Line-boring
I’ve enclosed some photos of an ongoing project involving a 9 HP Economy E. The cylinder has a 6-1/2-inch bore about 22 inches long.
The job was too big for an automotive machine shop, and I did not want to completely disassemble and pay to have it done on a horizontal boring mill, so hence the project.
I am a machinist with 40 years of experience, so line-boring projects are not new. The cylinder ended up 0.100-inch oversize, and after honing it was round within 0.0005-inch.
It is not complete, as I have not decided how to replace the piston.
I really enjoy the new Gas Engine Magazine and have been a subscriber since 1988.
Howard Kittelson, 13540 County Highway 30 Pelican Rapids, MN 56576
Watermelon threshing?
This post card has nothing to do with old engines or tractors, but I thought you might be interested since I have not found anyone who’s heard of threshing watermelons.
On the back of the card is a note from a 17-year-old girl, telling whom the card is from and who it’s to. It is dated and postmarked Hooker, Okla., Aug. 6, 1912.
Have any of the readers heard of watermelon threshing?
Paul E. Hall, 522 S. Court St. Sullivan, IN 47882
Civilian Conservation Corps
My father was an Army Air Corps captain during the Great Depression in the 1930s, and commanded this Civilian Conservation Corps company.
Readers’ guesses as to the engine identification are welcome. The photo dates from 1934-1935.
Al Wait, 177 Park Ave. Contoocook, NH 03229 mausers@myexcel.com
Mystery tractor revealed
I have the answer to the mystery tractor sent in by Harry Hanson in the November 2004 GEM (Letters & Miscellanies, page 3).
The tractor is a Fairman, built by H.E. Fairman of Davenport, Iowa. I’m including two photos of the tractor. I can see slight differences in the tractors, so they built more than one.
This tractor is probably from the late teens or 1920s when the front-drive articulated tractors became popular. The most abundant of this type of tractor is the Moline ‘Universal’ tractor. The Fairman tractor post cards I have showed up at a paper-collectible show recently. Dan Ehlerding 1639 Gallimore Road Jamestown, OH 45335
Watermelon threshing postcard, dated Aug. 6, 1912; postcard showing a Fairman tractor, built in Davenport, Iowa; Fairman tractor displaying sign, ‘This corn was grown without the use of horses, all of the work being done by tractor’; 1907 Popular Mechanics advertisement for a submerged trolling motor.
Watermelon threshing postcard, dated Aug. 6, 1912; postcard showing a Fairman tractor, built in Davenport, Iowa; Fairman tractor displaying sign, ‘This corn was grown without the use of horses, all of the work being done by tractor’; 1907 Popular Mechanics advertisement for a submerged trolling motor.
Watermelon threshing postcard, dated Aug. 6, 1912; postcard showing a Fairman tractor, built in Davenport, Iowa; Fairman tractor displaying sign, ‘This corn was grown without the use of horses, all of the work being done by tractor’; 1907 Popular Mechanics advertisement for a submerged trolling motor.
Vintage submerged trailer
I ran across this advertisement in a 1907 Popular Mechanics and was very surprised. I had always thought the Clarke Trailer of the late 1930s was a one-of-a-kind invention. I thought readers might be as interested as I was.
Ernest L. Krieger, P.O. Box 71 Jefferson, IA 50129krieger@netins.net
