R. R. 3 Fredericktown, Ohio 43019
(Paul had sent in an article by this title and it was in the
Mar-April issue of GEM 1966-this is relative to the article,
actually could be a continuation, in case you want to go back and
reread the first part.-Anna Mae)
As stated in the former article Sears Shipped New Economy
engines to replace the Thermoil engines being recalled. In due
time, we received notice from B & O that there was a new gas
engine at Fredericktown for us. On Saturday morning the old engine
(Thermoil) was loaded on the wagon and away we went to town. (Now
you see how I know it was Saturday.)
It must have been around 2 P.M. when we arrived at the depot.
The old engine was loaded directly into the same car which brought
the New Economy. My memory is somewhat hazy concerning the next few
years as I was in school most of the time when the engine was in
use grinding feed, sawing wood, (both buzz saw and drag saw)
filling silo and etc. By the time I was in the seventh grade I was
being ‘request ed’ to help buzz wood and grind feed and
consequently began to take more notice of the performance of the
engine. Now, all Economy engines except the very last ones were hit
and miss governed and this one was no exception. Sears had
guaranteed it to give satisfaction and it did, with two exceptions.
One, was when running idle, it was a rare thing for it to hit
(fire) only once. More often it was two or three. The other, was
that it was the hardest thing to keep under a fairly heavy load,
but as soon as the load was off, it would be hopping around. I
believe I finally discovered the reason for all this commotion,
both the excessive firing when idling and the dancing. In comparing
this particular engine with supposedly identical engines then, and
now, I find one difference and that is in the flywheels. Our engine
had flywheels with rims three inches wide and the others with rims,
I believe were two inches so it is quite probable that it was
equipped with fly wheels designed for the Thermoil.
EXHIBITING OLD-TIME BROTHERHOOD AMONG STEAM ENGINE IRON-MEN AND
GAS ENGINE SPARK PLUGS, Hug Hartzell of Union City, Indiana stirs
fresh-made apple butter in big copper ‘kittle’-while one of
five steam engines at gas engine reunion furnishes steam heat for
the ‘cooking’ of the ‘apple schnitzels’.
We kept the engine until after Dad s death in 1937 when it was
sold at auction to a neighbor for $6.00. He used it for a couple of
years and traded it to the J. B. Foote Foundry Company for a new 6
Up. Economy and it was junked.
Now, in the course of this article I have mentioned only the
Thermoil and the Economy. We had other stationary gas engines
besides the Waterloo Boy, which incidentally was in the family
until 1944. This other gas engine was an Associated Johnny Boy 1?
Hp. acquired from a neighbor. It was used to run the washing
machine, grindstone, sausage grinder, concrete mixer and etc. It
was finally junked because the governor was broken and it
wasn’t worth the expense of repairing. Well, this concludes my
recollections of stationary ‘gas’ engines in our
family.
