciated. Pictured
above is my Stover 1? Hp. Model CT-1, built April 24, 1936 and
purchased by Olivers, So. Bend, Indiana.

The engineers and engines and Iron Men Album Magazine tents at
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, 1966. Miniature gas engines on the table were
made and exhibited by Mr. F. H. Warnock, Peoria Hts., Illinois.

(Step right up at the Reunions – when you see these signs and
get your subscriptions in order – or buy some of our other items.
You’ll be happy you did and so will we — Anna Mae.)

  • Published on Jul 1, 1968
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