Manufacturer: Bates
& Edmonds Motor Co., Lansing,
MI
Year: 1902
Serial Number:
11002
HP: 8
Bore: NA
Stroke: NA
Ignition: Spark
plug
Governing: Throttle
This generating set
was made by the Garwood Co. of Garwood, N.J., and it incorporates an 8 HP
engine made by the Bates & Edmonds Co. of Lansing, Mich. The engine has a Fairbanks
nameplate on it; Fairbanks
was a merchandiser of various brands of gas engines including Bates &
Edmonds, Callahan and others.
The engine
represents an early line of engines produced by Bates & Edmonds. One
outstanding feature on the engine is the valve operating mechanism. Instead of
having cams on the camshaft, this engine employs two eccentrics. Those
eccentrics are connected through eccentric rods to bell cranks on shafts on top
of the cylinder head. On the other end of those shafts are two fingers referred
to as alligator links. The fingers push down on tappets, which in turn push
down on both the intake and exhaust valve stems. “By using this alligator link
mechanism, you can get cam-like action without having to use cams,” Coolspring
President Clark Colby says. “They eliminated the wear that was normally
associated with cams and exchanged that for a little added complexity, and
ended up with a very quiet valve train.”
This particular engine has a throttling
governor, which would be normal for electric lighting service, and it shows
very little wear so it’s hard to know how often it was used.
Get the whole story
of Coolspring’s acquisition of this engine in Coolspring Power Museum: The History of the Bates & Edmonds Engine.
Read more about this engine and 38 others in the book, Coolspring, published by Gas Engine Magazine. Order this book from the Gas Engine Magazine store: Coolspring.
