21/l/4B What is It? This machine is a mangle.
It was used for smoothing out bed sheets, table clothes, etc. It
was a cast iron piece with the rollers made of beech wood. It was
quite common, at least here in Sweden, and many homes had one. P.
G. Fagerberg, O. Vemmenhog 19, S-270 10 Skivarp, Sweden.
27/5/41 Maytag The Maytag in question was
mounted in a washing machine by four tabs at the corners of the
fuel tank top. These tabs were held by the tank mounting bolts, and
the machine was suspended under the washer by long rods. Do not
drill holes into the zinc tank, as it is very brittle and will
break easily. Maytag Unlimited (an advertiser) has replacement cast
iron bases, or tabs if you want to hang an engine. Also
regarding:
27/5/19 Hercules The Hercules is a throttle
governed model – kerosene (the K designation on the model) as in
the picture, the carb is not original. T..e original carb
incorporates a fuel pump to supply fuel to the reservoir that is
built in. Also missing is the overflow return manifold that gets
mounted on the fuel supply piping. Regarding:
27/5/21 A &B See article by Duane Reynolds,
GEM Vol. 24, No. 12, December, 1989 for a history of
Johnson-Jacobsen. Regarding:
27/5/28 United-Associated For Mr. Fay: Quite a
few years ago I did a research of United-Associated engines and
production dates. This was written into an article and sent into
GEM.
Regarding the Computer Age: Perhaps it might be useful to create
some sort of computer program that lists the articles in GEM by
manufacturer and to use the stories by back issues and numbers to
augment the answers. Quite a few times I’ve seen questions by a
collector who could have benefited by reading a back article.
Andrew K. Mackey, 26 Mott Pl., Rockaway, NJ 07866-3022.
We agree that a program like this would be very helpful. If
there is someone out there programmer enough to set one up, it
looks like a good idea. However, the program is one thing, and
getting the information into the program is quite another. This
means keyboarding, and a lot of it. Even before that comes the
effort to go through the back issues and ferret out the specific
information. There are some GEM indexes available, and these are
helpful, but we understand your point. Perhaps some of our readers
are like-minded and are capable of building some sort of computer
reference library that would be helpful to the hobby.
Minneapolis 17-30 Type B I have an original
brochure of this company’s products, dated 1928, which includes
a full-page illustration of this tractor in two colors. I have no
knowledge of how accurate these colors are, but comparing to a PPG
or DuPont catalog, it looks to be a light gray, similar to Dulux
29665 (Ford tractor) or PPG Light Gray 33407. Red paint was used
for lettering ‘The Minneapolis’ (without the quotations
marks) on the top front of the radiator. Also the spokes and inside
the rim of the front wheels, plus flanges the spokes rivet to, but
not the hub itself. Also the entire rear wheel including bull gear,
hub and inside of rim, but not the face of rim or cleats or hub
cap. These were gray. As near as I can tell, this red is quite
close to PPG 72155 Bright Red or PPG60449 Rallye Orange. On the
DuPont chips G8165 seems too light and G8166 too dark. Both are
listed as White Farm Equipment colors. I hope this information
might be of help. C. Russell Umback, Box 117, Lemmon, SD 56738.
Modelmakers Corner
MM-1
See the photo of an approximate one-half scale Froelich tractor
that I recently built. Cledus Stites, RR 1, Odon, IN 47562.
MM-2
See the two photos of a model hit-and-miss engine, machined from
a casting kit. The builder is still living but is no longer able to
remember much about the engine. It has six-inch flywheels, 1.125
bore and 1.875 stroke. There are no numbers or identifying marks on
the engine. Can anyone identify the kit supplier? I’d like to
put a name on it. Phil L. Morris, 3380 SW Tara Ave., Topeka, KS
66611-2438.
MM-3
Tom Brennan, 15 Mell Dr., N. Babylon, NY 11703 sends along
photos of his model engine stable, and we must say that here are
some fine models! 3-A is a Dettmer half scale of the 1? HP John
Deere; 3-B is a Lil’ York from Dick Sheeley; 3-C is a
Challenger V-8 (We’ll bet that was modelmaker’s challenge);
3-D is an odds-and-ends hit-and-miss built from Home Shop
Machinist; 3-E is a scratch-built six-cycle from Home Shop
Machinist; 3-F is a Teague model of the Aermotor pumper; and MM-3G
is a Perkins model built from the Bill DeBolt castings.
MM-4
Andrew Mackey, 26 Mott Place, Rockaway, NJ 07866 sends along two
photos of a model Rider-Ericcson he owns. The engine was built by
John Smith. Mr. Mackey painted it forest green and mounted it to an
oak base. He custom-built a propane burner, and built the cooling
coil. The brass reservoir tank came from an antique shop. The
cooling coil is made from quarter inch o.d. copper with 1/16 inch
copper wire soldered on for support and cooling ability.
MM-5 Dennis Buswell, 7625 N. College Park Dr.,
Minneapolis, MN 55445 writes:
I am just finishing a model of which I hope to send pictures and
information later. This is a twin cylinder opposed, with ? x
1/8 bore and stroke, air cooled engine. The
‘casting kit’ is from E.A. Wall in Chicago, and the very
yellowed blueprints are dated 1932-33. A friend started this engine
years ago and finally succumbed to his more favorite hobby of golf.
Do you have any information about E. A. Wall or any of his kits?
This two-cylinder engine resembles an early air-cooled automobile
engine. I also have a casting kit of his that is a four-cylinder
in-line, water cooled model with a 1 inch bore and stroke. This kit
was shipped by E. A. Wall on November 2,1942, and was still wrapped
in war newspaper when I bought it. I have not yet started this
kit.
A Closing Word
And so ends our largest column ever in GEM! We wish to share
something with the readers this month. In April we were in
Minneapolis. A good friend of mine, and a fellow book dealer is in
St. Paul, so I stopped to see him (I can seldom get past a book
shop). Anyway he had two big boxes full of Rudder Magazine
published for the boating industry. We bought the whole schmear
very reasonably, since they start about 1905 and end about 1945. To
make a long story short, these magazines illustrate a lot of
engines which we have never heard of before… so I guess we’ll
have some new grist for the mill. With the show season fast upon
us, we issue our usual caveat: Enjoy the old iron, but keep in mind
that it has no mind of its own, and it’ll chew up clothes,
fingers, or what other body parts get in its way. So, if you
don’t want to be a three-fingered eunuch with a four-point
cane, keep your hands out of places they don’t belong!
