26/12/28 Sun Engine Q. Can anyone supply me
with information on a 3 HP Sun engine? Any help will be
appreciated. Edward O’Bryant, 4976 St. Rt 772, Piketon, OH
45661.
26/12/29 Keck-Gonnerman Cathy Campbell, RR 3,
Box 117, Helena, MT 59601 would like to find some articles,
photographs, and/or drawings of a Keck-Gonnerman steam engine. If
you can be of help, kindly contact Ms. Campbell.
26/12/30 Information Needed Q. Can you tell me
when the following engines were built: Cushman 1? HP, Type X, Model
21, s/n9723; Witte 3 HP, s/n 20489. James Lee Les Doyx Sr., Rt 10,
Box 748, Lake Charles, LA 70601.
A. No information available on the Cushman. The
Witte was built in April 1915.
26/12/31 IHC Number Q. What is the year of an
IHC engine, s/n B55680? Todd Hayward, 2 Hillside PL, Winsted, CT
06098.
A. Your engine (from a previous query) was
built in 1923. Thanks too for sending the photocopies on Foos
engines.
26/12/32 Cockshutt 550 Tractor Q. I have
recently acquired one of these tractors, s/n BR812. No one seems to
know the make of engine, the HP rating or the year built. Any
information will be appreciated. Don E. Ringer, 3480 Twin Sisters
Rd., Cambridge, OH 43725.
A. Ye olde Reflector would also be interested
in getting more information on the Cockshutt line. In fact, we
heard of someone in Canada who acquired a huge amount of large
material when the old Cockshutt plant closed down.
26/12/33 Lauson Air-Cooled Q. I have a Lauson
UAS 815 air cooled, 3 HP engine. It uses Timken bearings. Right now
it has a Briggs & Stratton carburetor, but we would like to
know the correct carburetor for it. Also would like a general idea
of the paint, and other information. Leon Fall, 00132 Zinck Rd.,
Boyne, MI 49712.
A. We have no information on this engine. Can
anyone be of help?
26/12/34 Empire Paint Colors Stan Davis, Rt. 8,
Box 112, Live Oak, FL 32060 sends a photo of the Empire engine. His
is blue, with the face of the flywheel being black. (We would guess
this to be somewhere near Sherwin-Williams 4821 Blue.)
26/12/35 Unidentified Diesel Q. See the two
photos of an unidentified diesel engine. It is a single cylinder
with an attached generator. The letters NHAJB are embossed on the
cylinder block, and each main casting carries the mark NH as well.
So far no one has been able to provide any information on this
engine, so any news is welcome. Harry Carle, 632 Grove St.,
Janesville, WI 53545.
A. Ye olde Reflector likes diesel engines, but
from what we can see of this one, we’re not at all sure what it
is. Can anyone help?
26/12/36 Stover Engine Q. See the photo of a 4
HP Stover engine, s/n T39095. I would like some information on the
engine, especially the decal. Randy M. Ackley, 322 Mansfield St.,
Chippewa Falls, WI 54729.
A. Your engine was built in 1912. Thus, it
would have been painted red, similar to PPG 71965, or perhaps even
darker. In those days, red was pretty much red, and there
wasn’t the thought given to perfect color matches like we
strive for. Until about 1918 a different trademark decal was used,
but so far as we know, no one has attempted to make the old style
decal. All the Stovers we see have the conventional square decal
that was used in later years.
26/12/37 Osborne Mowing Machine Q. I Just got a
5-foot horsedrawn Osborne mowing machine made by
Emerson-Brantingham sometime in the 1920s. Since the E-B Company
was acquired by Case in 1928, and since 1992 is the 150th
anniversary of J.I. Case, this mower should be a nice display item
in 1992. 1 need to know what the paint scheme for this machine may
have been, and would be happy to pay for copies of any advertising
material or literature that might show me how to go about it. Sam
Moore, 2337 St Rt 45 S, Salem, OH 44460-9456.
A. We believe the mower was red, comparable to
Sherwin-Williams 4775, with the trim in green, comparable to S-W
4755. Possibly the wheels are green.
26/12/38 Petoskey Iron Works Q. First of all, I
need information on a Nelson Bros. engine that was sold by P&O
Plow Company. Secondly, the photo shows a 3 HP marine engine as
built by Petoskey Iron Works, Petoskey, Michigan. Here again, I
need any information I can find, especially dimensions etc. on the
water-cooled muffler. Lyle H. Fall, 12303 Lake Road, Otter Lake, Ml
48464.
A. Here’s another one you won’t find in
our book, American Gas Engines. We never heard of this one
before!
26/12/39 FBM ‘Z’ Q. See the photo of a
1? HP FBM engine, s/n 402660. Kindly advise the proper color.
It’s missing a few parts and I’d like to hear from another
owner so I can make the needed pieces. Kent Zobel, RR 1, Box 35 A,
Monroe, NE 68647.
A. A lot of the FBM ‘Z’ engines are
refinished using DuPont Dulux 93-72001 Green. There was no striping
used.
26/12/40 Unidentified Engine Q. Can anyone
identify the engine in the photo? It appears to be dark green.
There is no nameplate. It looks as though a battery system might
have been in place. Charles Peters, 2332 Treelane Ave., Monrovia,
CA 91016.
A. Your engine is a Fairbanks-Morse
‘Z’, but without the s/n we can’t tell you the year.
Possibly the number is stamped on the top of the hopper or at the
top of the cylinder. It was likely a battery-equipped engine
originally, as they were sold both ways. For paint color, see query
39, above.
26/12/41 Buckeye Traction Ditcher From the
Reflector’s trivia file comes this original photograph.
Pictured is a machine built by Buckeye Traction Ditcher Company,
Findlay, Ohio. We would guess this photo to be of the late 1920s.
Note how the large side conveyor carries the dirt some distance
from the ditch. Are any of these huge machines still in
existence?
26/12/42 Adjustable Rear Axles Frequently we
are asked the question as to when the adjustable rear axle tread
was developed. Our assumption once was that it came about through
the efforts of IHC and their Farmall tractor, followed by all the
rest. Here’s a photograph that appeared in a 1916 issue of
Popular Mechanics. It shows a tractor of unknown make that was
actually built with extended axle shafts. Thus, the rear wheels
could be shifted in and out at the will of the operator, and of
course a bit more than that, if they got rusted to the shaft. The
article gives no clue as to the maker, except to say that it was
the work of ‘an Illinois inventor.’ Can anyone shed more
light on this tractor?
26/12/43 Unidentified Tractor This photograph
has been in our office for years, but we’ve never known what
make of crawler we were looking at. Now we set it before our
readers in hope that someone can identify it. Note the unique
oscillating beam that connects the two track frames together.
