G.E.M. readers are asked to identify a junk yard gas engine.
This picture is of a small engine I found in the junk yard. The junk yard gas engine
was painted red with a gold bell on one side, with the name printed
through the bell. The name is not legible anymore. The bottom is
all open so the crank and piston are visible, the firing mechanism
is all gone, so I don’t know what it looked like. The valves
are on top with the pushrod and rocker arm gone also. There is part
of a drip-oiler left on the other side along with two grease cups
for main bearings. The pipe in top is what I put in, one side is
exhaust and the other side for carburetor.
May be some of the G.E.M. readers could tell me more about this
engine.
Does anyone know about a Port Huron tractor? Most people never
heard of one. In the spring about 1918 I’d say, I attended a
tractor demonstration on the Eber Farwell farm about 2 miles east
of Coldwater (Michigan) and saw about a dozen tractors of various makes
in operation. There was a large brown colored tractor with high
wheels, the operators seat was quite high, and it had a top
something like a buggy top. If I recall correctly it used friction
drive and the motor was Waukesha. Port Huron was in large lettering
on the sides of the hood. I have never seen one since that nor
heard anything more about them. I never have seen them advertised
in any farm magazine of that time.
I hope I’m able to explain myself. On page 29 in the
November-December issue of G.E.M., you showed my mystery engine and
I must say I’m more than surprised I did not get one letter to
this date.
Now I must tell you, I showed this engine here at this
fall’s Minnesota State Fair where 1,359,750 people attended. I
understand, of course, there was a small per cent of this total
that looked at my mystery engine. But there were a few thousand
that did and many made guesses as to who made the engine. Now I
would like if you could run my request for identifying this engine
once more and I will do as we did at the Minnesota State Fair. If
someone can furnish a catalog or a newspaper ad or other means
which will tell me who manufactured this engine and where it was
made, I will give $25.00 and this I will make fair by the first
date on the envelope.
Now I can give you a history story how this engine came to
northern Minnesota, but the story don’t tell who made the
engine and there are no patent numbers, no nothing to identify the
manufacturer of the engine.
I’m hoping to hear and see what this next issue can do for
me.
I would like some information about a one-cylinder 2-cycle
inboard small boat engine that I found at an auction sale. This
engine is somewhere in the 2 to 4 hp range, bore 3 foot stroke
4 foot. The ignition system probably was a six-volt battery and
vibrator coil similar to Ford Model T. The carburetor is missing
but I believe a Model T Ford carburetor would work.
What I am puzzled about is whether the engine was lubricated by
a gas oil mixture or fed with a drip lubricator as there is a one
eight tapping through the water jacket into the cylinder about
two-thirds of the way down the bore.
I believe the engine was built by a Notre Dame student as a
project in the Engineering Department. The only marking on the
engine is Notre Dame cast into the brass water pump.
This engine has the lower half of the crank case removable and
the main bearings are one piece bushings lubricated with grease
cups.
Any information that I can get on this will be greatly appreciated.
Courtesy of Clarence O. Myers, South Bend, Indiana.
Small gas engine made of steel, electric and gas welded together.
