Obtaining information
Enclosed is a photocopy of a postcard I obtained in a box of stuff from an auction. I’d like some help getting information on this equipment.
Harry Hansen 2661 180th St. Nemaha, IA 50567-7509
Upright Maytag
I am writing this letter on behalf of Frank King of Oklahoma City, Okla., who made the first upright Maytag I have seen. The enclosed photo, dated March 1992, shows that it looks almost original. The exhaust as shown, amplifies the noise and gets your attention. Note also it runs on the original mixer.
King showed his upright Maytag several times in the early 1990s. He said he showed the engine at the Bald Knob Show in Arkansas (year unknown), maybe Mr. Kelley saw King’s Maytag at the show.
N.G. Wood 10300 E. State Highway 9 Norman, OK 73026
Bates & Edmonds to Lindsay
Re: The discussion on Bates & Edmonds versus Blakeslee: The photo of the Bates & Edmonds is fairly convincing, and other styles of Bates & Edmonds engines have been found near us. The nametag on the Blakeslee sticks out enough so it would be visible – if it were a Blakeslee. We do have another shot of the rig in the winter with the frame mounted on sleds, but the engine is not shown very clearly.
I was interested to see the Lindsay compressor in the September 2004 issue. For many years, I used a Lindsay compressor, which had a Wisconsin engine, as I recall. I bought it new from Truman’s (TP in Camfield, Ohio). The engine and compressor had a common cast crankcase. It was manufactured in Deerfield, N.H. Lindsay’s slogan was, ‘Give ’em air.’ A friend still uses an outfit made by Lindsay from a Ford V8 engine – four-cylinders for power and four for the compressor. (I don’t like e-mail addresses – where does Bob Naske come from?)
Bob Weis Cricket Hill Farm P.O. Box 1032 Dublin, NH 03444
Missing Stickney
The Stickney collectors article in the GEM September 2004 was missing one model! Enclosed are photos of a Stickney Jr. The Charles Stickney Co. in St. Paul, Minn., built these in 1902 and 1903. This is the only engine designed with only one valve into the main cylinder with a 5-inch bore, 8-inch stroke and 3 HP. Sears, Roebuck & Co. sold these engines called Harvard.
I have accumulated information over the past years, and if you are interested, I would mail it to you.
Mike Moyers 37301 28th Ave. S. #31, Federal Way, WA 98003
New Holland engine
I have a New Holland engine – probably 12 HP – that has been in the family since about 1925. It had not run since around 1950 and had sat unprotected for probably 35 years before I acquired it. The piston was stuck, but after a couple of years of soaking the cylinder I was able to tap on the back of the piston and it came free. Fortunately, there was a lot of grease on many of the exterior parts.
The crank, valves and igniter are free, as are the nuts that I have tried to loosen. The access to the vertical valves is through two huge pipe plugs that screw into threaded holes that are part of the cylinder casting – an arrangement not uncommon among the small engines of the day, I believe. These plugs are in the water tank and you can bet they are very tight. A local restorer suggested I just try to lap the valves by reaching in through the cylinder with some valve-grinding compound. I would much rather do this through the openings in the water tank.
Does anyone out their in engine land have any experience with successfully solving this sort of problem? Rust dissolvers? Electrolysis? Does anyone have any advice on how to find piston rings that would match a piston that is so old?
I would like to hear from any collector or parts dealer who knows what gear-drive magneto goes with the New Holland. If I can get the rest of the engine in shape, I will be in the market for a magneto down the road.
I have another engine that is much worse, a Taylor vacuum engine. My father replaced it with an electric vacuum pump about 1940 and the Taylor never ran again. It sat pretty much exposed to the elements in the ruins of my father’s dairy barn since sometime in the 1950s. It seems everything on the Taylor is frozen and I am wondering how to begin. Any suggestions would be welcome. Make it a boat anchor? Use it as a base for a coffee table? I used to operate this engine at milking time, so I have a little nostalgia for it and would actually like to get it running again.
Incidentally, I tried e-mailing New Holland, then writing, inquiring if the company had archives that might help me answer my questions about the magneto, engine specifications and so on. I expected, at least, a letter saying, ‘We’re sorry, we can’t be of any help.’ In fact, I got no answer at all (their e-mail site promises ‘an answer in five days’).
How fondly I remember when I was a teenager in the 1940s. I would write to the machinery companies asking for information on tractors and within a few days I would receive not only the brochures I was lusting for, but a nice typewritten letter as well. My typewritten letters never revealed I was 12 years old and hardly in a position to buy a new tractor.
I would be extremely grateful for any help.
Leonard Rahilly, 15487 Gary Lane Bath, MI 48808
Calling Doak engine owners
Fellows, there is all kinds of information among our membership concerning our great hobby – we have a hard time knowing where all the knowledge is, who owns what and what shape it is in.
Dick Weber is compiling a roster of United engines registering horsepower, bore, stroke and a photo of the current owners with each owner’s engine photo and data. A couple of fellows and I have put out a book on the West Coast gas engine company, and I am trying to do the same on the Doak Engine Co.
I know there are many Doak and United engines out there in engine land. It would give this old codger something to do that would help a lot of newcomers to the hobby – think about it fellows.
Bill May, 9152 Hector Ave., San Diego, CA 92123
Grandpa’s sawing machine
I enjoy Gas Engine Magazine very much, especially the articles on rare engines.
I thought the readers would enjoy the enclosed pictures of my grandfather, Harry Duffield, and uncle, Henn Duffield, working my grandfather’s sawing machine. His machine is similar to the one in the September 2004 article written by Bob Weis.
I have been told that he bought the machine through the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog in the early 1920s. My grandfather had a small farm in Centereach, Long Island, MY., but he also had the sawing machine, a snowplow and a threshing machine. He did work for other farmers in the area, plus plowing snow for the town.
Arthur Duffield, 76 S.W. Riverway Blvd. Palm City, FL 34990