How Your Hobby Started

3904-47th Avenue, S., Seattle, Washington 98118

It is most gratifying to receive so many very interesting
letters from GEM readers and I want to thank each one again for
sending me historical information to assist me in preparing these
articles about gasoline engines and the manufacturers.

As we come down to the end of this story, it may be helpful to
engine collectors to make mention of the engine builders who were
active in the early part of this century, but whose products were
not so well advertised or distributed as the well known
manufacturers whose stories we have covered.

Some of these builders were located in various states as found
in the following short sketches of their products.

Ellis Engine Company of Detroit, Michigan, built vertical single
cylinder stationary engines in ratings from 3 to 12 hp.

Detroit Engine Works of the same city, built engines in 1913
under the advertised name of the amazing ‘Detroit’ Gasoline
Engine. It was made in sizes of 2 to 20 hp. vertical 2 cycle
machines.

Gray Motor Company of Detroit, built in 1910 a line of engines
from 3 to 20 hp. The 4 hp. unit was fitted with a jack shaft to
reduce the speed.

These autos are all owned and restored by Mr. Oderkirk. Show
will be held March 11, 12, and 13, 1971.

The Thrall Motor Company of Detroit built in 1915 marine engines
in sizes of 3 to 12 hp.

In 1910 the Great Douglas Farm 2 cycle engine was built by the
New Belle Isle Motor Company of Detroit.

From an ad in the January 17, 1903, issue of Colliers Weekly
Magazine, the Wolverine Motor Works of Grand Rapids, Michigan,
offered for sale stationary and marine engines. They built 2 and 4
cycle machines for stationary and marine applications. Horizontal
engines were made in sizes from 1 to 6 hp. and a vertical 2
cylinder marine engine rated at 12 hp. with electric ignition and
complete with built-in water circulating pump and reverse gear.

Few engine manufacturers have been listed in the southern
states, however one was advertised which was made by
White-Blakeslee Company of Birmingham, Alabama. These were 4 cycle
machines built in both vertical and horizontal types. The smaller
vertical units ranged in sizes from 1 to 6 hp. They were open
crankcase with water-cooled cylinder and head. The mechanical
exhaust valve was located in the head with an automatic intake
valve and a make and break igniter. The flywheel type governor
controlled the hit and miss mechanism. The mixing valve located by
the head was arranged to be supplied from a fuel pump and with an
overflow back to the main fuel tank. Horizontal engines were built
in ratings from 8 to 36 hp.

Root and Vandervoort Engineering Company of Moline, Iowa, also
built both horizontal and vertical 4 cycle engines. The horizontal
design was a well built heavy duty machine with heavy cast iron
double flywheels. The flywheel governor and valves were operated by
a lay shaft along side the cylinder. The make and break igniter was
located in the cylinder head and a mixing valve was supplied from a
fuel pump. Their vertical engines were of the standard design with
the valves and igniter located in the cylinder head. Cam shaft
operated outside the closed crankcase and the flywheel governor
controlled the hit and miss ignition system.

One of the other engine manufacturers to make use of water in
the combustion chamber was the Metz-Weiss Company of New York.
These engines were 2 cycle and of a semi-diesel or low combustion
pressure type of hot tube engine. They were started with a blow
torch heating up the hollow ball extension of the combustion
chamber. The fuel was injected into the cylinder and a small amount
of water was taken in the cylinder on each stroke from a small
reservoir. Besides the horizontal stationary engines, this company
produced in later years, marine engines of various ratings complete
with reverse gears and auxiliary marine equipment.

Few early gas engines were built on the Pacific Coast but one
company has a long manufacturing record of supplying stationary and
marine engines and in the later years, diesel engines in a big
range of ratings. The Union Diesel Engine Company of San Francisco
and Oakland, California, started building gasoline engines in 1885.
They were inventors and held patents on the electric make and break
igniter, as well as their own design of the early mixing valve,
which employed the principle of the float type carburetor. The
design of their first engines were original and a departure from
the vertical engines with the closed crankcase. The vertical
cylinders were supported by stanchions leaving the case entirely
open.

Advance Gas Engine, about 1905, 6 hp. 350 RPM. Manufactured by
George D. Pohl Co. of Vernon, New York.

Novo Gas Engine, Lansing, Michigan, 10 hp. 400 RPM.

Replica of 2 cylinder Advance Rumely. Built by J. W. Nipper,
Warrenville, South Carolina.

All three engines are owned and restored by Mr. Oderkirk. His
show will be held March 11, 12, and 13, 1971.

Their horizontal gasoline engines were built on a heavy cast
iron base with double flywheels and a lay shaft operating from a
gear on the crankshaft. A fly ball type governor was also driven
from the lay shaft as well as the make and break igniter. The
mixing valve had a float chamber to control the fuel to the air
intake and the governor operated a valve similar to a butterfly
valve on modern engines. These horizontal engines were built in
ratings from 8 to 36 hp. and the vertical engines in sizes from 1
to 6 hp. Marine engines were available in 1, 2, 3 and 4 cylinder
units. In later years this company built diesel engines in many
sizes up to about 2500 hp. for both marine and stationary
service.

Western Gas Engine Company of Seattle, Washington, in the years
when the fisherman first used engine power in their boats, offered
a complete line of marine engines with ratings from 10 to 135 hp.
These engines were open crank-case of the vertical type with
overhead valves, Schebler carburetors. They were 4 cycle and built
in cylinder sizes from 5?’ to 13?’ bore and in 2, 3 and 4
cylinder units.

Several other builders with long continuous records of
production on the Pacific Coast were the Atlas Imperial Diesel
Engine Company of Oakland, California; The Enterprise Engine
Corporation of San Francisco and the Washington Iron Works of
Seattle, who built the Washington Estep Diesel Engines. As so many
manufacturers with long years of progress, some of these companies
started by building gasoline engines for marine and stationary
power plants.

Not to confuse Fairbanks, Morse & Company with The Fairbanks
Company of New York, the latter company marketed a general line of
equipment. One of their products was the ‘Bulldog’ gasoline
engine built in various sizes by various sizes by the Bates &
Edmonds Motor Company of Lansing, Michigan.

From research done by Norman Mullings of Granby, Connecticut, in
his hobby of restoring and looking for the old engine manufacturers
in his state, he gives us the following information: The Bridgeport
Machine and Motor Company manufactured 2 cycle marine engines from
1898 to 1940. About 1906 the company incorporated and changed the
name to Bridgeport Machine Company. Some of the engines are owned
by collectors in that vicinity.

Eagle Bicycle Company of Torrington, built both stationary and
marine engines in sizes up to 200 hp. We have no details of this
company’s engine specifications.

Automatic Machine Company of Bridgeport built stationary and
marine engines from 1899 to 1907. Fair-field Motor Company of
Fairfield offered stationary and marine engines as early as 1901
and they were in business about six years.

The Gray and Prior Machine Company of Hartford, Connecticut, was
one of the more active engine builders in this state. They started
business in 1900 and continued for about 30 years. They began as a
machine shop and by 1904 had developed a 2 cycle marine gasoline
engine. It was a simple, sturdy, well-designed 2 cycle engine of
the 2 port type with cast-on water jacket, vertical individual
cylinder and with a water pump and an ingenious make and break
igniter that had an adjustable advance and retard mechanism built
into the igniter for speed control. The engine was further
simplified by utilizing one eccentric to operate both the water
pump and igniter. A Schebler carburetor was used for the fuel
system. In the beginning these engines were built in two sizes, as
follows:

A modification of these engines were offered for stationary use
by mounting the engines on a cast iron sub-base and using two
flywheels. A flyball governor was installed for speed control and a
water circulating pump for cooling. The 3 hp. engine weighed 425
lbs. and sold for $135.00. The 5 hp. weighed 650 lbs. and sold for
$195.00. Possibly competition had something to do with the
variation in prices as compared with the marine units or the marine
prices may have included such marine accessories as propeller
shaft, stuffing box and propeller.

By 1920 they had improved and developed their engines and
marketed them as Model X. These were also 2 cycle of the same
general design and with the adjustable make and break igniter
system. They continued to use this type of ignition, by stating in
their catalog they considered the make and break ignition much more
reliable in operation than the sparking plugs. At this time they
offered the following ratings:

Then about 1927 another improved model was brought out and by
this time the spark plug had sufficiently proven its worth and
dependability for them to use it instead of their original igniter
system. A battery and coil was used with a distributor mounted on
the engine for speed regulation. Mechanical force feed lubricators
were installed on these models and dual carburetors on two cylinder
units. A model designation was used for each size engine as
follows:

This company built and offered for sale an outboard motor for
boats in 1924-1928. It was sold under the name of the ‘Hartford
Sturdy Twin.’ Later the rights for the manufacture of these
outboards were sold to the Indian Motor Cycle Company and they
produced the Indian Outboard engines until 1939.

The Gray and Prior Machine Company also built engines for
Strelingor of Detroit. It was a 2 cycle vertical engine of the
automotive type which was mounted with an electric generator for
lighting plants. This engine was known as the Brush engine.

Other builders of engines on which we have only sketchy
information includes The Star Manufacturing Company of Wabash,
Indiana, who built horizontal hopper-cooled and closed cylinder 4
cycle engines in sizes from 1 to 25 hp. and a 2 hp. vertical
engine.

Weber Gas and Gasoline Engine Company of Kansas City, Missouri,
built a horizontal 4 cycle single cylinder engine in ratings from 4
to 100 hp. and vertical machines in small sizes. These engines were
of the hot tube ignition type with gas flame for the firing
source.

F. M. Watkins Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati built
horizontal 4 cycle units in ratings from 2 to 25 hp. operating at
210 to 400 R.P.M.

Another popular engine about 1910 was the Palmer. Various
advertisements for this line of engines gives different addresses
for manufacturer. Mianus Electric Company of Mianus, Connecticut,
is one address of the maker, while Palmer Motor Company of Coscob,
Connecticut, is also listed in an old Scientific American Magazine
of 1909.

Palmer engines were built in 2 and 4 cycle machines. It was an
engine with a good reputation as marine engines, but it was also
built for stationary service. Vertical 2 cycle marine engines with
ratings of 1¹/₂ to 6 hp. were available and
another model in sizes from 1 to 20 hp. were made in 2 and 4
cylinder units. The 4 cycle engines were available in 3 to 50 hp.
operating at 160 to 250 R.P.M.

Their general design was that of the era with carburetors and
electrical ignition, built-in water circulating pumps on the marine
engines and centrifugal governors on the stationary units.

Struthers and Wells Company of Warren, Pennsylvania, built the
Warren Gasoline Engine. They were made in various types of
horizontal open crank-case 4 cycle engines rated from 354 to 62 hp.
and from 20 hp. to 125 hp. in a 2 cycle modification.

Grand Rapids Gasoline Engine and Yacht Company of Grand Rapids,
Michigan, built engines in 1,2 and 3 cylinder vertical engines
rated from 1 to 45 hp. and furnished an adjustable blade propeller
for speed variation and reversing.

L. J. Wing Manufacturing Company of New York City made a 4 cycle
gas or gasoline engine in 1 and 2 cylinder units with electric
ignition and in ratings of 2 to 6 hp. for single cylinder units and
4 to 12 hp. in 2 cylinder engines at operating speed of 500
R.P.M.

The New Era Gasoline Engine Company of Daylon, Ohio, built a 4
cycle line of engines in ratings of 10 to 50 hp.

There was an American Gas & Oil Engine Manufacturing Company
of New York City, who built large power house gasoline engines and
there was also the American Gas Engine Company of She-boygan,
Wisconsin, who built the English designed Griffen gasoline engine.
The Western Gas Construction Company also built some of these
Griffen engines. One of these companies built the American Outboard
Motor boat motor with a small vertical 2 cycle marine type engine
with a bracket to attach to the stern of a small boat with the
propeller shaft extending straight out from the crankshaft of the
engine. This was one of the first outboard boat motors.

J. W. Ruger Manufacturing Company of Buffalo, New York, made 4
cycle vertical engines rated from 1 to 8 hp. and a stationary
horizontal type from 10 to 50 hp. The design was of the
conventional type of that period and the engines were furnished
with hot tube ignition as standard equipment. Electric ignition
could be had as special equipment.

Allman Gasoline Engine and Machine Company of New York City
built both horizontal and vertical engines. The horizontal type was
of the conventional designs and it was made in sizes from 2 to 15
hp. while the vertical units were built in 2 to 4 hp. ratings.

The Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company of Anderson,
Indiana, were manufacturers of the Lambert engines. It was a 4
cycle horizontal design for stationary application in sizes ranging
from 1 to 40 hp.

Nash Meter Company of New York was the builder of a 2 cycle
vertical gas or gasoline engine of the small vertical type.

Mrs. Houston Herndon of Sarasota, Fla., arrived in Cheraw with
her pooch and a trailer load of engines, etc., that included
‘two hot air arrangements.’ As outlined in a picture
donated by Charles Hope of Arlington, Va., one hot air arrangement
is topped off by a ten gallon felt hat, and the other is topped off
by a stove pipe hat. During the midday heat (Cheraw has short shirt
sleeve temperature in mid April) the ‘hot air arrangement
wearing the felt hat’ would lie down on the green grass and
make a snoring type sound while the ‘hot air arrangement
wearing the stove pipe’ would continue to stand erect and
quietly emit hot air.

Anyone having a picture of the ‘hot air arrangement wearing
the felt hat’ lying on the green grass, please send same to us
and receive reward. To those of you who do not know Col. Houston
Herndon, he is a very dear friend; he puts on a wonderful show in
February, and we each try to humorously top each other. Let’s
hope both hot air arrangements will return to Cheraw on, before and
after April 16-17-18, 1971, Antique Acres 2nd annual show.

Gases of various types were used for fuel for internal
combustion engines as has been mentioned throughout these histories
of the development of the internal combustion engines. There was an
era of special emphasis on the use of gas for fuel about 1898 to
1915. The equipment to supply the gas was installed adjacent to the
engines. This source of fuel was known as ‘producer gas’
and the engines operated on this fuel had a definite designation as
‘Producer Gas Engines’.

While liquid petroleum was discovered as early as 1859 by Edwin
Drake at Titusville, Pennsylvania, it took many years before it was
refined and made available in the fuel market. At first gasoline
was thrown away as a byproduct. Kerosene was used for lighting,
heating and cooking.

While ‘Rock Oil’ as the first petroleum was called, or
the hydrocarbons were being developed into usable fuels,’ the
engine manufacturers were trying to perfect gas for a real
successful and economical fuel.

Twins for the Matthews! George’s and
Margaret’s are identical and of solid bronze — seen at Kinzers
big 1970 show.

Young farmers at Maryland’s Eastern Shore Show, August,
1970, taking a serious interest in a good collection of antique
gasoline tractors.

There were three different kinds of gases that were usable, but
not all were available to all locations where this kind of power
was required. Natural gas was the ideal gas fuel, but very limited
in these times. Natural gas is used today for fuel in large diesel
engines, especially fitted to burn this kind of gas fuel.

The second type of gas was called ‘Producer Gas’ or
illuminating gas which is made from anthracite or bituminous
coal.

The third type was coke oven or blast furnace gas, which was
used to operate large internal combustion engines in steel
mills.

A complete gas producer power plant consisted of the desired
size of gas engine which ranged in sizes from 15 hp. up to very
large engines. The gas generator consisted of a continuous feed
coal burner in an air tight vertical drum or tank with a
water-cooled vaporizer around and above the fire-box. This cooled
the unit to prevent over-heating and cooled the gases as they
passed into the scrubber. The scrubber was another vertical
cylindrical tank filled with washed coke to clean the gas before
entering the gas tank or accumulator. A small amount of water was
admitted to the coal burner which caused steam. Water was
decomposed forming free hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen together
with the oxygen from the air which is admitted to the coal burner
combines with the fuel to form carbon monoxide. The resulting gas
is composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, together with nitrogen
from the air and carbon dioxide.

The gas is collected in a gas tank to which the suction of the
engine is connected, through a gas cock. It is the suction of the
engine that causes the gas to flow from the generator to the gas
accumulator tank at the engine.

The efficiency of this type of fuel system and overall engine
power is about 17% as compared with a steam engine and boiler of
about 6%. This source of fuel went out with obsolescence when
petroleum fuels were perfected and many varieties were made
available.

Fairbanks, Morse Type ‘R’ (circa 1900) vertical
multi-cylinder engines and Type ‘L’ horizontal engines were
adaptable to Gas Producer Fuels. Type R engines were built in sizes
of 43-65-100-150 and 200 hp. in 2, 3 and 4 cylinder machines and
operating at speeds of 250 to 300 rpm. The Type L engines were
built in sizes of 15-25-35 and 50 hp. The Type N engines were also
adaptable for Producer Gas fuel in sizes of 17-21-26-30-45 and 50
hp. These were single cylinder horizontal 4 cycle machines.

Smaller sizes of the horizontal Type N could be adapted for gas
ranging in horsepower from 5 to 15.

Other companies manufacturing these producer gas engines were
Nash, De La Verne-Koerting, Westinghouse and Allis-Chalmers and
undoubtedly a great many other companies.

Many, many more companies than those mentioned were building
internal combustion engines at one time or another in this country
so the task of writing a complete history of each engine is
endless. Further efforts will be used to ferret out information on
the popular makes and give you all the detailed specifications that
can be found.