How Your Hobby Started Part VI

By Carleton M. Mull
Published on January 1, 1970
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Courtesy of E. K. Beckwith, 235 E. School St., Kent, Ohio 44240
Courtesy of E. K. Beckwith, 235 E. School St., Kent, Ohio 44240
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Courtesy of Myrl Hix, 1105 N. Tucker, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762
Courtesy of Myrl Hix, 1105 N. Tucker, Pittsburg, Kansas 66762
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Courtesy of Myrl Hix, 1105 N. Tucker, Pittsburgh, Kansas 66762
Courtesy of Myrl Hix, 1105 N. Tucker, Pittsburgh, Kansas 66762

3904 47th Ave. S., Seattle, Washington 98118

During the last ten years before the turn of the century, the
excitement over the demand for the new type of engine came into
practical utilization. The applications for power in 1900 were many
times the uses found back at the event of the steam era — around
1875.

As we contemplate this event of the coming of gasoline engine
power from our present vantage point, the initiation of this new
source of power can be compared to the diesel engine and atomic
power era of our present times. It was a major turning point in the
history of all nations. Its perfection led to an entirely new
concept in the mode of transportation — the manufacture of the
automobile. It also gave great impetus to all types of mobile
machinery in agriculture, construction and marine markets.

This new source of power encouraged small manufacturers of every
kind of merchandise. It meant that in many fields of manufacturing
a business could be started with a reasonable investment for the
power required. As the business grew and it was necessary to expand
to supply the demand of the product, all that was necessary to
increase the power capacity, was to buy a second engine, or a
larger one, to furnish power for a plant of twice the original
output. All this, without the cost of additional boilers, buildings
and overhead. Businessmen soon learned they could save considerably
on labor in the cost of power, because the gasoline engines could
in many cases, be operated by a regular member of their
personnel.

So the demand for dependable and economical gasoline engines
came to the attention of many well established machinery
manufacturers desiring to build engines. One of these manufacturers
was Fairbanks, Morse & Company of Chicago, Illinois.

Charles Hosmer Morse, one of America’s pioneers in business,
started as a young man selling scales for his uncle, Thadius
Fairbanks, who invented the platform scale in 1833.

As an apprentice at $50.00 a year, he spent three years in his
home state of Vermont learning the scale business. Mr. Morse was
then sent out in the adjacent states selling scales.

From a typical New England family, Charles was raised among
God-fearing people who taught him the fundamentals of good conduct
and honesty which he practiced all of his life. He possessed a
vision, remarkable energy and was an organizer who advanced from a
scale salesman to that of a partner and founder of Fairbanks, Morse
and Company.

Under his management, the company took the lead in developing
what was a new untried device, the gasoline engine. Mr. Morse was
always interested in new, patents and was a good judge of what
would make a profitable product for his new and growing
company.

In 1893, after the great depression and panic, Mr. Morse
purchased the Williams Engine Works at Beloit, Wisconsin. This
company had been represented by Fairbanks Morse as a sales outlet
for steam engines and power transmission machinery.

Events had been taking place in and around Chicago which brought
to the attention of Mr. Morse the success of the Caldwell-Charter
gasoline engine. Mr. Charter has been mentioned in a previous
chapter.

During this same year, the Eclipse Wind Engine Company of Beloit
was purchased by Fairbanks Morse and together with the Williams
Engine Company, the ‘Beloit Works’ came into existence.

Now with the new manufacturing facilities, Mr. Morse made
arrangements with Mr. John Charter to be associated with Fairbanks
Morse as a designing engineer. He was to bring with him all of his
plans and patterns from the Caldwell-Charter Engine Company and to
start building the Fairbanks-Charter line of engines from 2? hp. to
75 hp.

There was very little difference in the first Fairbanks-Charter
horizontal engines as built at the Beloit Works, from those shown
in the price list on Caldwell-Charter engines in the previous
installment. However, constant development was conducted by Mr. G.
Hobert and John Charter with their staff of engineers.

This 7? hp. IHC has not been run in 30 years. It is from Geo.
Hollochoff s farm in Kent. We lived here from 1912 to 1923. The
weight is 1 ton. Same engine was running at Mansfield, Ohio meet
this past summer of 68. We have 12 gas engines and hope to get a
horseshoe shop built this summer of 69.

There were many early gasoline engine manufacturers in the
middle west, in the states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and
Michigan. Two young engineering students at the University of
Wisconsin went into the building of gasoline engines before they
finished their college careers. Mr. Charles W. Hart and Mr. Charles
Parr, became acquainted in 1892 while both were students of
mechanical engineering and built several gasoline engines in the
University shop for use on the campus. One of these upright engines
is now on display there in the museum. After graduation, they built
this upright single cylinder engine at Madison, Wisconsin until
1900. Their engines were well accepted and they required a larger
plant and additional capital. They moved to Mr. Hart’s home
town of Charles City, Iowa where they put up a new factory and
started in production in 1901. Here, the upright engine, similar to
the original model, was built in the following sizes:

Hart-Parr Gasoline Engines

hp.

Speed

Pulley Size

Weight

Price f .o.b. factory

3

250-300

10′ X 8′

900 lbs.

$255.00

6

200-320

15′ X 10′

1800 lbs.

422.00

10

200-300

22′ X 14′

3000 lbs.

600.00

Note: — These engines equipped with hot tube ignition. Add
$20.00 if electric ignition is required.

Ten operating model steam engines and one hot air engine in
operation two days at 1968 Ozarks Steam Engine Show west of
Springfield, Missouri. Also two days at 1968 Pioneer Harvest Fiesta
at Ft. Scott, Kansas. Engines range in size from 7-16 bore to 2 and
Vx bore. Owned and displayed by Myrl Hix.

These engines were also built in styles 1,2, and 3 which offered
the basic engine with choice of cast iron sub-base, with a
provision for a water cooling tank, mounted on the sub-base. Then,
another style offered an oil cooling system, instead of water, that
would operate in the cold climates without freezing. A cast iron
heating type of radiator was used for the oil cooler.

Another unique feature of the Hart-Parr engine was the
arrangement of adjusting the piston pin and connecting rod bearings
with a single screw. The bearing caps were hinged at the horizontal
center line of each bearing, so the caps could be adjusted by a
turn-buckle and rod connecting the inside part of each bearing cap.
This feature was used for years in Hart-Parr engines. Later, they
marketed a conventional vertical Style 4 – 1? hp. oil cooled engine
for $180.00 complete with sub-base and oil cooling radiator.

Early in 1902, this company built and marketed one of the first
gasoline engine tractors in the United States. The machine was
powered with a two cylinder engine developing 22-45 hp. This
tractor (and the word tractor was coined by Hart-Parr Company) sold
to an Iowa farmer, operated for seventeen years, which reflected
the fundamental dependability of Hart-Parr design.

In 1903, the company built fifteen tractors which started the
organization into a successful career. Today, through the
consolidation of Hart-Parr, Nichols and Shepard Threshers, Oliver
Plow Company and American Seeding Machine Company, the organization
is known as the Oliver Corporation, a subsidiary of the White Motor
Company.

At Froelich, Iowa, a man by the same name (as the town was named
for his father) John Froelich, had worked around steam traction
engines and had learned the shortcomings of the heavy, hard to
handle smoke belchers. He was mechanically inclined and figured
there surely was a way to overcome some of the fire hazards and
bulkiness of the steam outfits. In 1894, he went to work on
building a tractor using a Van Duzen gasoline engine and a Robinson
running gear. It consisted of steel rear wheels of the traction
type with lugs and a single cylinder vertical engine. With his
helper, William Mann, they designed and built the gears and
transmission that would propel this outfit forward and
backward.

When it was ready to run, they took it to a testing ground where
there was plenty of grain to be threshed and where it took the
place of a steam traction engine. It did a good job! This original
outfit, traveling on its own power worked all the way from Iowa to
South Dakota that year and threshed over 70,000 bushels of
grain.

From this beginning, John Froelich organized a gasoline engine
manufacturing company known as the Waterloo Gasoline Traction
Engine Company at Waterloo, Iowa. In 1895 this company was
incorporated and built the Waterloo engines. Mr. Froelich’s
interests were in the tractor, so he left the company and moved
later to St. Paul. There was a big demand for Waterloo engines and
a larger factory was built to meet the demand. At the same time,
the company continued to experiment in tractor design and in 1914,
the first Waterloo Boy Tractor, Model ‘R’ was introduced.
This was a two cylinder, kerosene burning horizontal engine with
cylinder heads back toward the steering wheel and driver. This
machine was built up until 1923 and was the forerunner of the John
Deere Model ‘D’ tractor, which put this company in the
field of the ‘New Generation of Power’ — after the Model
‘D’ came the Row-crop tractor Model ‘A’ in 1939
-and then in 1952 Model ’60’ and in 1958 Model
‘730’ – and at the present decade the Model ‘4010’.
(For those who might be interested in these John Deere Tractors —
there is a Collector’s Item, by the company of a complete set
of seven models mounted on a nice display card.)

In the middle West during this same period, the Fuller &
Johnson Company of Wisconsin was in the manufacture of farm type
gasoline engines, and a worthy competitor of the other engine
companies of that time. The story of this company has well been
described by Vern Kindschi for the readers of GEM, so I will not
comment further on this manufacturer.

20 ft. air compressor supplying air to operate engines in Myrl
Hix display.

Hon. Wm. Stuart, Minister of Agriculture for Ontario, watches a
very rare 2-cylinder opposed Gould Shapley & Muir engine owned
by Hector Kyle of Ayr. (Staff photo of Canadian Champion, 191 Main
St., Milton, Ontario.)

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