HISTORY OF OUR ‘ELLIS’

By Staff
Published on May 1, 1972
article image
W. A. (Bill) Clegg
'Ellis' 2 cycle engine. Courtesy of W. A. (Bill) Clegg, Jr., 523 S. Roberts St., Lima, Ohio 45804.

Jr., 523 S. Roberts St., Lima, Ohio 45804.

After Anna Mae printed our inquiry on our 6 HP Ellis Engine in
Jan-Feb. 72 G.E.M., we thought that some of your readers might like
to know what information we received–thanks to the G. E. M.

First off–our Ellis was built by the Ellis Engine Company of
Detroit, Michigan around 1900 to 1908 (according to reader
information). The Ellis Engine Company was last listed in the
Detroit Telephone Directory in the year 1916. This above
information was sent us by a reader in Illinois.

Now another G. E. M. reader in Missouri sent us the following
information from an old Gas Power Magazine, 1912 issue.

The 6 UP Ellis runs for 34c a day. By means of a patented
throttle runs as 4 HP for 23c a day or as 2 HP for 12c a day. This
Ellis engine was guaranteed for a period of Ten years against
defects of material or workmanship from date of purchase. Also
Ellis Engines were offered on a 30 day free trial and all engines
were guaranteed when operated in accordance with instructions, to
deliver an excess of actual brake horsepower over their catalog
rating.

And the Ellis Engine Company guaranteed that all monies
deposited with them for purchase of an engine was held as the
property of the purchased for the period of thirty days after the
arrival of the engine at destination and within these thirty days
if the engine for any reason proved other than represented, they
agreed to refund without question all monies paid them immediately
on return of the complete outfit to the railroad station at
Detroit.

If I may add, this is a long way from what the buyer of today is
offered.

Where our ‘Ellis’ went to or what it was used for after
being built is not known. The man we purchased it from last
November 1971 gave us the following history.

This gentleman purchased the engine second-hand, back around
1915-1918. He put it to work powering a water well drilling rig. In
fact, he showed us a picture of it in use on the drilling rig while
he was drilling a well on his own farm, back around 1920. He told
us that during the winter months when he was not drilling wells he
used it on a cord wood saw. He also said he quit the well drilling
around 1941 or 1942 when the Second World War started.

At that time he went to work in Lima, Ohio at the Lima
Locomotive Works. After the war, he belted the ‘ole Ellis up to
a water pump and set her on the bank of a creek at the rear of his
farm and pumped water from the creek into a 10 acre field of
melons.

This engine was used for this up until about ten years ago, when
he put it in the machine shop at his farm where we found it.

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