Route5,Box534G Waco, Texas 76705
I have been collecting parts to put this display together for a
long time. The engine is a Fairbanks-Morse Z, 1 HP, 500 RPM, the
serial number is 589372. I got the engine from my Uncle’ Edd
Sterba in Republic County, Kansas, about twenty years ago. I grew
up near his farm hearing this engine popping away pumping water for
his livestock. One year the creek near his home flooded and silted
in the well. He never used the engine again. I got it from him
maybe about ten years later. It was rusted and stuck but all the
parts were there except the gas tank and muffler.
After a lot of cleaning and some effort, I got it freed up. With
some advice from a man at the Mankato, Kansas, engine show 1 got it
timed and started. After that it spent several years in my shed
collecting dust. After moving to Texas I got interested in doing
something with it.
On a visit back to Kansas, my dad and I found his old pump jack
at his farm. The wood was all rotted away, but the rest was in good
shape. My dad had, in turn, gotten it from his dad years ago. He
does not know what brand it is and there are no ID marks on it. He
did know that it was red in color.
The pump I got from a friend of mine. It was made by the
Dempster Mill Company, in Beatrice, Nebraska. It was in excellent
condition and needed very little repair work. The cart I fabricated
myself. I just finished it this summer.
I have attended several engine shows but never displayed
anything before, so I decided to take it to Temple, Texas, to their
show this fall. The weather was great and so was the show. My wife
and I and our friends had a great time there. I look forward to
taking it to other shows in the future.
If anyone can help, I would like to know what year the Fairbanks
engine was built. Also, I have a Cushman Husky model 3M, 15-6 HP,
serial number 143056. It is equipped with an insert type rod
bearing. I would like to know where I can get a new rod bearing for
it. Thanks for any help you can give me.
Editor’s note: According to Charles Wendel’s Fairbanks
Morse: 100 Years of Engine Technology, the Z was manufactured in
1924.
