Behind every engine lies the potential of a unique and
interesting story. The challenge lies in our ability to discover
and substantiate an engine’s history. This particular engine is
unique in that it’s believed to have been in our family since
new, and as such its story certainly warrants documenting for the
enjoyment of other old engine collectors.
About 35 years ago this engine, after a long term of service,
sawed its last log and was put in a storage garage. Everyone in my
wife’s family knew the old engine was in the storage garage,
but none of them had any real interest in it.
Fast-forward to the late 1990s when I married the current
owner’s daughter – and also happened to catch rusty engine
fever.
I pulled the Waterloo Boy out of storage and carefully brought
it into our shop so I could get it running. I say carefully because
it sat on two sets of very rotten and cracked wood, allowing the
engine to actually lean to one side. I was concerned the engine
would fall over from the vibration and torque once it was running.
I did get it running – that was in 1998 and then it sat while 1
fixed up some other engines, a couple of old garden tractors and a
large two-cylinder John Deere tractor.
The winter of 2001-2002 seemed like a good time to complete the
project. The engine was moved to a more appropriate shop of ours
with the equipment to handle a heavyweight such as this. One of the
reasons it sat for three years was getting some reasonably priced
hardwood for the skids.
In the fall of 2001 while participating in the Hanford Mills
Engine Jamboree, I had a conversation with the mill foreman about
making some skids for this engine. After giving him the dimensions
of what I needed he told me it was no problem and quoted a
reasonable price. He also told me he had some seasoned ash logs
waiting to be put to use.
Close up shot of the Witry mixer on Bob Naske’s Waterloo
Boy. When running, fuel is drawn from the horizontal supply line to
the left of the vertical air intake pipe. Four small orifices in
the supply pipe bleed fuel into the intake air stream.
Hanford Mills Museum is a 150-year-old working sawmill, wood
shop, grist mill and museum. The sawmill and wood-working equipment
is powered from a large waterwheel through flat belts and line
shafts to each machine. A walk through the main building presents
an amazing array of line shafts, flat pulleys and belts. There is
also a museum on the premises that shows the history of the village
and the mill. It exhibits many artifacts from its many years of
existence. One of the pages of the company ledger from about 1910
shows the sale of a Badger engine to a local resident, and the
museum also owns several engines. One is in the house that belonged
to the Hanford family – the original founders of the mill that ran
it into the 1940s. For anyone interested in this type of history
and wanting to see some of the old ways of wood working, it is
certainly worth visiting. It is located in the northwestern
Catskill Mountains of New York in the village of East Meredith.
A visit to the mill in early January to pick up the six-foot
long skids set the cart restoration in progress. Getting the
high-wheeled cart back to safe operating condition was the primary
concern since I had had the engine running previously. One of the
wheels was bent, but our hydraulic press with a 40-inch opening
easily took care of that. The steering platters needed
straightening, and of course all the rotten wood was removed. The
new ash skids were supported and leveled on both axles with black
walnut given to me by a local engine friend. Such is the
camaraderie amongst many engine collectors – helping each other
out.
The lettering was done from a stencil I made on my computer, so
there is some modern technology associated with this restoration.
The gas tank was custom made to my specs, and one of Edgar
Shofestall’s fine oak battery boxes from Pennsylvania completed
the unit to make it self-contained, as it would have been when
new.
Work previously done on the engine to get it running included
freeing up the stuck exhaust valve and rings. The cylinder bore was
good, so lapping the valves, unsticking the rings and installing a
new head gasket brought the compression back to normal. The babbit
bearings only needed some maintenance. The igniter body was warped,
so I had a local machine shop mill it flat to keep it from blowing
out its gasket. The springs on the gear-driven governor needed
replacing, as they were all pulled very tight, causing the engine
to run too fast. I suppose when they were sawing wood they wanted
all the power and speed they could get!
Amazingly, the original starting crank and very old and working
Detroit low-tension coil with cloth-covered wire were still in a
small toolbox that managed to stay with the engine all these years.
There is a well-worn leather carrying strap on the toolbox that
proves it wasn’t made yesterday.
History
In 1998 I wrote to the John Deere Collectors Center in Moline,
III., seeking information on this engine. According to their
records this engine is a 4 to 5 HP built on Oct. 17, 1911.
Fortunately, the original brass ID tag was still attached so they
could research this particular engine. Some original gray paint is
still on the engine, along with traces of the original
‘shield’ or ‘crest’ type of decal on one side of
the hopper. Additionally, the original mixer assembly with its
unique cast iron primer cup is intact and operational.
For those readers who have never seen the insides of this style
of Witry mixer, there is a small, horizontal pipe with two sets
(four total) of very small holes in it projecting into the vertical
intake air supply pipe. Fuel is drawn out of the small holes by the
suction created by the fast moving intake air. A unique, right
angle check-valve holds the fuel in the line above the primer cup,
which is gravity fed with its own shut-off valve.
It’s amazing to think that this engine sat unattended and
forgotten for almost 35 years before being brought back to running
form once again.
The cart restoration and mechanical repairs that I have done are
all this engine should get. I found out from my father-in-law that
this engine has been in their family for three generations – four
if you count his daughter and the restorer – so it will be left an
original as possible. That this engine was bought new by our family
cannot be proven, but it is certainly possible. A family member
(now deceased) did some research on this engine back in the late
1970s. We have a postcard sent by him to the second-generation
owner after his visit to John Deere, briefly stating he got a lot
of information and good pictures. He also stated that according to
the pictures the cartwheels were part of the original portable
unit. Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate this
information.
Yes, it does show signs of a hard life. Some of the wood I
removed was charred from a fire, and two cracks in the block have
been repaired in the past. Since it also had a bent wheel we
wondered if the whole rig fell over at some point in time. The two
sets of skids it sat on brought it up quite high – probably to belt
it up to the saw table that was with the engine but not attached to
the same cart.
It is now a good running engine, safe to move around and we are
proud of its heritage. It won’t saw any more wood, but it
won’t be put away in a storage garage, either.
WATERLOO BOY NAMEPLATE
Waterloo Boy Gasoline Engine
No 37246 HP 4
Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co.
Waterloo Iowa
Patented
Aug 7 1900, Dec 3 1901, Oct 7 1902, Aug 6 1907
Sold by
Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co.
Waterloo Iowa
Contact engine enthusiast Bob Naske at: 2059 State Hwy. 29,
Johnstown, NY 12095.
