Backus Gas Engine

This is a print of an upright Backus gas engine which I found in
an 1897 copy of the ‘New Catechism of the Steam Engine’
published by Theo. Audel and Co. I thought that it might be of
interest since there are a few horizontal Backus engines around
yet, but I never knew that an inverted vertical was ever made. As
seen on the engine base, it was made in Newark, New Jersey, by the
Backus Water Motor Company. The governor is the pulley and
regulates the amount of gas through the long curved arm. Ignition
is by hot tube. The intake valve is automatic and the exhaust is
operated by push rod activated by an eccentric rather than a cam.
No power rating is listed and apparently only one size was
built.