Jesse Walrath’s patents and designs lay a solid foundation for our 75hp Marinette engine, but let’s look at some more of the history surrounding its sale and manufacture.
Catalog Details
I have been very fortunate to use this original 48-page catalog, owned by Justin Jenkins, who also mechanically restored the engine. It presents a very remarkable story. Although it is not dated, I would assume it to be about 1910. Let’s see some of its contents.
The catalog is in remarkably good condition and very comprehensive. Note that the Marinette name is retained until purchased by Foos, and the Walrath connection is proudly advertised. It starts with a very detailed introduction to the engine and gives some history. The illustrations are superb.
Early in the catalog, we are greeted with a little 4hp Marinette. Yep, just like the big ones with all the same features. Cute, but looks expensive! The catalog tells us that the single-cylinder engines were built from 4 to 40hp. The twin-cylinder engines were built from 8 to 80hp, and the triple-cylinder engines from 50 to 250hp. Other references suggest a 2hp as well as a 300hp built.
The entire catalog is well-designed with excellent illustrations, and contains additional tables concerning pulley speeds, fuel consumption, and other useful information. It has 48 pages!
CPM Marinette
Our Marinette engine has a very unique history. Let’s wind up our time travel by just going back 50+ years. I was just beginning to collect and had visited John Wilcox at Trail Run. I was impressed with his 40hp Bruce McBeth twin-cylinder vertical as I had never seen anything like it before. John said he knew where there was another large three-cylinder engine, but it was in bad shape.
I was off to Freeport, PA, as another adventure unfolds. Wow, yep, the engine was a large three-cylinder Marinette located in a big mill. What do we know about the engine’s history? Although the mill had closed, the elderly miller lived next door and told me some of its story.
I was told that the engine was originally installed in the Schenley Hotel in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. The hotel used it to generate electricity. This was common in Pittsburgh. With the advent of commercial electricity, they no longer needed the Marinette. After some time, they removed the engine from the hotel and relocated it to Valley Mills, in Freeport, PA. The mill had a water turbine, but the millers wanted an engine backup during low water times.
The original mill burned down during the Civil War, but the Mickey family bought the site in 1871 and built the current mill. It operated until 1965 under three different families.
Most commonly, it is known as Valley Mills or Mickey’s Mills. It specialized in grinding winter wheat and buckwheat. The building is still intact and preserved by the Freeport Area Historical Society.
The engine had been added on with a crude building. The Historical Society wanted the mill restored to waterpower, so that engine had to go, which was fortunate for me.
So, I had just found a very large engine, much bigger than anything I had ever moved. I had just acquired the “tilt bed,” a tandem 1956 S model International with a big winch. So how to proceed?
The engine house had been removed from its original spot to help facilitate the move. Soon, it was on my truck and on its way to the Coolspring Power Museum. My dad, Earle Harvey, and a friend, C. A. (Al) Burcher, helped on the move. It went well.
I certainly want to acknowledge Francis H. “Dutch” Laube (1949-2017) who helped make it possible for the Marinette to go to CPM. He was CEO of Freeport Brick and very community-oriented. He led the effort of saving of the mill and graciously made our engine available.
Tranter MFG Co.
It has been a good trip, but let’s just sidestep a bit to visit an old company in Pittsburgh. Tranter most likely played an important role in saving our engine. I’ll explain, as we are looking through some of their nice old shops. We are at 105 Fort Pitt Blvd. at the edge of downtown Pittsburgh. They called it Water Street back then. Tranter was established in 1836 and incorporated in 1891, surviving into the 1970s. Originally, it was building all sorts of heavy equipment, catering to the mining industry. As time passed, Tranter became a reseller more than a maker. They would acquire used equipment, tune it up a bit and resell it. Probably this is what saved our engine!
Back in Coolspring, our engine has a Tranter nameplate just below the original Marinette plate. Although there is no documentation of it, one could easily surmise that Tranter acquired the engine from the hotel, saving it from scrap and reselling it to Valley Mills in Freeport, PA. This seems to be their business practice at that time.
Turner-Fricke connection
In about 1900, we find that the ambitious George Turner was named as the Pittsburgh area sales representative for the Marinette engine. He did a marvelous job saturating the area with these engines. He soon partnered with Henry C. Fricke (pronounced Frick−E) to form the Keystone Engine Co. in 1901 to install the Marinette engine in various locations. This was extremely successful.
Probably their most ambitious and successful effort was electrifying the Diamond Market Square of downtown Pittsburgh. This actually became the forerunner of the present Duquesne Light Co.
The Diamond Market Square plant went online in 1903. It contained 10 three-cylinder, 85hp Marinette engines directly connected to generators.
However, Turner and Fricke were not satisfied with this accomplishment and created the Turner-Fricke Manufacturing Co. to produce vertical gas engines. Amazing that they wanted to create their own engine despite the Marinette’s success!
Their engine was successful but very different from the Marinette. Considering the graceful lines of the Marinette, the TF was much more massive. It was built for hard work. It was a “T” head design, which had the valves in the block, as opposed to the overhead valve design of the Marinette. Examples of each are operational at CPM.
Freeport and the mill
So where did our Marinette spend its working career? To answer that question, we have to travel back to the 1790s and see what was happening along the Allegheny River near the mouth of Buffalo Creek. Wow! A town was forming! Going way back to the 1760s, we find David Todd and his brother William acquiring a large portion of riverfront property here. They sold 27 lots for $24.00 each there. However, they had the stipulation that all the riverfront was free to all sorts of vessels. No charge could be made for docking, unloading, or loading. Originally known as Todd’s Town, the name changed to Freeport in 1833.
Freeport was an ideal place for a mill with Buffalo Creek joining the Allegheny River and Pittsburgh close by. Excellent access to good markets.
The first mill built on the site was in 1816, and a mill has been there ever since. The present mill dates to 1871 and was named the “Freeport Flouring Mill.” In 1881, the Freeport Journal notes that the mill was renovated with a new boiler and steam engine. The dam on Buffalo Creek was updated and the water wheel was replaced with two turbines. In 1883, the name was officially changed to Valley Mills.
In 1898, Elmer Mickey and his family moved to Freeport and purchased the mill. From that day on, most people called it Mickey’s Mill. While maintaining the water turbines, Elmer purchased a large gas engine. He also installed a small engine and mill for little jobs.
In 1942, Mirl Mickey took over, and they were producing 500 barrels a day of the best flour in the valley. Mirl finally closed the mill in 1965 due to failing health. Obviously, our Marinette engine had a busy life!
The later one-story addition that housed the large gas engine, the Marinette, was attached to the mill where the window is absent. It was torn away by 1971 when I removed the engine. The engine has a large, direct-connected clutch pulley that extended into the main part of the mill to operate the extensive maze of shafts, pulleys, and belts.
The small engine and its mill were located on the main floor of the building, handy to grind a couple bags of grain. It was an International Harvester 4hp hopper-cooled Mogul engine. The old miller really loved that engine, and it probably kept the mill open a few more years.
Our engine
We have just returned from a marvelous time travel trip and have learned so much about the Marinette engine. Let’s return to Coolspring to look at our engine!
The engine is a three-cylinder vertical of 10-1/4 inch bore and 14-inch stroke. Its serial number is 386, and it’s rated 75hp. The vertical governor controlled the main mixer, adjusting the amount of gas and air each cylinder got. The secondary mixing chambers allowed each cylinder to be fine-tuned. The wooden platform and stairs were original to the engine. Note the holes in the flywheel (shown top left) used to insert a bar to position the engine for starting. The actual starting was then done by compressed air.
When acquired, the engine was really worn out. It had a hard life. The heads were beyond repair, but there were new patterns stored in the mill.
I brought them home back in 1971 as a curiosity. In retrospect, they might have been made by Tranter, knowing how bad the heads were. However, when Justin restored the engine, he used the patterns. He felt they were the best he ever used.
Epilogue
Let’s let our time travel take us back to the present. It has been a great voyage. The Marinette is back to where I unloaded it in 1971. But it is different and runs so well. Why? Justin
Jenkins took it back to his shop and did a total rebuild. So many parts, including the heads, had to be remade. With his magic, it lives so well again. A long and successful story.
Off Set Crankshaft
Perhaps you noticed in Jesse Walrath’s sixth engine patent from part 1, the crankshaft appears offset to the cylinder center line. This is a very common practice on large vertical engines.
Hmm! Wonder why?
This illustration best explains the reason. This practice has been used on much machinery that needs more force on the working stroke, and less on the return. Many machine tools are designed with this practice in mind. Jesse Walrath took advantage of an old and successful principle.
Read The Marinette Story, Part 1 for more on this unique engine!
Dr. Paul Harvey is the founder of Coolspring Power Museum and a regular contributor to Gas Engine Magazine. Email him at engdoc8@gmail.com
Coolspring Power Museum is located in Coolspring, Pennsylvania, and was founded in 1985. The museum collection includes hundreds of stationary engines housed in more than 35 buildings and outdoor displays. Their mission is to collect, preserve, and interpret historically significant and mechanically interesting early stationary internal combustion engines for the education and enjoyment of everyone. To learn more, visit The Coolspring Power Museum website.
