24/12/27 Ajax Engine Here are two photos of an
Ajax engine from Ajax Iron Works, Carry, Pennsylvania. It has 13
inch flywheels, a 25/8 inch piston, #7 cast
on the connecting rod, and weighs 132 pounds. Any information on
this engine will be appreciated. Gene Townsend, 1308 Franklin Ave.,
Clarksburg, West Virginia 26301.
24/12/28 A Question Q. Richard Mosher, 109
Highman Ave., Cambridge, Ontario N1R 3M2 Canada asks the
Reflector:
How long did it take to put together the book, American Gas
Engines? Have you ever thought of doing a Canadian edition? How
many years have you collected engines, and how many do you
have?
A. The ‘Yellow Engine Book,’ as it is
often called, took nearly three years to complete. Had we not
arbitrarily decided that enough was enough, we’d be researching
it yet! As it was, the book came to 584 pages, the full capacity of
the bindery where the books are assembled. We tried to include as
many Canadian engines as we could-in fact, the term ‘American
gas engines’ was intended as the generic sense of the word so
as to encompass Canadian developments. Ye olde Reflector bought the
first engine, a 6 HP John Deere, in 1957 or 1958 for $5.00. The
numbers have varied somewhat, and right now the stable is at about
40 engines.
24/12/29 Engine Trucks Q. Here are two photos
of an engine trolley I recently acquired from a man who thought it
to be a Fairbanks-Morse. The rear wheels are 38 inches high and 5
inch rims; the front wheels are 31 inches high. The rear axle is 2?
inch square steel, and the front axle is 2? inch square steel. Can
anyone advise me the maker of this trolley (trucks)? H.B. Ford, RMB
117 Dookie 3647 Australia.
A. We have no answer for Mr. Ford’s query,
but we hope that someone might be able to identify the trucks, or
as the lexicon over in Australia reads, trolley.
24/12/30 Reid Engines Thanks to Byron Cann, 103
W. 7th, Oil City, Pennsylvania 16301 for sending along a color
sample of the finish used on the Joseph Reid engines. It is a very,
very dark maroon, and the closest color we have is DuPont
93-32678-H. It is even a bit lighter than Mr. Cann’s sample.
(This gentleman is now 86 years old, and spent many years working
as a machinist. He reports that he bored and sleeved a good many of
these engines in his 20-inch lathe. Perhaps Mr. Cann will favor us
with more about his experiences in the near future!)
READERS WRITE
Ron Weiner, 4928 Oak Leaf Avenue, Carmichael, California 95608
offers the following information on Friend engines as built at
Gas-port, New York:
To Mike Johnson’s inquiry in the August 1989 GEM-The Friend
Mfg. Co. describes the ignition system in their 1910 brochure as a
jump spark system with vibrator coil, spark plug and dry cells. The
coil and dry cells are assembled in a box. In what I believe is
their 1912 brochure, it has this system and also the
‘Celebrated Bosch’ high tension magneto as an option. The
Model T coil works very well with the 1911 model, especially at the
very slowest idle.
To Richard Taylor’s inquiry in the April 1989 GEM-The Friend
Mfg. Company illustrates the Friend Model CX Motor Pump, 5 gallons
per minute with a 2? HP engine, in their 25th Anniversary Year
(1920), and it looks identical to Richard’s photograph. It is
not mentioned in the 1910 nor 1912 brochures, so it may have been
introduced sometime between then and 1920. It was given the price
code name ‘Pony’ and is referred to as a Pony Sprayer or
Pony Outfit in some of the testimonial letters included in the
brochure.
Another interesting tidbit is that Friend Mfg. Co. states it has
the distinction of having built the first gasoline power sprayer
ever manufactured. They were experimenting with it in 1900,
produced one in 1901, two in 1902, six in 1903, 14 in 1904, and so
on. Mine has a serial no. 1028 which the company has dated as
1911.
Engines featured in the 1910 and 1912 brochures were rated at 2?
and 3? HP. Air cooled and water cooled engines were specified in
1910, whereas only the water cooled model was offered in 1912. The
first models were painted mainly red with black lettering and green
wheels. Black or grey was used on the pumps.
24/1/61A Alaskan Engine Back in January 1989
GEM, Mr. Najarian asked about the engine at Jake’s Corners,
Yukon Territory. I was there recently, and can tell you that the
vertical sideshaft operates two valve lifters (horizontal) in the
head from cams on the shaft. One valve lifter is missing. Someone
sawed off the crankshaft on one end, losing one flywheel. Otherwise
the engine is identical to that built by Standard Gas Engine
Company of San Francisco, and as illustrated on page 477 of
American Gas Engines. L.B. Dennison, Box 873, Delta Jet., Alaska
99737.
A Briggs & Stratton I saw the article on
page 20 of the October GEM. I’m sure that motor is a Briggs
& Stratton. I’ve got one I’m using that is just like
it. It was on an Ideal Lawn Mower It was used to cut putting greens
on golf courses in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I took the mower
off and put on a water pump. Works real good. Andrew Szurek, 2809
Silver Lane NE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55421.
Thanks also to Mr. Szurek for sending along some file data on
the above engine.
24/9/3 Unknown Engine Mr. Sins’ instruction
book fairly clearly identifies a Nelson Bros. throttling governor
engine, from the relative size of the Webster ignitor, as a 5 HP.
Beyond that, it’s hard to say what name the engine was sold
under, as Nelson engines were marketed under a myriad of names.
Perhaps another reader can identify the hopper style, which varied
with the brand name. I own a 3 HP version of this engine, marketed
by the Gray Engine Company, Lansing, Michigan. It has a different
hopper style, but is otherwise identical. Clark Colby, RD 1, Box
199A, Greensburg, PA 15601 (on behalf of the Coolspring Power
Museum, Coolspring, PA 15730).
24/10/18 Last 2-Cylinder Deere The last
domestic-built two-cylinder John Deere was the 840 scraper offered
till 1964; this was a modified version of the 830 industrial
tractor. First fitted with a Hancock elevating scraper; the latter
units had John Deere scrapers. I also have the head of a 730 Diesel
built in 1967, but it wasn’t built in the United States. There
could be two-cylinders built even after 1967, but they would be
foreign-built. Maybe some other readers know something about this.
Craig Rey, 1513 Beach, Salina, Kansas 67401.
24/10/4 Bessemer Engine The Bessemer is built
like a double-acting steam engine, with a crosshead, piston rod,
and piston rod packing. It is a two-cycle engine and the underside
of the piston is the scavenging pump.
Regarding leaded gasoline, the lead will coat the contacts of a
make-and-break igniter and cause the engine to stop.
You may also be interested to know that I am collecting the
names of manufacturers of inboard marine engines. The list is now
at 685 different ones and is still growing. Max F. Homfeld, RR 2,
Box 697, St. Michaels, Maryland 21663.
MODELMAKER’S CORNER
Photo MM-1 illustrates a model of the Joseph Dain
all-wheel-drive tractor, the first tractor to carry the John Deere
name. It is 14 inches long, 6 inches high, and 8 inches wide.
Submitted by Mr. Harold V. Green, RR 1, Box 63, Avoca, Iowa
51521.
William Cloutier sends photos MM-2 and MM-3 illustrating a pair
of hot air engines he has built. These are made entirely from scrap
materials, such as old cabinet doors, tin cans, coffee cans, and
the like. The smaller one has 8 inch flywheels, and the larger one
has 16 inch. He also has about 10 gas engines in his collection.
Mr. Cloutier’s address is: 404 South Huron Ave., Harbor Beach,
Michigan 48441.
Arnold Teague, 195 Bridge St., San Luis Obispo, California 93401
forwards some excellent photos illustrating a 1/5 scale model of
the 6-cycle ‘Mery’ engine. See MM-4 and MM-5. Mr. Teague
writes:
Some collectors have expressed an interest in the progress of
the ‘Mery’ engine, so here’s my folklore version.
The original engine was cast in a foundry at Chico, California
about 1890 and served its days powering the pattern shop machinery.
It has been saved from the scrap dealers, and now is the show piece
of Chuck and Peggy Schopp, Los Gatos, California. After scaling the
engine at the Schopp’s, I cut the first chips on May 5, 1989.
Several videotape sessions followed the progress of the engine.
After all the parts were completed, I was optimistic about the
first startup, so I decided to paint before the final assembly with
gaskets etc.
When the day came, all I got was promises and cross-firing and
detonation. The attempt to use one coil failed because the
distributor arrangement arced over. Detonation occurred because of
too high a compression, and the carburetor metering was short of
perfection. Still, the paint looked good! After making all the
necessary corrections and modifications, the engine began to act
‘normal.’ This is a six-cycle engine with a combustion
chamber on both sides of a single piston. The timing gears are 3:1,
therefore, six strokes complete the cycle, either side of the
piston. The exhaust valve remains open the two extra strokes. This
results in a power stroke every third stroke; one pushes the crank,
and the other one pulls. Finally, on September 18, 1989 the day of
the first official start-up came, and after a few short runs we
took a much-needed coffee break. After finishing the cooling system
and some other refinements, it can be presentable at a meet
soon.
Our compliments to Mr. league, not only on the engine, but
also on the time frame! The Reflector has been attempting to build
a model for the last four years, and we’re nowhere near done
yet- Mr. Teague finished ‘Mery’ in four months!
A CLOSING WORD
A little book entitled Famous First Facts notes that the first
gasoline engines built in the United States were those of Stuart
Perry in New York. Between 1844 and 1846 he built both air and
water cooled types, using turpentine gases as fuel. Has anyone ever
heard of turpentine as an engine fuel?
During the first thirty years of engine and tractor development,
kerosene fuel was very popular, mainly because it was much less
expensive than gasoline. However, gasoline-air mixtures can be
changed to a gas, but because kerosene and gasoline have little in
common, except for the base from which they are derived, kerosene
presents some entirely different problems. About the best that can
be done with an air-kerosene mixture is to break it into fine
particles, and the most popular method was by preheating the intake
air. This lessened the total volume going into the cylinder and
reduced the amount of oxygen for the charge. As a result, less
power was derived. Looking at the fuel problem of 1920, designers
of stationary engines looked at the Hvid engine as typified in the
Thermoil, Evinrude, and several other compression ignition engines.
The Hvid design enabled the successful use of low grade fuels at a
time when no American-made diesel engines were available in sizes
under about 100 HP per cylinder. About the time the Hvid design
started coming into its own, Bosch and others began developing fuel
injection pumps that began bringing the diesel engine into its own.
Before very long, the Hvid design had disappeared, the price
differential between gasoline and kerosene became much less than
before, and farmers left off using kerosene and began using
gasoline. Within the past twenty years, the gasoline engine has
virtually disappeared from tractor engines, with the diesel
reigning supreme. What will the future bring?
The purpose of the Reflections column is to provide a forum
for the exchange of all useful information among subscribers to
GEM. Inquiries or responses should be addressed to: REFLECTIONS,
Gas Engine Magazine, P.O. Box 328, Lancaster, PA 17603.
