Flywheel Forum

By Staff
Published on April 1, 2007
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'Above from top: The White Lily gas engine; specifications showing 3 HP and 18-inch flywheels; the insides of the White Lily factory: testing at top, assembly at left and shipping at right. At the bottom (not shown) is written “Osborn, Skelley & Gorman, Davenport, IA.”; and outside the White Lily factory. '
'Above from top: The White Lily gas engine; specifications showing 3 HP and 18-inch flywheels; the insides of the White Lily factory: testing at top, assembly at left and shipping at right. At the bottom (not shown) is written “Osborn, Skelley & Gorman, Davenport, IA.”; and outside the White Lily factory. '
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Left: A page from the White Lily engine operator’s manual pointing out details.
Left: A page from the White Lily engine operator’s manual pointing out details.

Here are several pages of a catalog and directions for starting
the White Lily gasoline engine.

The catalog cover says Toledo, Ohio. I believe a Toledo retailer
put the cover on the catalog. The last page of the catalog, “Inside
the Factory,” shows a Davenport, Iowa printer. Don Zech, 2562 Ivy
Place, Toledo, OH 43613.

From the editor:

This rare engine is only mentioned in Volume I of C.H.
Wendel’s American Gasoline Engines Since 1872. Wendel
writes that White Lily Washer Co. was located in Davenport, Iowa.
“Beginning with patent no. 828,867 of 1906, Henry Stoltenburg
initiated a radically new air-cooled engine design that contained a
cooling fan attached to the flywheel rim. Stoltenburg’s inventive
efforts along this line were further rewarded by patent no. 863,234
of 1907 and 880,835 of 1908.

“The following year an engine of similar design was patented by
Henry M. Yager, also of Davenport, Iowa, under no. 928,299. Despite
the fact that Stoltenburg was ostensibly associated with White Lily
Washer Co., these designs all have a definite resemblance to the
Schmidt Chilled Cylinder engines advertised and sold concurrently
by Schmidt Bros. Engine Works, also of Davenport. To further
confuse the matter, a 1909 advertisement in Gas Power
noted that these engines ‘are now being made by Davenport Ice
Chipping Machine Co.'”

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