15023 Pepperwood Dr. Omaha, Nebraska 68154
One Sunday last fall a friend called, got me out of bed, and
suggested that I carry a couple of my engines over to a local show.
The weather was on target for most shows I seem to pick rainy.
Anyway, I loaded up my fleet (all three engines) and headed over.
Shortly thereafter, I was tired of cranking, but all three were
running.
All was going well when a couple of fellows came by and asked if
I knew anything about ‘RS’ engines. My intelligent answer
was ‘nope’. Seems as though their grandmother had one out
in the barn, and if I was interested they would take me over there.
Need I say more? 15 minutes later we were pulling into their farm,
where the grandmother ran a small antique shop.
Sure enough, back in one corner of the barn, where it obviously
had been for many years, sat this little 1 HP engine. Dirt and dust
covered it well but I was able to see it was all there. The
flywheels turned and only the intake valve was stuck. Closer
inspection found a nameplate on the side of the hopper. It was a
Rawleigh – Schryer. This still didn’t ring any bells, but I
sure liked the looks of it.
The lady who owned it didn’t know much about the engine
except that she wanted to get rid of it. When we got around to
talking price though, I found she was apparently more attached to
it than she let on. I thought the price was too high, and being a
college student, I sure couldn’t afford it. The lady was very
nice though, and I promised to think about buying the engine and to
bring my mom by to visit her antique shop.
I soon found my early thinking wrong on several counts. Several
friends graciously advised as to the true value of that somewhat
rare and highly collectible engine, with statements like ‘You
knucklehead, why didn’t you buy it?’ I also was able to
scrounge up a few bucks, so when I took Mom over to visit the lady,
we started serious negotiations. I found her becoming less attached
to the machine than I thought, for she immediately put it on a
half-price sale. We finally concluded negotiations early in the
spring, with all my final-final offers being rejected. But, after
five months of working on the deal, I found that I could afford it
by cutting out a few frivilous purchases, like food, gas, clothing
and such trivia. So now, the Rawleigh – Schryer is mine.
After buying the Rawleigh – Schryer, I hauled it home in the
family Suburban. I was, of course, met with wild enthusiasm when I
pulled into the driveway. Some of the memorable praise I received
went some- thing like this: ‘Did you have to bring that filthy
thing home?’ said Mom. ‘Why don’t you spend more time
on your hobby of collecting and fixing old pocket watches? At least
then you don’t track dirt and grease throughout the house.’
‘How much did you pay for that?’ said Dad. (I guess he
couldn’t believe what a good deal I got.) ‘When are you
going to pay me back that money I loaned you this morning?’
said my brother, always one to cut a guy a little slack.
‘Bark,’ said Aireo, our dog.
Then we unloaded it and wheeled it into the garage. ‘I hope
the neighbors aren’t watching,’ said Mom.
The first step in my restoration was to clean up the engine. I
soaked, scraped and brushed to remove as much crud as possible,
using about a gallon of solvents along the way. This got it down to
where I could see the original color and copy the decorative pin
striping. I found the paint to match very well the photo of R-S
colors on the back cover of GEM a couple of months ago. Next we
took the engine apart and found it to be very tight. It looked like
this engine had not been run very much and didn’t have much
rust under the grime. Even the stuck valve came out with
penetrating oil and several light hammer taps.
I did forget to mark the timing gears before dismantling. My dad
said not to worry, that if a person understands how a four stroke
engine works, he can surely get one of these simple engines in
time. Since I’ve never seen Dad prove this theory of his, I
worried. Fortunately, there were factory marks on both gears and
the flywheel.
I sent out most of the cast parts to be sandblasted. To protect
the bearings, we wrapped paper towels around a wood dowel and
clamped that in place with the journal caps. I failed to mask off
the valve seats, which would have saved a grinding job later.
When the castings came back from the sand blaster, we ground
them smooth with a side grinder and a wheel on an electric drill.
Duro Liquid Metal in a tube, worked well for filling in pits. Then
all parts were primed, and wet sanded until smooth. I finished the
engine with three coats of an acrylic enamel mixed to the proper
color, then three coats of a clear acrylic overcoat to give it
depth. Some of the moving parts were painted black. I tried to
duplicate the original pin striping before applying the clear
coats.
This engine came equipped with an early model Webster magneto. I
was surprised to find it had a strong spark, so I only had to clean
it up. The engine went back together without any problems and after
some tinkering, we were able to get it fired off. I left one spring
off the governor mechanism, so it runs real slow. I now have a nice
looking machine which is definitely a keeper.
I am real thankful for the advice I received on this project
from Emile Legendre of Uxbridge, Massachusetts and also to Harold
Green of Avoca, Iowa, for his many restoration tips. I do enjoy
messing around with this old iron and even get my dad interested at
times. Mom will even admit it’s a nice looking engine, as long
as I remember to remove my shoes before walking in the house.
I’m now looking forward to hauling the Rawleigh – Schryer to a
few shows next summer. I’d also be happy to correspond with
other R-S collectors.
