1615 San Francisco St. San Antonio, Texas 78201
Robert Helstedt’s engine, on bottom of page 5, has an
auxiliary-hopper attached, made of heavy sheet-steel, thus
permitting more water to the cooling capacity of the engine, so one
doesn’t have to replenish the water supply so often during long
runs; as you know the water is slowly boiling away while the engine
is working. Lots of these INTERNATIONAL LA and LB engines probably
were ordered equipped with this hopper extension on both the 1? to
2? hp., and the 3 to 5 hp. sizes, as an extra item. Likely, many of
these engines, in captivity now, may have had these
extension-hoppers, but they were found rusted thru, and were then
removed and discarded, bringing the engine back to a
standard-hoppered unit. It appears Helstedt’s engine is a 1? to
2? hp. size. This size was sometimes used to run belt-driven
INTERNATIONAL Milk-Coolers where electricity wasn’t readily
available, or to run the milking-machine vacuum-pumps. Those
Milk-Cooler engines had auxiliary-hoppers 3 times as tall as the
one shown on page 5. It is true in dairy-work, that the hot water
from the hopper was used in cleaning up the utensils couple times a
day. For Milk-Cooler power, the 1? to 2? hp. size was fitted with
single-groove V-pulleys, 13 or 15 inches diameter, also over-size
fuel-tanks, in addition to the extra tall auxiliary-hopper.
Extension-hoppers were also used on their potato-digger engines, 3
to 5 hp. size only, but not so tall. The 3 to 5 hp. engines were
also supplied on the No. 15 IHC hay-press, these engines being
equipped with such extras as radiator-cooling, with enclosed
flywheel-fan; with a gravity-feed fuel-tank; an oil-bath
air-cleaner; and a spark-arrester. That engine would also make a
good continuous-duty portable-engine, since IHC also built 2-wheel
hand-trucks, as extras, for both sizes. Radiator-cooling was only
for the large-size engine. A natural-gas attachment was available,
as was a kerosene attachment. A special flywheel, 14 5/8 inches
diameter, with two grooves for V-belt drive, could be had as an
extra, for the smaller size engine. The 3 to 5 hp. engine has a 17
1/8 inch flywheel. The cylinder-size for the two engines, is: 3 1/8
x 3?; and, 4 x 4 1/8 inches, respectively. A variable-speed
governor with easy hand control-lever, gives crankshaft speeds of
600 to 1000 rpm.; while the pulley-shaft speeds will be 300 to 500
rpm. They were a nice light-weight engine, but IHC doesn’t
build them anymore.
The engine on page 6 is a NELSON BROS.-built engine, could be
the 1? hp. size, or the 2 hp. size. The serial No. should be on the
face of the pulley-side flywheel, on top of the balance-weight,
with the balance-weight turned up and the crank-pin pointing
down.
Robert L. George owned by Rolland Maxwell of Huntington,
Indiana. 7 Hp. Hercules owned by Rudy Miller of Huntington,
Indiana. Ellis Champion hand-feed thresher also owned by Mr.
Maxwell. The ‘south end’ view of the gentleman is that of
Mr. Maxwell. The puddle of water seen in the foreground is the
result of two days and nights of heavy rain ‘enjoyed’ as an
added attraction at the 1968 ‘Old Time Thresher Show. (Photo by
Ernest Hoffer.)
The above picture shows an engine of such a length it reminds me
of the ‘Dachshund’! It is an ELI alright, and operates on
the 2-stroke-cycle principle; and using a cross-head (that’s
why it is so long). On the power-stroke, the conn.-rod-end of the
piston compresses the fuel-air mixture into the air-box to about 5
lbs. per sq. in., so this mixture can slip into the cylinder while
the exhaust-gases are escaping. It has a fly-wheel-mounted
throttling-gov., with a round, ported, throttle-valve in the lower
end of the inlet-port. The 2 and 3 hp. sizes were hopper-cooled; 4,
6, 8 & 10 hp. sizes were tank-cooled, according to the 1909
literature. Sizes 4 thru 10 hp. came equipped with friction clutch
pulleys; the 2 and 3 hp. sizes could have clutch-pulleys as an
extra. Like a few other engines, the ELI has an offset cylinder,
the center-line of the cylinder is higher than the center-line of
the crankshaft, to cut down on the angle of the conn.-rod on the
power-stroke. You can check for cylinder offset on any engine by
stopping the crank-pin in a straight up position and noting the
space between the conn.-rod and end of the cylinder-bore; then,
stopping the crank-pin in a straight down Position, again noting
how close the conn.-rod comes to touching the end of the
cylinder-bore. On the ELI, the conn.-rod will come much nearer
touching with crank in the down position than with the crank in the
up position. The inventer of the ELI started experimenting with
4-cycle engines. In 1895, he figured the 4-cycle type to be too
heavy and sluggish; so he began trying to build an engine without
all those 4-cycle troubles. To do this, he figured he would have to
turn his attention to the 2-cycle engine, lie decided the
crank-case-compression method would not do. So he up and builds a
cross-head, piston-rod, and air-box type. In 1902, he moved to
Moline, Ill., and brought out a design on the order like Wilbur
Jolley’s,on page 13. This design was used till 1908, with no
change, except changing the ignition from make & break to
jump-spark. In 1908, the ELI line was redesigned a little and a few
improvements made. Wilbur Jolley’s engine may have been built
in 1907, or earlier, since his doesn’t have the air-box jacket
all around the cylinder in the area between the water-jacket and
the cross-head bore. If his had the air-box extended clear around
the cylinder, the outer appearance would be a continued uniform
straight form, from the cylinder-head to where the cross-head slide
joins the cylinder. The piece of ELI literature 1 have states:
‘The result of 14 years development of a NEW IDEA in Gas-Engine
construction’. It was manufactured by the MOLINE PUMP CO.,
Moline, Ill. And, General Agents were: JOHN DEERE PLOW CO., Dallas,
Texas. A very rare engine, I’d say!
The Grist Mill from Sarasota-Bradenton was in action at Zolfo
Springs, Florida Show – turning out some excellent corn meal.
Antique cars are displayed in the background. Photo by Denis.
A real beauty at the Zolfo Springs Florida Show was the little
working model 4-cycle gas engine made by Ross Bacon who has retired
from Towanda, Pennsylvania to St. Petersburg, Florida. It ran all
day without missing a stroke. Photo by Denis.
I sure do appreciate GEM publishing the fine pictures of the FOX
TRACTOR, those the courtesy of Berton Blazek, found on pages 14 and
15. I have no FOX literature and I would especially like to see the
details of its horizontal double-twin engine.
