16 Prospect Street, Salem, West Virginia 26426
I have just completed a project that is a little unusual. I have
made an engine out of a Curtis air compressor.
When I attended my last engine show last fall I met an old
friend there and asked him if he had any engines for sale or trade
and he said he had one for sale. It turned out to be an LB model
International, which I bought from him. While we were getting it
out of a storage building, we ran onto a two flywheel thing that
looked like an engine. I went back at a later date and traded him
out of the two stage Curtis air compressor. I took it home and put
it in my workshop, where it gathered dust for a while. Every time I
looked at it I thought that it looked so much like a flywheel
engine that it should run.
I tore it down and cleaned it up and found that the bore was the
same as a Maytag 92. I left the compressor piston in the compressor
cylinder, which I am using as a crosshead. I had to do a little
machine shop work on the cylinder so I could adapt the Maytag
cylinder, piston and connecting rod to the compressor. I made the
ignition system pickup and governor and mounted it in the left
flywheel. The flywheels are built for cooling. I made the fuel
system from old lawn mower engine parts. It looks a little unusual,
but it starts easy and runs good at about 450 RPM and is a true hit
and miss engine.
