371 West 400 North, American Fork, Utah 84003
The engine is restored and running like a clock. When I first
got it the engine had been sitting outside for 40 years. The hopper
was cracked on the side and bottom. The head was cracked and pushed
open, but with the help of fellow club members in the Utah Antique
Machinery Club, Tony Rohbock and Lyle Parker, the head and hopper
were welded and saved. I spent many hours in its restoration. Every
part was saved and made workable. The clippers and arms are from
another engine, and the mandril is from yet another old sheep
shearing engine.
The fellow shearing the sheep in the picture is Boyd (Pink)
Holmstead. He is the man I bought the engine from. He is 85 years
old and still shears a few head of sheep. He was just a young man
when he went to Salt Lake City, Utah with his father and bought the
engine. It was purchased from the Sun Beam Company in 1925. They
had two engines they strapped to each side of a Model T Ford, and
went around Utah sheering sheep. Some of the areas they sheared in
were Huntsville, Modesa (west of Utah Lake), the Knoles, Land Rock
and Alpine, Utah. Pink Holmstead later had 18 men working for him
when they changed to electric clippers. After I got the engine
restored, I went to Lehi where Pink lives and brought him over and
took his picture with the engine. He smiled when he saw the engine
run and said, ‘If I thought you would get this old girl running
I would have given it to you.’ The engine was originally green
and it is a hit and miss.
