How Your Hobby Started Part XXII

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

Summer is vacation time and it is always pleasant to hear from
G. E. M. readers visiting our beautiful Pacific Northwest and
Alaska. Those interested in seeing engine collections in this
vicinity can get information by a phone call and directions will
gladly be furnished.

As always it is greatly appreciated when our readers contribute
their fine literature to use on additional makes of engines in
order that the details can be passed along to all of the collectors
who read the Gas Engine Magazine.

Verne Kindschi sent an advance copy of the Badger Steam and Gas
Engine Club year book and program to be held at Baraboo, Wisconsin.
It is an excellent piece of literature, full of interesting
pictures of all kinds of steam threshing and gasoline engine and a
book to have in your collector’s library.

Again we are indebted to Roger Kriebel, Mainland, Pennsylvania
for the use of an attractive catalog of the Alamo Manufacturing
Company of Hillsdale, Michigan. They make gas, gasoline and
distillate engines. This catalog was printed in about 1910 or 1912.
It is printed on a good grade of paper with engraving type of
pictures and nicely decorated with cuts of parts of the mechanical
details of their equipment.

Alamo gasoline engines were very substantially built on long
heavy cast-iron bases extending from the front of the unit well
back under the cylinder head which afforded a large bearing surface
to distribute the weight over the foundation. This detail can be
substantiated when examining the engine weight in their
specifications.

Other outstanding Alamo exclusive features of design make these
engines attractive wherever they are found. One of these
interesting features is the cylinder head with the water-cooled
vertical valve cage and the igniter in one compact unit. On the 5,
7 and 9 horsepower ratings there is a fulcrum lever operated by a
cam on the timing gear that acts to open the exhaust valve and the
plunger fuel pump. On the larger size engines, a cam lever is used
in place of the long lever, together with coupling rod for timing
the exhaust valve.

Economy engine used for corn grinding.

The Alamo engines are horizontal, single cylinder, closed water
jacket, four cycle type, with the 5 and 7 HP size also build with
hopper-cooling. There was another variation in 3 and 6 HP made in
vertical closed water jacket units. Then there was another vertical
multi-cylinder Type ‘M’ engine which was used for direct
connection to electric generators in larger capacities. This style
engine as well as the horizontal units with special electric heavy
flywheels for direction to slow speed generators were built in
various capacities.

The standard horizontal engines were constructed with a
cast-iron base which carried the main bearing housings and flanges
to fasten the cylinder to the base. The cylinder and head were
water-cooled, and the units could be supplied with various methods
of cooling systems including a vertical tank, atmosphere drip plan
system, expansion tank above the engine and regular hopper cooling
built on the engine.

A fly ball governor was used on all size engines except the 3 HP
which had a flywheel system. The flyball governor was gear driven
from the timing gear and had a regulating screw to change speed
with the engine in operation.

Crankshafts were forged and turned to finish with counterweights
for balance. Gears were all machine cut for close tolerance and
quiet operation.

Igniters were of the hammer type with replaceable alchemium
alloy points. It was operated from the side shaft.

Valve linkage on the 5, 7 and 9 HP consisted of a flat steel
lever along side of the engines and pivoted to the correct
proportion to give the valve action required. The igniter and fuel
pump were also actuated for the lever.

As previously mentioned the valve cage was on the side of the
cylinder head with the mechanical exhaust valve in the lower part
and the automatic intake valve in the top. The igniter was located
in the intake section of the valve cage and the combustion
space.

The carburetor or mixing valve is a special Alamo design with a
fuel pump to supply the valve at a constant level and with an
overflow back to the main tank. A needle valve in the bottom of the
inner chamber permits the correct amount of fuel to be taken in and
mixed with air for the correct mixture through the spray plug as it
enters the combustion chamber. Air intake is by a warm air pipe in
the engine base. There are no working parts in the carburetor.
Special mixing valves were supplied for using distillate or natural
gas fuel.

Massey-Harris Model ’25’ tractor owned by Otto Daudert,
La Valle, Wisconsin purchased new in 1937.

The fly ball governor on the standard engines was of the hit and
miss type. Throttling governors were supplied for electric
generator service and other applications requiring close speed
control, and could be supplied on all ratings.

The 3 and 6 HP vertical engines carried the trade name of
‘Victor Engines’. They were single cylinder with the upper
crankcase and cylinder cast in one piece. The cam for valve push
rod and fuel pump were mounted on one side just above the
crankshaft on these four cycle engines. The igniter push rod was
separate and the fuel pump supplied the mixing valve, which was
located on the side of the cylinder head, with fuel.

These Alamo vertical engines could be supplied with a pan
atmospheric cooling system, or an expansion water tank above the
engine. Standard units were shipped on extended skids, with battery
box and vertical cooling tank, with thermo siphon system, complete
with piping and a cast iron muffler.

Specifications of the Alamo Victor engines were as follows:

Victor engines were made up with a hoisting drum for
contractors, with a capacity of 2000 lbs. The entire unit was
assembled on a cast-iron base and gear driven from the engine.
Other combination units such as cement mixer, well drills and
pumping units were offered with the vertical Victor engines.

The Alamo Westinghouse low voltage battery charging electric
lighting plants used the 3 HP Victor engine, belt driven to the
generator, with a switchboard and storage battery of 16 glass jars,
made up a 32 volt system.

The standard horizontal Alamo engines were also made up into
complete electric lighting systems, with both direct connected and
belted generators for higher voltage systems.

Combination pumping units with the engine gear driven to large
capacity horizontal double acting simplex pumps of a various
capacities were built. They offered a gear base deep well pumping
outfit having the engine geared to an extended shaft with the face
plate over the well, and arranged for different length deep well
cylinders.

Wood saw outfits using the 9 HP engines were assembled on the
steel wheeled trucks to be, horse drawn. These outfits used a jack
shaft with a heavy balance wheel for greater inertia on the heavy
duty rig.

Portable engines were built on steel wheel trucks in sizes of 9,
12, 15, 18, 20 and 25 HP. These units were equipped with the
atmospheric drip pan cooling system. The engine was mounted on the
steel frame of the truck for lower center of gravity, as they did
not use the heavy cast-iron base of the stationary type.
Specifications of the Alamo engines were as follows:

‘Wisconsin’ tractor built by The Wisconsin Farm Tractor
Company of Sauk City, Wisconsin on a rock crusher near Loganville,
Wisconsin around 1925.

Another conjecture comes to light by comparing three very
similar engines.

From Lindsay Bros. Co. of Minneapolis and their catalog of
November 1920, they offer ‘The Powerful’ Lindsay-Alamo
engine. These Lindsay engines have some of the outward appearance
of the Alamo, but built on a lighter weight design. As you can
compare from the specifications, the Lindsay is less than a third
of the weight of the Alamo.

It is apparent that Lindsay Bros, were a sales organization, as
no place in their catalog was any mention made of their
manufacturing facilities. The question is, how does the name Alamo
become connected with Lindsay Bros.?

Then there is a second similarity between the illustrations of
the working parts of the Lindsay-Alamo and the Dan Patch engines
sold by the M. W. Savage Factories, Inc. of Minneapolis, in their
1916 catalog.

Comparing the design of the Lindsay-Alamo and the Dan Patch,
they offered similar ratings up to 9 HP. Both were hopper-cooled
with cast-iron sub-base and the same type of governor and both
using the Webster Tri-Polar magneto on a one piece bracket with the
igniter. In each of their catalogs they show an illustration of the
piston, connecting rod, crankshaft, flywheels, connecting rod,
governor lever, igniter and side rod, rocker arm and valves, and
almost identical. The one exception, Dan Patch illustration did not
show a plunger type fuel pump. Even the descriptive nomenclature on
the pictures are the same.

Possibly our readers can piece the history of these three
engines together and come up with the answer of who was the
manufacturer.

Valveless Engine

The Great Western Engine Has No Valves

Take the Valves and their connections out of other gasoline
engines and what have you left? Nothing but a few simple durable
parts same as the Great Western Engine has.

It starts without a crank and runs like a clock. Power
corresponding to the amount of load is applied at every turn of the
shaft. No dead or idle stroke. No waste of fuel.

One and one-half to four horse power sizes made Frost Proof or
furnished with water tank as ordered. Larger sizes cooled with two
gallons of water for each horse power. Furnished with or without
trucks.

It s a simple, up-to-date, powerful and economical engine.
It’s the farmers’ and shop owners’ cheapest and most
faithful helper.

Write for large free Engine Catalog No. 5121,

SMITH MF8. CO., 158 Harrlton St., CHICAGO

Ad on the Valveless Engine from 1908 ‘The Farmers
Voice’, a semimonthly journal.

This is my McCormick Deering WD-40 on the Baker Fan at Cooks
town, Ontario. This tractor was built in 1935, No. 740 and is one
of the first two WD-40’s to enter Canada. The first one was put
on display at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto and this
is the other one. Sold by Chas. Ireland, International Dealer,
Woodbridge, Ontario to Mr. Edgerton Kitchener of Clairville,
Ontario. Tractor was originally on steel with vertical injectors.
Modernized on rubber and 45° injectors in early 1940s.

Picture shows my wife, Shirley, sitting on the WD-40.

The Lindsay-Alamo engines were horizontal, single cylinder,
hopper-cooled, four cycle, open crankcase and with flyball
governor. They were built in ratings of 1? to 15 HP with a small ?
HP air-cooled engine of a different design, known as the
HAFA-HORS.

The smaller rated unit of 1? HP was built with the cylinder and
base cast in one piece. The water hopper was bolted to the top of
the cylinder on the 1? HP. A cast support for the overhanging
cylinder was used on these small sizes.

The flywheel governor had two weights pivoted on a steel ring
with two contacting fingers engaging the beveled sliding governor
sleeve on the crankshaft. The governor lever was actuated by the
movement of this sleeve to make the hit and miss system function.
The governoring method was used on the units rated from 1? to 6 HP
and a fly ball governor was used on the larger rated machines.

A slide rod motion from the cam on the timing gear operates the
plunger type fuel pump, the igniter and mechanical exhaust valve.
The contact on the rocker arm provides the adjustment for the valve
opening. The intake valve is automatic.

The igniter is the conventional hammer type. A Webster Tri-Polar
magneto, mounted on one piece bracket with oscillating magneto,
could be supplied.

The larger engines were built with a separate cast-iron sub-base
with a fuel tank contained inside the base. On the 3? HP and larger
units, the cylinders were cast separately and bolted to the
crankcase by parallel flanges along the side of the cylinder. The
larger rated engines appearance resembled the Alamo engines. The
portable units were very similar.

The specifications of the Lindsay-Alamo gasoline engines are as
follows:

On the side of the water hopper is a a decal in an oval with the
words ‘Lindsay’ in the top and under this name was the word
Alamo. Some models had a decal of a large circle with the words
‘Powerful Lindsay’. The engine shown in the catalog was
painted a dark brick red with striping on the spokes of the
flywheels.

They offered portable units on hand trucks for the small
engines, and horse-drawn steel trucks for the larger sizes.

A drag saw outfit with a 2? HP engine was built with engine
mounted on a pair of timbers and belt driven to a jack shaft with a
reduction gear to the pitman arm and Disston saw blade. The engine
was equipped with a friction clutch pulley. A two wheel truck was
provided with steel wheels to transport this Alco drag saw. The
weight was 700 pounds.

Wood saw outfits were shown in their catalog with a 6? HP engine
equipped with a friction clutch, belt driven to a heavy balance
wheel on the tilting table arbor.

The little HAFA-HORS air-cooled engine sold by Lindsay Bros,
could be used to turn a butter churn, washing machine and to pump
water. This little engine was a single cylinder engine mounted on a
cast-iron box that served as a base and fuel tank, as well as a
place to mount a ratchet type foot starter. The engine had a bore
and stroke of two inches and the governor was of the hit and miss
type. The decal was oblong in shape and was half black and half red
with a picture of a horse that was cut in two parts. Half of the
picture of the horse was white on a red background and the other
half was black on the same color background. On the picture of the
horse were the figures ?. Below the picture was the word
HAFA-HORS.

Beside the pump jacks and accessories sold by this company,
there were agents for the sale of the Edwards Kerosene Motors. It
was a very unusual design of a two cylinder, horizontal, water
hopper cooled, totally enclosed, four cycle engine. The bore and
stroke was 3′ by 5′, that could be operated as either a one
cylinder or two cylinder engine. All that was necessary to operate
with one cylinder was to close off the fuel on the cylinder that
was not to be in operation. To operate as a single cylinder, it
could be run on one cylinder for a while and then alternate and use
the other one. With one cylinder operating at 600 rpm, the engine
would deliver 1? HP. At 1200 rpm and both cylinders in use, it
would develop 6 HP.

Having a closed crankcase, the flywheel is located in the center
of the engine, with a connecting rod bearing set at 180°, one on
each side of the flywheel and no center bearing. On the left side
of the crankshaft is located the fly ball governor, speed
regulator, timing gears and cams to operate the push rods. A most
unique feature–both valves are operated with a single push rod.
This feature is exclusive on the Edwards engine and is really one
of the most ingenious arrangements for valve action ever used.
Separate carburetors and igniters were used, one for each
cylinder.

Another advanced idea was found on this engine. It was the
magneto of the alternating current type, which was comparable to a
modern alternator on cars. Drip feed glass lubricators supplied oil
to the cylinders and the mains, and connecting and enclosed
appurtenances were splash lubricated. The Edwards engines were
built at Springfield, Ohio.

From the Broken Kettle Book service, a fine old catalog has been
received on The New Era Gas and Gasoline Engine, manufactured at
Dayton, Ohio about 1900. A large plant consisting of machine shop,
assembling building, engineering building, warehouse and office
building covered a whole block at the corner of Second and Dale
Avenue.

In this catalog of New Era Iron Works, they claim to have built
the largest single cylinder gasoline engine at that time. It was
125 HP horizontal, closed cylinder, four cycle machine.

These engines were erected on a large cast-iron base which
included the main crankshaft bearing shells set on angle towards
the cylinder, and the long parallel flanges on which the cylinder
was bolted. All of the New Era engines were extremely heavy for
their rated capacity.

Cylinders had a unique construction of a solid head cast on to
enclose the combustion chamber. Water jacket continued the entire
length of the cylinder and was open at the cylinder head. A second
cylinder head or closing plate was bolted over the cast-on head
with ample water passage to completely jacket the end of the
cylinder, making it look like a cylinder head on a steam
engine.

My Titan and 8-16 I. H. C. That’s Carl Rismiller and Scott
Murphy, with a big smile.

15-30 Model F Rumely owned by Don Calhoun, Beeton, Ontario,
Canada.

Another exclusive feature of the cylinder design was an exhaust
port on the side and at the forward end. This port is uncovered by
the piston when it reaches the outward end of the stroke. The
exhaust pipe from the exhaust valve outlet is connected with the
exhaust port, making it effective in scavaging the cylinder of all
burned gases. The mechanical exhaust valve is opened by a rocker
arm under the cylinder, and is operated from a cam on the side
shaft. The exhaust and intake valves are mounted on both sides of
the cylinder in valve, cages.

Spiral gears on the crankshaft next to the main bearing turn the
side shaft, which in turn operates the fly ball governor, the fuel
pump and the igniter. The igniter is located in the out end of
intake fitting on the side of the cylinder. A horseshoe shaped flat
steel spring bolted to the bottom of the intake valve cage, lays on
a cam to trigger the igniter. The ignition system is a wet cell
battery type and the igniter is a hammer modification.

The fly ball governor is gear driven by a bevel gear on the side
shaft and the fuel pump is driven by a cam. This pump sprays the
gasoline into the air intake chamber of the intake valve cage.

Lubrication is by drip oilers and grease cups, and this catalog
did not show a safety cover over the crankshaft, which is used to
prevent oil being thrown off the connecting rod bearing. Connecting
rods are of the closed box journal type with take up adjustments
similar to those used on steam engines.

Specifications of the New Era Iron Works engines are as
follows:

In addition to gasoline engines New Era Iron Works built piston
pattern power pumps. The horizontal pumps were very simple in
design and they were both single and double acting.

Heavy duty friction clutch pulleys were manufactured under their
patent in sizes from 20 inches in diameter and larger.

Another catalog from Roger Kriebel gives the details of the
Chapman Engine Works of Marcellus, Michigan. This company
manufactured the Economizer Engines. They were small horizontal,
single cylinder, four cycle, closed water jacket, open crankcase
engines with the valves in the head. The word ‘Economizer’
was painted along side of the cast-iron base.

The cast-iron sub-base on which the crankcase was bolted,
contained the fuel tank. The crankcase had the main bearing shells
cast in place and were inclined towards the cylinder to take care
of the forward thrust. The cylinder was fastened to the crankcase
by flanges along each side. The cylinder head contained a
mechanical exhaust valve and an automatic intake valve and was not
water cooled.

Governor was a weight and fulcrum on the inside of the flywheel
to a plate around the crankshaft that acts on the governor lock. A
tension spring on the side of the engine permitted the speed to be
changed while the engine was running. A timing lever advances and
retards the spark for safety in cranking. A battery ignition system
was used with the igniter placed in the side of the cylinder.

The carburetor or mixing valve is very simple with a needle
valve and air shutter for the proper mixture of fuel. These engines
were painted a rich green and the flywheels a live red. The surface
of the flywheels were painted aluminum.

Specifications of the Chapman Economizer engines were as
follows:

40-80 Minneapolis owned by Sherwood Humes of Milton, Ontario
shown belted to a sawmill at Cooks town, Ontario. Sherwood keeps
this fine tractor active at a good number of shows throughout the
summer months.

An improvement was made on the change speed lever doing away
with the flat spring type on the earlier engines. Standard
equipment supplied, included a cooling tank and fittings, batteries
and coil, cast-iron muffler, oil cups and wrenches.

28-50 Hart-Parr owned by Don Calhoun of Beeton, Ontario.
Previously operated a sawmill near Grimsby, Ontario and a rock
crusher for North Grimsby Township, Ontario.

My 1922, 10-20 Titan at Cooks town, Ontario. This tractor was
purchased by Mr. Arnold Frair of Picton, Ontario where it worked at
threshing and running a small sawmill until the early 1950s. I
bought it from Mr. Frair in 1964 and it has been shown at
Steam-Era, Milton almost every year since.

My 12-24 Hart-Parr ready to start journey home from Thorn bury
on back of my old 1952 Chev. 1 ton truck, in spring of 1971. I am
standing by truck and six year old son, Timothy, is sitting by
tractor front wheel. I hope to have restoration complete by summer
of 1972.

My Atlas engine and the only one I have seen. I would like to
hear from other Atlas owners and would like to know some history on
it.

Threshing scene taken approximately 1? miles north of Beeton,
Ontario in 1885-1890. Steam engine is a George White portable and
separator is also a George White. Men on left and right on stack
are my Great Uncles, Robert and John Hoover.