2910 Maple Road Manistee, Michigan 49660
It was a cold winter night, February 10, 1974, when twenty-one
people gathered at the Riverton Township hall in Mason County,
half-way between the cities of Scottville and Ludington, Michigan,
to the south of U.S. 10 and east of U.S. 31.
At this meeting a club was formed for families interested in
restoring and running old gas hit and miss engines, steam engines
or other antique equipment.
Names for the club were discussed at the first meeting. Fred
Donohue made the motion to name the club Western Michigan Old
Engine Club.
Lyle Hanley holds the honor of being the club’s first
president and remains an active member. It’s Lyle’s shingle
mill that delights many visitors in the making of shingles at the
annual show held every year the first full weekend in August.
James Albitis makes a new branding iron each year. He stamps
shingles right off the shingle mill during the show. These
shingles, with the club’s brand on them, are placed for sale to
the public.
The show features a variety of antique engines and tractors as
well as other items. One of the antique engines is a Franklin
Valveless. Found by James Albaitis in Eastlake, Michigan. Albaitis
told Charles Hargreaves (then club president) about the engine.
Hargreaves found the engine had been transported to East Lake in
the late 1800’s by the Rademaker family. The Franklin Valveless
was used at brine wells, pumping from depths of 2,400 feet. This
engine has flywheels of 5 feet and is approximately 50 horse power.
It starts by heating a glop lug located in the cylinder head with a
blow torch until the plug is red hot. With three men on each wheel
rolling the flywheels forward, drawing the starting fluid into the
cylinder, the wheels reverse backwards against the compression
stroke, firing the fuel, which in turn will start the engine. Then
the wheels reverse to a forward running motion.
One has to see this engine with its big wheels and hear the soft
pup-pup to realize just how quietly it runs..
The Franklin Valveless engine was donated to the Western
Michigan Old Engine Club by the Martin Marietta Chemicals
Refractories Division of Eastlake, Michigan, who had used it for
many years to pump brine, in much the same way as it had nearly a
hundred years ago.