Box 5, Bristol, Wisconsin 53104.
One night a year ago last October, the phone rang. The fellow on
the other end asked me if I still wanted to buy the 35 H. P. Field.
I said yea and we agreed on a price. Finally, I had bought an
engine I had been trying to buy for three years.
The engine is a 35 H. P. Field made by the Field Brundage
Company of Jackson, Michigan, in 1914. Serial number is 4958. It is
a hit-n-miss with 12′ bore, 18′ stroke, and 66′
flywheels. It is a tank cooled wide shaft that works both valves
mechanically. Ignition is by a very early Webster tri polar
oscillator made in Tiffin, Ohio. The Field ran a feed mill in
Russell, Illinois, from 1914 to 1930.
The following weekend, fellow engine collectors–George St.
John, Don Gibson and myself, plus John Deere, dealer, Bob Schmidt
and his tilt bed implement truck–went to get the engine. We
encountered no problems loading or unloading. The engine was placed
on some railroad ties where it would stay till spring.
Close inspection found that the side shaft bearing was badly
worn, three teeth on governor gear were broken, and fuel pump
needed complete rebuilding.
In the spring the engine was mounted on a wagon made from a 1956
International semi-tractor chassis. All engine parts repaired or
rebuilt, then all was sandblasted and painted. A cooling tank was
made from a 275 gal. oil tank sitting on its end. Being a plumber,
the cooling piping and the 2?’ exhaust piping was easy. The
muffler is a hollow cast iron cone that weighs 170 lbs.
Finally came the time to start the Field. With a tractor belted
to the 30′ clutch pulley and my boy and I pulling on the
flywheels, we got it to spin but would not start. After a little
while with some tinkering with the magneto timing and needle valve
setting, it started. After 41 years, the engine came to life again.
This is quite a thrill.
1914-35 h.p. Field. Hit-n-miss 12′ Bore, 18′ stroke,
66′ flywheels. S. N. 4958.
Restoring and running a big engine is a lot of work, but I like
the big ones. This is my biggest. Other fairly large ones in my
collection arc a 8 h. p. Bodger, 8 h. p. Field, and a 6 h. p.
Springfield.
I am looking forward to next summer when I can run the ‘big
one’ again.
Five days later I showed it at our antique farm machinery
exhibit at the Kenosha County Fair, August 12 to 15. This big
engine, a hitting and missing, draws quite a crowd. The muffler
makes it sound like a loud sneeze.
