1615 San Francisco St., San Antonio, Texas 78201
Well sir, GEM has completed its first three years; it has got
something that makes it a very interesting magazine for us
‘internal-combustion do-it-our-selfers’. The following
paragraphs refer to some of the writings in the Nov.-Dec. 1968
GEM.
John Bontreger states only part of my bewilderment, referring to
the DOMESTIC. In 1967 GEM: my sentence continues with ‘at the
point where the cylinder-oiler is usually placed’. I felt it
was a ‘home made’ attachment and doubted if it would work
connected where the oiler was, on the top of the cylinder, and with
the oiler missing. I still don’t know if Mr. Moore’s
hook-up is ‘home-made’ or factory-built. I fully understand
the function and benefits of the Auxiliary-Exhaust, and know that
they were placed; either side, at the bottom, as well as on top of
the cylinder; as was done on the early HART PARR tractor and some
other engines. Roger Kriebel, Mainland, Pa., assisted me by his
letter, stating that the fan and the shrouds over the fan and
around the cylinder, was missing. I noted that GADE air-cooled
engines didn’t use a fan, or a shroud, claiming those parts
were not needed because their engines had the built-in
Auxiliary-Exhaust.
In connection with the Paul B. Curtis letter, is regarding the
THERMOIL engines, all I can find is that the ‘light-weight’
THERMOILS, using the ECONOMY gas-engine frames, were built as
THERMOILS, in sizes 1?; 2?; 5; and 7 hp. only and which were not
rugged enough to stand it. Later the heavily-constructed THERMOILS
were offered, but only in the 6 and 8 hp. model ‘U’ and in
the 7 and 9 model ‘UA’.
Paul states the THERMOIL is actually a ful-Diesel. Well, not
quite all of that, although it is a cold-starting oil-engine; so,
look up my story in the Jan.-Feb. 1969 GEM, under heading, CRABB
vs. ‘CRAFF’, in the paragraph about the DAVENPORT
oil-engine, where I briefly mentioned a couple of the differences
between the DIESEL and the HVID, or BRONS, cycles. There are other
differences, too.
Paul, on regarding ECONOMY hit & miss engines, prior to
1916, HERCULES was building hit & miss gasoline-engines, and
also a few hit & miss, (more or less make-shift)
kerosene-engines. Sept. 1916, HERCULES announced their new
throttling-governor, kerosene-engine, with Webster M & B
ignition. Then, probably in the 30’s (don’t know, just
guessing), HERCULES produced the model ‘JI’ for gasoline in
two sizes, 1? – 2 hp.; and 2? – 3? hp., and, the model ‘JK’
for kerosene in the same two sizes. They had downdraft carburetion,
throttling-governor, were ‘EK’ Wico equipped, governed at
775 rpm. They looked similar to the CUSH– MAN CUB, horizontal,
hopper-cooled, with two disk-flywheels. On top of page 25, in
May-June 1966 GEM, is a pic-of the smaller size kerosene-engine,
sold either as ECONOMY, or HERCULES, but built by HERCULES.
Pictured here is a Gibraltar Gas Engine owned by ‘Rumely Oil
Pull Bill’ Krumweide of Voltiare, N. Dak. and that name is all
there is on this engine. It looks like it never had a name plate.
Does any one have one like it or know who manufactured it?
It looks like it is a one H. P. engine, has ignitor and battery
coil ignition on a hit & miss system, the carburetor is on the
left side. Could this be an orphan being that we never heard of
another one like it?
Paul Curtis, whether or not the flywheels are the correct ones
for your boyhood days 5 hp. ECONOMY, it could be there is too much
balance-weight in the flywheels rim. You could experiment, if you
ever get such a ‘jumping’ engine, by making some
‘U’ shaped strap-irons out of 3/8 x 2 inch, or heavier
steel, with the tips hammered together just enough so the
‘U’ irons can be driven in place snugly with a hammer, away
from the center of the flywheel, then wrap them with a couple
rounds of friction-tape to keep them from shifting. Depending on
the size of the engine, etc., you can probably use about four such
‘U’ irons in each flywheel, placed 180 degrees away from
the engines balance-weight. If this experiment greatly improves the
steady-ness of the engine, then you can cut a-way some material
from the heavy-side of the flywheels; or attach neater permanent
weights to the lighter-side.
Houston L. Herndon, I congratulate you on your nice amount of
equipment, and the ‘great southern’ shows you have been
putting on. I’m especially interested in your big 32 hp.,
throttling-governor, FM oil-engine, type ‘N’, as shown on
page 36. You ought to have a fan and belt her to it! I was born
1903 in Beloit, Wis., which city nestles the great big F-M engine
factory, situated along the east-side of the Rock River. Dad worked
there a few years, and also bought a couple of F-M engines prior to
1913, for use on his Wisconsin farms. My uncle Henry, Dad’s
brother, worked in the F-M engine testing dept., as I last remember
him. Then, in Oct. 1915, we as a family moved across the U.S. to an
irrigated vegetable-farm north of Mercedes, Texas, where Dad got a
12-hour shift as engineer in an ice-plant, which had a 60 hp.,
4-stroke, l-cyl.,,De La Vergne semi- Diesel on the Frick compressor
and a 12 hp. throttling-governor, Krueger-Atlas Oil engine for
lights and electric-power. Another place Dad engineered, was at a
vegetable cooling plant. Power there was a F-M 15 hp, type
‘N’ throttling governor oil-engine, which ran both, the
refrigeration compressor, and a new warehouse corn-sheller. I used
to hand a-round the two mentioned plants now and then, since I
loved to be around those heavy-duty engines. I was about 13. Dad
never did tell me a thing about starting & running those
engines, because he figured it wasn’t my place to try a hand on
any equipment there. Just to be around once in a while ought to be
enough, he thought. The book-keeper, and the manager, both knew me
quite well, and knew I was around at times with Dad. One day it
looked like a sure-enough rain was coming up, and soon. Dad was in
town on some errand. The engine was shut down, since no
refrigeration was needed that day. But, the corn-dump had a couple
loads of snapped-corn in it, which was outside, below ground level.
To my astonishment, the manager came out to me, asked me if I could
start the engines so as to get the corn inside and in the bin
before the rain, but not shell it. I said I’ll try it! I I had
at previous times, observed Dad start the engine; so I had a pretty
good idea what to do. I got her started right off on gasoline, soon
switched her onto kerosene, and then a little later, turned on the
water-feed, ‘as I’d seen Dad do!’ Well, for this light
load, no water was needed; the engine kept right on running, just
the exhaust reports were varying from louder to lighter, with a few
light ‘pops’ in between. The whole trouble was from me
feeding water that was not needed, which caused the engine to
‘hunt’. I got the corn in and shut her down, before it
rained. When Dad came back, the manager came right out and told Dad
that I was a ‘real engineer’ and that I saved the corn from
the rain! By the look on his face, I could tell that Dad was really
surprised that I could start the engine. Dad also was
shift-engineer in the town electric light-plant. But here he
wouldn’t let me browse around, as I did in the other plants.
How I wished I could, because there were two F-M oil-engines in
there, both using the flat-belt drives, off the special-electric
flywheels. One was a 32 hp. throttling governor, type ‘N’
oil-engine; the other was a 2-cylinder, vertical 50 hp. type
‘RE’oil-engine, with 360 degree cranks, giving a
power-impulse every turn of the flywheel. Several times I’d
stand by the large open door, in front of the slatted barricade,
and look & look, wishing I could get inside to see what was on
the other side!
A trailer load of engines belonging to Paul and Dorothy Smith,
Ontario, N.Y. shown at the 1968 Reunion of the Pioneer Gas Engine
Association at Fairville, N.Y. At the front is a Briggs and
Stratton Model ZZ 6 H.P., next is a Coldwell Cub, next is a Briggs
and Stratton Model S, and the last one is a Continental ? H.P.
An Empire garden Tractor belonging to Harold Brown, Seneca
Castle, N.Y., made in Windsor, Ontario, with a 6 H.P. Briggs and
Stratton Model 14 engine. The tractor is Model X-1 with worm drive
gear box. This tractor was in excellent shape when Mr. Brown got it
This tractor was at the 1968 Reunion of The Pioneer Gas Engine
Association at Fairville, N.Y.
Well, Mr. Herndon, I guess you won t mind if I alter the date on
your 10 hp. type’M’ MCCORMICK-DEERING kerosene-engine, No.
DW 216, shown on page 36 in the Nov.-Dec. 1968 GEM. I think it
might help some of our readers, both young and old, who are always
looking,seriously, for the facts. According to the S/n DW 216, the
Mc-D 10 hp. is WICO equipped. Well, I.H.C. started using WICO
magneto ign. as follows: l-? type ‘M’, 1924; 3 hp. type
‘M’ 1925; and the 10 hp. type ‘M’, 1927. The first
WICO equipped 10 hp. engines built in 1927 were S/n DW 157 to DW
671. So your engine was an early one in that batch! And how I’d
love to see all your engines and equipment!
This is an 18-36 Hart-Paar, serial number 26907 recently
purchased by Bob Hughes of Bloomington, Indiana. We took this
picture right before we took it off the truck. During the last
month Bob and his family have spent many long hours restoring his
tractor to mint condition. As of this writing, the restoration is
nearly complete.
This tractor when purchased was literally in pieces and had been
so for 13 years. Bob has done one of the finest jobs of restoring
an old tractor that I have seen. If all goes well. Bob will be
exhibiting this tractor at Rushville this summer.
Can any of the readers of the Gas Engine Magazine give us a clue
to the age of this tractor?
This Cooper Bessemer 2 cycle engine was snapped at the Jim
Whitbey farm. I believe it was used in a flour mill. 50 Hp.
CM. Knudson, You’ll recall me writing you I was happy to
‘dig’ a little in an effort to identify your engine, but
since I was pressed for time, I probably couldn’t do as good
job as I would like with what material I had. So, what little
guesswork I had sent you, in advance, you will likely see again in
the Jan.-Feb. 1969 GEM, on one of my paragraphs
underthestory-title.CRABBvs. ‘CRAFF’. Soon after I had sent
you my first mail on your engine, unpurposely, I got to paging
through my material as I was gathering it together to put it all
away in good order. I ran across the TERMAAT & MONAHAN CO.s
design of their decal, which at once struck me as about the same
design on your engine cooling-hopper! It could very well be your
engine is a T & M Co. product, made in Osh-kosh, Wis. I am
sending a reprint of the advertisement along with this story, which
I hope will be published with this story. The reprint does not show
the large engine you have, but I believe the decal does shed some
light on who built your engine. I now feel your engine is a TERMAAT
& MONAHAN, (T & M). I hope I’ll run across some T &
M Co. literature some day that will verify this ‘feeling’.
In some ads for 1911, they were only built up to 6 hp. Now, this
1912 ad (my reprint) states that their engines are built up to 10
hp. According to the figures you sent me, your engine would be
about a 7 – 7? hp. Your engine is later than 1912, because that
Webster Mag. of the type shown in your photo was not available in
1912. It could be your engine was built in 1912 with battery or
dynamo ignition; and the T & M Co., in later years, supplied
the shown Webster attachment to the owner at that time for his
engine for which the Webster was designed to fit. It sold as an
attachment and priced accordingly, probably in the years 1915-16 to
begin with. Best wishes for the NEW YEAR. 1969; diminishing war;
increasing PEACE!
FOOS — 11 HP, Hit & Miss Governing, Idles against full
compression. Restored and owned by Houston L. Herndon. Will be
running at the Florida American Royal Gas and Steam Engine Round
Up. February 8th and 9th 1969.
If You’re Not having a little fun every clay, you’re
missing something.’
Here is my Alamo Blue Line, 8 Hp. engine being lowered onto the
trucks by Horace Taber. This engine set up pretty bad. Four men on
bars through spokes and torch inside hopper, needed to break her
loose.
Here is Horace doing a little more welding on trucks. Alamo 8
Hp., still unrestored.
The 8 Hp. Alamo Blue Line, unpainted, but raring to go-doing her
stuff on the fan.
West Timonium Road Timonium, Baltimore Co., Md. 21093
Picture taken at the Ford Museum by Denis. It is an air-cooled
gas engine introduced by Bisshop about 1870 – it was double acting;
the gas explosion working on the upstroke and atmospheric pressure
on the down stroke. Made by Andrew & Company, Ltd. England.
End view of Model of Mr. Edison’s brick machine shop in Ford
Museum.
Another family leaves the north and retires in the sun in
Florida along with the rest of the tired and retired. This time it
was the New Holland Family of Lancaster County, Penn. Including 5
HP S/n 7261. 4 HP S/n 1667, 2 HP S/n 7441, 1? HP S/n 445, ? HP S/n
8124. This group of engines were assembled and restored by Irvin
and Phares Hoffman, Manheim, Penn. Striping by John Kaufman, Mt.
Joy, Penn. Engines owned by Col. Houston L. Herndon, Sarasota, Fla.
Will be running at the Florida American Royal Gas and Steam
Round-UP, Feb. 8th and 9th, 1969.
A picture of the Star I am working on – a 3 inch scale. I never
realized they were so scarce.
Shown is a picture of Frank Tybush, Troy, N.Y. RD 1, Box 78.
This engine was beautifully restored and running at the Pioneer Gas
Engine Association 1968 Reunion. Frank thinks it is about 7 H.P. He
found it as a lawn ornament in a farmer’s dooryard and it was
in very rough shape. He would appreciate hearing from anyone who
could tell him the make or anything else about it.
