Smoke Rings

By Staff
Published on March 1, 1970
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Courtesy of Henry M. Stansbury, Box 223, Pylesville, Maryland 21132.
Courtesy of Henry M. Stansbury, Box 223, Pylesville, Maryland 21132.
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Courtesy of Warren Walck, Route 1, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042.
Courtesy of Warren Walck, Route 1, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042.

If you are like everyone back here, Spring cannot make its
arrival too soon. Every day we’re looking for a robin which
heralds the fact that Spring is really making an entrance. I’m
sure the robin won’t be here for awhile though and if one eager
one should make it soon, he would find this dilemma entitled
Frustration. Northward the robin flew in Spring.–It left him quite
exhausted–To find his bird-bath not yet thawed; His worms, not yet
defrosted.

And with that great epic, I shall continue on with the column
and we have a lot of letters that I know you would much rather
read.

RON MAGNUSON, Good Hope, Ill. 61438 would like to hear from
someone who owns an 8 hp. Witte gas engine. He needs a little help
with his Witte. So get busy fellows and let Ron hear from you.

DAVID BABCOCK, R.F.D. 3, Box 673, Cass City, Michigan 48726 pens
us, ‘I would like to know if any readers have ever seen or
heard of a Motorgo marine engine. I have one, a 2 cylinder 6 hp.
vertical. I would appreciate any information which can be
supplied’. Need I say more– if you have heard of this engine–
let Dave hear from you.

A plea for help from WILLIS F. HAASE, Box 203, Cable, Wisconsin,
54821– ‘I wonder if you or anybody else could help me get an
operator’s manual for a McCormick Deering 10-20 tractor, about
1926 vintage. This tractor is all restored in perfect shape. I also
have a 1925 Fordson that is perfect in every respect. I have many
gas engines from 1 to 6 hp., most of them in running
condition.’–Maybe some of you fellows would have an extra
one– or is there a company he could write to for one?–once again
the SOS signal is up.

Anyone know the address of the Diesel power publication? If so,
please let PHILLIP D. HOCHSTETLER, 204 W. Reed St., Nappanee,
Indiana 46550 know about it. He’s one of our newer subscribers
and we welcome him to our GEM family and hope we can help him.

A letter from CHAS. H. WENDEL, Atkins, Iowa 52206 tells us:
‘In regard to the query of W. C. Maupin, Arbuckle, California
concerning Gas Power Magazine,– it was published by Gas Power
Publishing Company, St. Joseph, Michigan. Publication started about
1902 or 1903 and continued at least to the middle ‘teens. I
have all issues from 1908 through 1915. There is a wealth of
information in each of them. Starting in 1908 the American
Thresherman Magazine published a magazine similar in format and
content called ‘Gas Review’. You can learn a lot of the
history of various companies through these old magazines, but my
experience has been that they are difficult to find. I might add
that we have found a book entitled Gas, Gasoline & Oil Engines
by Gardner W. Hiscox to be invaluable for all phases of gas engine
collecting.’ Thanks so much Mr. Wednel for your aid to Mr.
Maupin. Chas. Wendel has also sent us an informative article on Gas
Engine Ignition Coils that should be found elsewhere in this
issue.

VERNE W. KINDSCHI, Route 1, Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin 53578, a
man whose name is well known to the GEM subscribers writes us this
issue: ‘There is a newly published book, titled John A.
Johnson: An Uncommon American, by Dr. Agnes M. Larson of St. Olaf
College. This is a biography of Mr. Johnson, who was one of the
founders of the Fuller & Johnson Company of Madison, Wisconsin.
In the article I wrote in the May-June 1967, Volume 2, No. 3, of
GEM, I included a very brief life story of Mr. Johnson in The Short
History of Fuller & Johnson.

The book is a very complete story of John A. Johnson and much
note is made of the F & J Co.; however, not too much mentioned
about gas engines. There is more on the earlier farm implements.
This is a very nice, hard covered book, which I am sure any
collector would be very interested in reading.

You could check at your library to see if it is available there,
or you may purchase them for $6.50 from Professor Lloyd Hustvedt,
Secretary of the Norwegian-American Historical Assn., St. Olaf
College, Northfield, Minnesota 55057.’ I need say no more as
his paragraphs are very explanatory. Thanks again, Verne.

EDWIN H. BREDEMEIER of Burchard, Nebraska 68323 also answers Mr.
Maupin’s request: ‘I notice on page 29 & 30 of
Jan.-Feb. GEM a Mr. W. C. Maupin of Arbuckle, California is
inquiring about Gas Power Magazine. I have some from 1913, 1914,
and 1915. It was a monthly magazine about the size of the Impl.
News and carried informative articles, advertising and
miscellaneous articles– making it a nice magazine.’–So, there
Mr. Maupin is another correspondent for you.

Henry wants to know if there are any of these tractors around
today–a 1914 Model from Hackney Company Manufacturer.

An I.H.C. 1905 15 hp. 1 cyl. tractor. No. 509. Engine No. 81, 5
ton and is owned by Warren. He says it works real nice and that he
started it when the snow melted and it took off on the second
revolution.

Thank you JUANITA ECKHART, Wakarusa, Kansas 66546 for your kind,
friendly note. She wrote: ‘Since my husband and son are gas
engine ‘nuts’, I too have gotten interested. I just wanted
you to know that 1 always read your letters to we readers on page 2
of your magazine. To me, that page is the most interesting. It has
made me feel like we are old friends and because of it, I just
wanted to write a little note to tell you so.’–Isn t that
nice?–I just couldn’t resist putting that in– for it makes me
feel real good. You know we need these ‘pats on the back’
so to speak to keep us perking along. Sometimes one gets to
thinking probably no one reads our personal columns and then along
comes a nice note as above and really makes the day bright. G. W.
MAY, 1591 Greenfield Drive, El Cajon, California 90221 sends this
bit of communication: ‘I enjoy the letters that are sent to you
and most of them are asking for help on a certain engine in one way
or the other. Now, I’d like to get in touch with anyone who
owns or has information on a 6 hp. Biakeslee made in Montgomery,
Alabama. The engine is very similar to the Bates and Edmonds made
in Lansing, Michigan. I have not seen the Biakeslee engine in your
GEM and wonder if anyone else has one.’–I don’t know if we
have had one in or not, I’ll have to look in Roger L.
Eshelman’s index– we have ordered some from him. There is an
article on his indexes that should be in this issue or one coming
up– I’m sure a lot of you fellows would appreciate this type
of data.

ANDREW RICHLEY, R.F.D. 1, Attica, New York 14011 mailed us this:
‘I’ve been around farm machinery and balers since I wa3
able to walk and ran a custom threshing rig with my father for 21
years. I have known many kinds of machines and engines, but cannot
remember about all of them. This leaves me with a question on
Massey-Harris 4-wheel drive tractors. The first ones were a gray
paint. The over-head models, I understand, were green, then red or
the other way around, which? That is the question. Please HELP! –
Well, friends, I don’t know but I’m sure some of you will
let Andy know and help him from his dilemma.’

That about winds things up for this issue, and I know you are
all busy getting the engines in shape for the Reunions– have a
nice spring and summer– and hope we have no snow into the
spring.

Let me end with this April is the month when the green returns
to the lawn, the trees and the Internal Revenue Service– Spring is
the silly season when men plant grass in order to slave in the
summer keeping it cut.

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