Reader Steve Ledger from Vernon, Conn.,
sent in a collection of small, stationary engine ads culled from the pages of
the Dec. 12, 1903, issue of Scientific American. The ads include some
well-known makers such as Weber out of Kansas City,
Mo., and Mietz & Weiss of New York. Of particular
interest is the ad for a vertical engine from the Buick Motor Co., (shown in
the Image Gallery) better known today for its pioneering line of automobiles
launched in 1904.
In 1899, Scottish immigrant David Dunbar Buick established
the Buick Auto-Vim & Power Co. to design and build gas engines. The company
manufactured marine gas engines, and at least for one year in 1903 a vertical
gas engine of the type shown here. Almost nothing is known of the Buick engine,
and it appears manufacturing ceased the same year this ad appeared, when Buick
merged with the Flint Wagon Works to form Buick Motor Car Co. Buick is still in
business today, 110 years later.
