Our Fuller & Johnson Engine

By Alexandra Jensen Dane
Published on November 1, 1996
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Figure 1: Aerial view of our Adirondack Camp, sandwiched between our pond and Rainbow Lake.
Figure 1: Aerial view of our Adirondack Camp, sandwiched between our pond and Rainbow Lake.
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Figure 4: The exciting day when I demonstrated my veracity by explaining the operating principles and features of the little engine as well as starting it by myself!
Figure 4: The exciting day when I demonstrated my veracity by explaining the operating principles and features of the little engine as well as starting it by myself!
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Figure 2: Fuller & Johnson engine and the gear driven Gould pump as situated in the pump house beside the family pond.
Figure 2: Fuller & Johnson engine and the gear driven Gould pump as situated in the pump house beside the family pond.
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Figure 3: The water tower located some sixty feet above the family pond. This corrugated steel, sheet and hoop structure replaced the original reservoir constructed of wooden staves held together by tongue and groove joinery with metal banding.
Figure 3: The water tower located some sixty feet above the family pond. This corrugated steel, sheet and hoop structure replaced the original reservoir constructed of wooden staves held together by tongue and groove joinery with metal banding.

Submitted by Dr. Robert G. Diener, PE West Virginia University
Box 6257 ASA Morgantown, WV 26506-6257

Note: This engine was restored in our department at West
Virginia University last year and is now back at the Adirondack
Camp where it was first purchased new in 1917. It is planned to
restore the pump next and actually pump water into the old water
tower shown in the photos; perhaps that will be the next story.
Robert Diener

THE ADIRONDACK CAMPS

The Fuller & Johnson Model N, 3 HP engine featured in this
story is unique because it was purchased new in 1917 by my
grandfather, J. R. Leonard, and thus has always been in our family
and has always been located in the pump house at our Adirondack
Camp in upstate New York.

Adirondack camps were started in the late 1890s by New York City
‘captains’ of industry and finance who could afford to get
away from the heat and pollution and escape to the Adirondack
mountains in northeastern New York State. There, in rustic natural
beauty of the primordial forests and spectacular lake frontage, the
first camps were started. However, in order to achieve the degree
of isolation required, these camps were necessarily located at
remote, almost inaccessible locations. Frequently travel time from
New York City was measured in days, involving an overnight Pullman
sleeper ride up the Hudson River and then cross-country travel by
stagecoach, river steamer, and finally wagon, pack mule and horse
to reach the camp site. Some wealthier empire builders even
constructed their own short distance railroads to transport their
family and belongings. In some cases the family would remain in the
railroad lounge car while it was transferred to waterway transport
and back to rail again making the trip as luxurious and comfortable
as possible.

At first, camp life was relatively primitive, featuring tents,
canvas cots, lanterns, campfire cooking and what few servants the
families could manage to bring with them. The camps soon evolved
into more permanent facilities with cabins, main lodges, boat
houses and most important (for the purpose of this story) electric
lighting and running water all powered by hit and miss engine
rigs!

These engine/pump outfits were especially well suited for
pumping water from lakes, rivers, springs, wells or other sources
of supply where the pump could be placed within the suction limit
of the source of supply. They were used extensively for pumping
water into elevated tanks at country homes (or summer camps) or
railroad stations, for sprinkling roads and lawns, for irrigating
crops, and fire protection.

OUR ENGINE

Our camp was founded by my grandfather, J. R. Leonard, who
discovered this particular site while harvesting timber in this
region in the early 1900s. The camp is located on an esker or
hogback located between our pond and Rainbow Lake and is some sixty
feet above water level (Figure 1).

There was always a mystery about the strange contraption down in
the old pump house along the family pond. No one ever said much
about it, just that it was the ‘old pump.’ Actually, it was
a pump and an engine to power it. The family camp caretaker, Louie
Skiff, used to crank it up each morning, before everyone was awake,
and fill the hilltop water tank so that there would always be fresh
water when a faucet was turned on down at the camp buildings.

The sounds of the old engine, hitting and missing, echoing
across our pond and bouncing off the sides of the surrounding
mountains, must have seemed intrusive after a peaceful Adirondack
summer night.

Our particular engine left the factory at Madison, Wisconsin,
March 27, 1917, and was shipped to the Gould Manufacturing Company
in Seneca Falls, New York, where it was outfitted with a Gould
water pump. From Seneca Falls it was shipped, via train, to J. R.
Leonard at Loon Lake, New York, and taken by truck to the family
summer home near Rainbow Lake, New York. The history of our
particular engine/water pump combination, called an
‘outfit,’ Serial No. 57029, was traced by Verne Kindschi,
Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, the Fuller Johnson ‘guru.’ Our
engine/pump rig was then installed in an especially constructed
pump house (Figure 2) on the shore of the family pond, and used to
pump water to the buildings at our camp. The engine pumped water
from our pond to a water tower (Figure 3) located some sixty feet
above the pond. From this location water flowed by gravity to
supply the cabins and a main lodge at our camp.

This particular engine was 3 HP, weighed 525 lbs., had a 2
gallon gas tank, 22 inch flywheel diameter and achieved 475 rpm.
The engine itself was supplied with a gas tank in the base,
muffler, wrenches, crank, cylinder oiler, grease cups, accessories
and instructions. Equipment consisted of the regular stationary
gasoline engine, which was directly connected to the brass fitted,
double-acting pressure pump by means of machine cut gears. Both
engine and pump were mounted on a heavy cast iron bed plate. The
engine/pump rigs, as listed in the Fuller & Johnson Price List
#32 published April 21, 1919 (reprint supplied by Verne Kindschi),
sold for $255.00 featuring a 4 inch bore and 5 inch stroke
cylinder. The pump ran at 40 strokes per minute and could deliver
1200 gallons per hour to an elevation of 200 feet.

From 1917 until the mid-1920s Louie performed his early morning
magic with the water pump and engine. Interestingly, Louie did not
know how to read or write, so the Fuller &. Johnson instruction
book that originally came with the engine was useless to him.
It’s a mystery to this day how he learned the mechanics and
operation of the old engine, but he did and he did it well.

The distance from the water to the pump house was 52 feet, using
2 inch diameter pipe from the intake valve to the pump. The pipe
measured 225 feet from the pump house to the water tower on the
hill, using 1 inch pipe with a lift of about 60 feet to the top of
the water tower. The entire pipeline from our pond to the farthest
cabin measured 1,080 feet. It is estimated that the water tower
capacity was 1,200 gallons. It was remembered that about 600
gallons or half of the reservoir capacity had to be replaced daily
so that about one-half hour of operation each morning was required.
In fact an old handwritten note left behind by J. R. Leonard to be
given verbally to Louie (who apparently could not read or tell
time) states: ‘Start the engine using the procedure as per
instructions. If the engine will not start, let it rest while you
have one smoke. After the engine starts let it pump while you have
three smokes or until water can be seen coming out the top of the
tank.’

For many years after electricity came to the region, the engine
and pump remained silent, gathering dust and rust, replaced by
small pumps put into action by a flick of a switch.

A clue as to the possible value of the old engine came in 1984
when an old timer and Adirondack native offered to ‘take it off
our hands.” He said it was restorable and there were those
who took great pride in making them work again and would display
them in all their glory and sounds at special antique engine shows.
Somehow we couldn’t part with it. So, the engine remained for
ten more years.

In the summer of 1994 the old engine caught the eye of a family
guest, Dr. Robert Diener, a professor from West Virginia
University, who felt the engine would be a worth while restoration
at his Department of Agricultural and Environmental Technology.

So, together we devised a way to remove the seventy-eight year
old Fuller & Johnson engine, hopefully intact, from the old
pump house alongside our pond and transport it to West Virginia
University for restoration. Removing the engine from the pump house
was fairly easy. Louie had kept all parts well oiled and greased
many years ago and the pump house roof had protected the equipment.
In addition, penetrating oil was applied to the bolts holding the
engine in place on the steel bed plate in the weeks before its
anticipated removal.

On July 14 and 15, 1994 the engine was removed from the pump
house, pulled by hand winch to the top of the steep hill by Lou Van
Leewen, Robert Diener and Paul Van Cott, and loaded onto a pick-up
truck for the trip to West Virginia.

THE RESTORATION

After arriving at West Virginia University in Morgantown in July
1994, the engine was dismantled under the direction of Professor
Kendall Elliott. Great care had to be taken not to break or damage
any parts. The engine was essentially still in original condition
with paint and decals!’

Students in the Department of Agricultural and Environmental
Technology assisted me and Professors Elliott and Diener in the
restoration.

A complete listing of all parts was made during disassembly.
Another list of missing parts was also needed. Parts were cleaned
and inspected. Various screw heads, adjusting bolts and stop nuts
were repaired or replaced. The valve rocker arm which was broken
was repaired by welding, and heat treated in an oven to normalize
it.

From August through December 1994, the engine was disassembled,
cleaned and inspected by students assigned to it. The order of
disassembly was as follows: flywheel/crankshaft, valve, pushrod and
rocker arm, cylinder head, piston and connecting rod, engine block,
engine base, gasoline tank.

When it came time to rebuild the engine, missing parts had to be
refurbished and replaced. The cylinder head and the magneto were
sent to Preston Foster in Warren, Ohio, for rebuilding, including
fabrication of a new exhaust valve.

Screws, springs and a new brass fuel line were purchased
locally. A new brass cover for the magneto, a new oiler for the
cylinder head and three grease cups were also ordered from Lee
Pedersen in Lynbrook, New York. Total estimated time for
disassembly, cleaning, inspection and repair was 200 hours.

The reassembly of the engine began in January of 1995. Once all
parts were in place, the engine timing had to be set and
adjustments made. Even though the original starting instructions
were available, a new starting procedure was developed to suit the
personality of the old engine. The adjustments continued until the
engine finally started in the spring of 1995. Total estimated time
for reassembly was 120 hours.

Cost of the engine restoration (excluding labor) and
refurbishing was: repairs to the head and magneto $108.33; new
oiler and magneto band $47.00; new brass fuel lines, couplings, and
connectors $27.00; gasket materials, $14.00; and instruction books,
catalogs, price lists, decals, etc. $50.00, for a total of
$246.33.

As a final touch, two new Fuller & Johnson decals, supplied
by Verne Kind schi, were applied to the sides of the engine cooling
hopper. It is interesting to note that the old original decals were
still in fairly readable condition.

THE FUTURE

After the restoration was completed, my final task was to time
the engine (with the able assistance of Professor Elliott), and to
demonstrate my proficiency in understanding the operation of the
engine and to be able to successfully start it by myself (Figure
4). I was thrilled to be able to accomplish this in early December
1995 and successfully complete my course requirements for
Agricultural and Environmental Technology 230 at West Virginia
University. The J. R. Leonard Fuller & Johnson engine is now
ready to go back to the family summer home in the Adirondacks where
it will be lovingly cared for, oiled and greased just as though
Louie was still there. And, on special occasions, it will be
started, so once more the sounds of the old engine can echo across
our pond and over the mountains in the distance.

The old engine has already seen four generations of our family.
The first of the fifth generation is now two years old. The future
will be in his hands some day. It’s our wish that he will care
for that old engine as much as we who cared enough to bring it back
to life.

Perhaps on the way home from West Virginia we’ll stop at one
of those antique engine shows, to show our little engine and to
visit with others who share this fascination with old hit and miss
gas engines from a time long ago.

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