How Your Hobby Started Part XX

3904-47th Avenue, S., Seattle, Washington 98118

By the time this issue of G. E. M. reaches you the drab shades
of our long winter will have given away to the bright days of
spring. For many who have been looking forward to being able to get
out and start new projects such as overhauling and reconditioning
the stored-up equipment, surely the warm spring days will be
enjoyable.

Of course there will be the modern tractors and implements to
get ready for the season, but maybe, just possible in between
chores or with a few hours for relaxation, a little time will be
found to see if that recently acquired antique engine that you
brought home can be restored and cleaned up with a shiny coat of
new paint ready for the first show.

This hobby of writing fills in at any season. This past winter
sparked the urge of many collectors to write me inquiring about all
kinds of problems which has kept me in touch with our readers.
While I have been kept busy answering letters with the best
information that is available, it was a good way to spend many
hours during the dark rainy winter months.

How interesting and surprising it was to hear from collectors
who have been able to locate as many as seven more engines to add
to their hobby these past few months. Several have mentioned
finding two or three more. They must be good hunters. Their
acquisition consists of several varieties and sizes of rare
engines.

Other activities have helped fill the days as another diversity
has caught on in model building of both gasoline and steam engines
and boilers. This hobby is well adapted to the skilled machinist
and engineers who enjoy creating replicas of famous antique engines
and machinery that are now difficult to find any place outside of a
museum.

Model engine displays have found a place and are sponsored by
many of the historical associations at their annual shows such as
the Rough & Tumble Engineers at Kinzer; Badger Steam and Gas
Engine Club at Baraboo, Tri-State Gasoline and Tractor Ass’n.
at Portland, Indiana, The Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor
Ass’n. at various locations, The Blue Grass Steam and Gas
Engine Ass’n at Harrodsburg, Kentucky and the Midwest Old
Settlers and Threshers Ass’n. at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and many
others who have provided regular exhibition space and furnish live
steam for the small model engine enthusiast. In the future it is
the plan to devote a chapter to these men who build models and
their achievements.

From the library of Roger Kriebel of Mainland, Pennsylvania
comes very interesting literature on several engines often pictured
in G. E. M.

The Angola Engine and Foundry Company of Angola, Indiana in a
fine catalog, offered a line of high quality well designed
stationary engines. They could furnish two-cycle machines, but
preferred and advertised four-cycle units in sizes of 2? to 15
HP.

These were closed water-jacketed single cylinder type machines
with water circulating cooling systems. Some units used a vertical
tank mounted on the top of the cylinder, which in effect was a
water hopper. These engines were built with a substantial cast-iron
sub-base which carried the main bearings set at an angle to take
the shock load of the explosion. The cylinder was bolted to this
base by a horizontal flange on each side. A bevel gear-driven lay
shaft on the governor side operated the fly-ball hit and miss speed
control system. The exhaust valve was located in a vertical
position under the cylinder head and was operated by a rocker arm
and cam off the lay shaft. The automatic vertical intake valve was
positioned on top of the cylinder head. The governor operates a
lever arm to lock the exhaust valve open on the power–less stroke
and prevents a spark to occur. The r.p.m. of the engine can be
changed with the governor while it is in operation. A plunger type
fuel pump is operated from a cam on the lay shaft and maintains a
constant fuel level for the mixing valve, with an overflow back to
the main fuel tank.

The mixing valve is of a simple design combining a needle valve
and an air intake. The igniter is located in the center of the
cylinder head and is tripped by a lever operated from a cam on the
lay shaft. A drip oiler is used for the cylinder. Grease cups take
care of the main bearings.

A compressed air starting system was offered for the larger
sizes which consisted of an air tank and air compressor and a quick
opening air valve. For smaller units a hand pump was used to fill
the smaller air starting tank.

Battery and coil was employed for the starting of the engine and
then switched over to a dynamo for continuous operation.

The Angola engines were built with several unique design
features. The cylinder head was rounded at the end and contained
the vertical intake and exhaust valves. The cylinder was set low
into the cast-iron sub-base to provide a low center of gravity to
the units. The dynamo was set on a bracket to operate by a friction
drive pulley off the flywheel rum.

The portable units were mounted on a steel wheel truck with a
screen type cooling system and an exhaust muffler under the rear
axle. A large gear pumping engine unit was offered with the 2 HP
engine. Offset from center on the large gear were variable pitman
connections to permit stroke lengths for deep well water cylinders
in order to accommodate the proper engine to pump capacity
combination for the existing well condition.

The specification of the Angola gasoline engines are as
follows:

The Bessemer Gas Engine Company of Grove City, Pennsylvania is
one of the old reliable engine builders that was organized in the
early days when they made small farm type gasoline engines and have
continued through the decades until today. They build many types of
diesel engines under the present name of Copper-Bessemer
Company.

From one of their early catalogs it describes their firm
conviction in the two-cycle design which they have adhered to and
still advocate today in the larger engines they build. Much of this
catalog is devoted to the explanation of the basic reason why the
two-cycle engine was much more dependable than the more complicated
four-cycle machine. The main reason of such assurance to their
customers was the fact that the two-cycle engine has less than half
the number of working parts, so there were fewer wearing surfaces
to be replaced. These arguments have met the test of time and in
today’s large diesels, many of the designs are of the two-cycle
principle for the same basic reasons, and also today, less parts
bring down the initial cost.

Bessemer’s slogan was an engine at ‘The pinnacle of
perfection.’

My 1925 John Deere ‘D’, shortly after I got it a couple
years ago. It was in bad shape. This summer, my brother came and
pulled it home and overhauled the engine, then drove it back again;
which took about as long as the overhaul. It is in pretty good
shape now, except it needs a different hood and a little paint.

The small size two-cycle engines were of a vertical single
cylinder, two port, water-cooled type. They also built a horizontal
style in laraer ratings.

The vertical units were very similar to the Detroit Engine. Both
had similar fuel injection principles. The carburetor was arranged
with a pipe from the closed crankcase to the upper part of the bowl
on the carburetor. When the piston is on the down stroke it
compresses the air in the crankcase and the by-pass pipe to the
bowl is under pressure which forces a small amount of fuel through
the discharge tube into the entrance of the intake port. As the
port is opened by the travel of the piston downward, this fuel is
carried with the compressed air from the crankcase into the
combustion chamber for the following power stroke.

The Al New Family leading the parade at the annual Sidewalk
Sales Days held in September, 1971, at Pendleton, Indiana. Headed
by 20-30 Rumely Oil Pull Tractor No. W3438 pulling 12 h.p. Buckeye
Gas Engine No. 382 with Jim New driving and Al New riding. Followed
by 1927 Model T Ford roadster with Alan New driving and Mrs. Al New
riding. All equipment owned by Al New Family.

The governor is a fulcrum arm weight attached to a flywheel
spoke and spring loaded. This is connected to a loose collar around
the inside flywheel hub. This collar moves around the axis as the
speed and power requirements change. The right angle lever which is
connected to the air valve inlet causes it to move up or down as
the case may be to open or close the air inlet valve and control
the r.p.m. of the engine. The governor is a simple yet highly
efficient device.

Bessemer engines were supplied on hard wood skids with or
without a cooling as the installation required. Battery ignition
was standard, but a magneto could be supplied at an added
price.

The specifications of these two-cycle gasoline engines were as
follows:

These machines were furnished with spark coil, battery and spark
plug ignition, shipped on skids, with double sight glass
lubricator, muffler and water-cooling tank, wrenches and oil-can as
standard equipment.

Combination outfits were factory assembled including hoisting
units, electric generating plants, pumping systems and fruit
spraying portable outfits.

The Bessemer horizontal engines were constructed very much like
a steam engine, with crosshead and packing gland at the forward end
of the cylinder. These two-cycle two-port machines had an air
intake through a special valve under the cylinder with the air
suction taken through the cast-iron sub-base, which also acted as
an air filter. The air intake valve was a vertical flat disc plate
with a series of small openings to the air duct. The valve was
opened by the suction of the piston on the inward stroke. The fuel
and air was drawn into the front end of the cylinder through a
port. The exhaust opens approximately at the same time, causing the
compressed fresh air to scavenge the cylinder and contains the fuel
and air for the following power stroke.

Pictured is a miniature Saskatchewan grain farm, replica of the
20s, in a display that takes 250 square feet to set it up. I have
shown it quite a bit in the last few years. I’ve made it all by
hand on an approximate ? inch scale.

The Bessemer Company had a very liberal and strong guarantee to
cover their engines. They gave a life time replacement on parts,
and also a thirty day trial offer to the effect that if the
customer was not satisfied, to return the engine and his money
would be refunded.

The Bessemer decal was in the shape of a horizontal elongated
diamond. A-round the edge were the words–‘When you buy–you
buy the best’–with the word ‘Bessemer’ in the middle
of the decal.

The Backus Water Motor Company of Newark, New Jersey, an early
manufacturer of diversified equipment, built various types of
hydraulic wheels and the Backus Suction Gas Producers and gas
engines. One of their earliest engines was pictured in G.E.M. Vol.
2–No. 2 as sent in by Paul E. Harvey. This rare antique was
similar in design with some of the first Ottos, Hart-Paar,
Nickerson and the Master Workman upside down, or upright types of
engines.

The gas producer equipment manufactured by this company
consisted of a generator in which the coal was burned, a vaporizer
in which the eases were cooled before passing into the scrubber
which cleaned the gas ready to be used as fuel in an engine. Such
equipment was quite successful in parts of the country where the
proper kind of coal was available for making producer–gas.

An excellent crop of wheat being harvested at the Cliff Koster
Ranch, Vernalis, California. That is Cliff’s 24 foot cut all
wood Harris combine at his ranch in 1970. It has a 4 cylinder Atlas
motor on it. The National Meet of the E. D. G. E. & T. Assn.
was held there at the same meet. This year the Meet will be under
the auspices of Branch No. 9.

Sizes were proportioned for engine ratings in the following
range: 25 HP Gas Producer for engines of 10-12-15-20 HP. 50 HP Gas
Producer for engines of 25-30-40 HP. 75 HP Gas Producer for engines
of 50-65 HP. 100 HP Gas Producer for engines of 75 HP. 150 HP Gas
Producer for engines of 100-125 HP.

Later the company built a regular line of gasoline engines in
sizes of 3 to 15 HP. These were horizontal, single cylinder,
four-cycle with closed water jacket. The cast-iron sub-base with
open crankcase was arranged with the main bearings and flanges
along the side to which the horizontal cylinder was fastened. An
eccentric was located inside the main bearing on the crankshaft to
operate the push rod for the mechanical exhaust valve and to trip
the igniter. The governor was of the hit and miss type.

The ignition on the earlier engines was by a hot tube, which was
later changed to use an electric ignition system. The mixing valve
was of the simple type with a full valve and an adjustment to
permit the proper amount of air to the automatic intake valve.

With various modifications of the design the sizes of one type
were built in 20 and 30 HP and in the heavy frame and longer engine
in a range of sizes of 40, 50, 65 and 75 HP. The largest type was
built in 100, 125 and 150 HP units. The rpm and weight of these
Backus engines were as follows:

A small leaflet from Phil King, Granville, Massachusetts
supplies information on The Boss Gearless Automatic Engine.

These engines were built by the Bluffton Cream Separator Company
of Bluffton, Ohio.

As the name implies, these engines were built without a timing
gear and the function normally accomplished by the timing gears was
actuated by an eccentric on the crankshaft inside the double
flywheels on these units.

This 1929 12 x 24 Hart-Parr is owned and restored by Percy L.
Dezotell.

The engines were horizontal four-cycle single cylinder with
water hopper cooling. The cast-iron base carried the main bearings
in an open crankcase. The his and miss governor was controlled by
the weights in the flywheel, mounted on wood skids which were
extended to carry the battery box at the rear and a round gas tank
in front. Ignition was by jump spark with a spark plug and a switch
on the battery box.

The mechanical exhaust valve was operated by a push rod along
side of the cylinder which was also arranged for governor control
in holding open the valve on the idle stroke.

This type of Boss Gearless Engine was built in the following
specifications:

Another catalog from Phil King describes the W. P. Callahan Gas
and Gasoline Engines that were built in Dayton, Ohio and sold by
the New England Engine and Supply Company of Boston.

The Callahan Company was long established, building various
kinds of special machinery for some fifty years, before they
started production of gasoline engines. They made steam engines and
associated equipment.

The gasoline engines were single cylinder, horizontal,
four-cycle, closed cool-ling water jacket, open crankcase and built
on a cast-iron base which had the main bearings. There were no
specifications shown in the catalog. However, there were pictures
of a 4, 10 and 25 HP unit.

From these pictures such details of their design showed a side
shaft which was driven from a herring bone gear on the crankshaft.
A mechanical exhaust valve, fuel pumps and governor control all
were a function of the side shaft. The design was straight forward
and rather simple with few parts.

The governor was their own patent and was of the flyball type
which would entirely stop the side shaft and all the fittings and
functions thereof on the idle strokes of the hit and miss governor
control. It was mounted on a bracket near the crankshaft and
another bracket near the head acted as the side shaft bearing. The
valve and pump cams were located on the sideshaft. There were two
fuel pumps; one supplied the small fuel reservoir near the head
while the second measured and injected the correct amount of fuel
for the load on the engine. There was no mixing valve, as the air
inlet was arranged through the fuel intake body.

The igniter is operated off the end of the sideshaft and the
speed could be controlled by a knurled nut on the governor while
the engine was in operation. A lever on the governor also permitted
the operator to stop the engine by cutting out the operation of the
sideshaft and all its functions.

Double flywheels had safety caps over the hubs and also a cover
over the gears on the side shaft drive. The Callahan engine catalog
stated that engines up to 100 HP were built, and various ratings of
smaller horsepower, however no specifications were included in this
particular catalog. The engines were printed according to colored
pictures, a dark red or maroon.

From Bulletin No. 28 and by the courtesy of the Broken Kettle
Book Service, this report on Cook Engines is available. These
engines were manufactured in Delaware, Ohio by this company. At the
time this particular bulletin was published they had been in
business for nineteen years. They specialized in contractor’s
equipment applications such as hoisting machines, well drilling
rigs, electric light plants, pumping outfits, air compressors,
power shovels, cranes and farm engines.

The Cook engines were of the vertical single cylinder,
four-cycle, closed crank-case design, very much resembling the
vertical F. M.

Type ‘T’ or the International Famous engine–these
engines were built on a cast-iron sub-base having a fuel tank in
the base. The crankcase was closed with the camshaft extended to
operate a fuel pump on one side and a mechanical lubricator on the
other side. The flywheel governor actuated the hit and miss system
of speed control by holding open the exhaust valve on the idle
strokes. This type of engine had mechanical exhaust valve and
automatic intake valve, while on the throttling governor style the
valves were both mechanical with overhead rocker arms and push rod
adjustments at the top of the rod.

A cooling tank could be supplied on the single cylinder engines
attached to the side of the cylinder to provide a thermo-syphon
cooling system. Separate vertical tanks were used on the larger
sizes with a circulating pump for continuous duty operation.

Tom Thumb E. D. G. E. & T. Assn. ‘Gas-Up’ Manteca,
California, that was Branch No. 13. We had one of these Tom Thumbs
60 odd years ago.

2 hp Waterloo Boy and a 4 hp Fairbanks-Morse gas engine.

The larger engines having two vertical cylinders were made up of
the same size bore and stroke single cylinders and rated at about
double the single cylinder rating. Large hand hole inspection
openings were arranged in the crankcase for bearing inspection.
Shaft extension would carry a friction clutch drive pulley or
arranged to direct connect to a generator or compressor.

The carburetor for two cylinders had a flexible hot air intake
pipe to an exhaust manifold fitting for warm air to facilitate
starting in cold weather. The flyball governor was driven by a
bevel gear in the crankcase to a vertical shaft with the unit at
the top above the cylinder head. A mechanical lubricator supplied
the cylinder and bearings.

For application on a well drill, a special flywheel with a
cast-on clutch band was made up and also extended crankshaft to
adapt to other drive equipment.

The specifications of the Cook Engines are as follows:

A quick response to the question raised in the last issue
concerning the origin of the English Southwell engine, has been
solved by his Honor Lester Roos, Mayor of Geneseo, Illinois.

Lester sends a parts list of a 1908 Stover vertical engine and
he has a 5 HP unit that is a dead ringer of the Southwell, with
only a few exceptions of minor details. So apparently the
Southwell, which as the picture shows, was made by the Stover
Manufacturing and Engine Company of Freeport, Illinois.

It is these interesting instances of learning historical details
of the antique gasoline engines that makes this hobby of mine so
interesting, and a big thank you to his Honor in solving this
one.

A 20 HP IHC Mogul Type C that Bill Krumwiede and I bought from
Tom Ternent, Homfield, Homfield, Manitoba in 1965. Tractor had been
fixed up by Tom and it runs nice. We have it at the Makoti Show on
loan. Have a soft spot for the old IHC tractors. Standing by the
truck is Cisco Lodahl and Ed Titterud of Crosby. They hauled it for
us. Cisco, on the right, was the driver.