While folks are getting ready everywhere to take vacations, we
are trying to get the Sept.-Oct. issue out. Do you realize what
that means?? September the end of summer, the beginning of school
and civic activities and October leaves on the ground, Halloween
Christmas thoughts oh it’s too hot to think of all these
tilings right now and I have a lot of letters so I’ll get on
with the column.
A question from WALTER A. TAUBENECK, 4213 80th St., N. E.,
Marysville, Washington 98270, comes to us this issue. ‘Someone
in a G.E.M. article mentioned using cycehexlene to free stuck
pistons. I have yet to find anyone who can tell me what it is and
where can you buy it?’ (He wishes us to please ask our
readers.)
VINCENT CLAFLIN, Box 366 of Phoenix, Oregon 97535, relates:
‘I have 8 old water box engines that I have picked up and
restored. A couple of these came from the gold mines here in
Southern Oregon and Northern California. The rest were on ranches
here.’ I’m not sure what he means, but I’m sure you
fellows understand what he is talking about and perhaps you would
like to get in touch with him if you share the same interest.
HELP! HELP! from D. H. ‘PHIL’ KING, Maple Street,
Granville, Massachusetts 01034. He writes: ‘I have an engine I
could use a little help on and maybe Mr. Krueger would break loose
with a little info if you put it in your column. The engine is a 5
hp. tank cooled SN 419 (stamped on head). It looks like a Model N,
but I now believe it is a Fairbanks-Morse Charter thanks to the
series ‘How Your Hobby Started’. This engine has a plate
with 4 patent dates listed which are all charter patents. I would
like to get some history and if possible the year on this ‘Old
One’. Its picture was in G.E.M. Vol. 4 No. 2.
‘Next: In the Dec. 1969 C..E.M. there was a nice piece on
The Rawleigh Company. I just bought an 8 hp. Schryers by Raleigh
Schryer Company. It was used for a buzz saw. It is complete and in
nice shape. The man I bought it from said he had been offered more
for junk, but would rather it had a good home. I wish more people
were like him.’
LOWELL CARLSON, Route 5, Maquoketa, Iowa 52060, sends this
script for your perusal. ‘I would like to take this opportunity
to thank your magazine for publishing some of the material I have
sent to your office. And, by way of readership, to congratulate you
for filling a void. Though there are several reputable journals
that publish agrarian history, neither makes a regular effort to
publish articles on agricultural mechanization.
‘The International Secretarial for Research on the History
of Agricultural Implements, published both in English and German,
is at present one of the few organizations in the world collecting
and publishing information on the history of implements used in
cultivation and other agricultural processes. Their journal would
be most interesting to serious students of farm implements and I
wish you would pass this information on to the readership. The
complete address is as follows: International Secretariat for
Research on the History of Agricultural Implements, G.E.C. Gad,
Vemmelshaftet 32, 1161 Copenhagen K. Denmark.
‘The magazine, A Journal on the History of the Implements of
Cultivation and other Agricultural Processes is available for $3.00
per year in LI. S. currency.
‘Thank you for this favor for I know that we stand agreed on
the fact that saving much of this information or making it public
can only help in the effort to make people aware of our rural
background — something that today is only a memory for many
Americans.’
Several questions to be answered comes to us in the form of a
letter from GEORGE BURGIN, Kirkton, Ontario, Canada. ‘I am
writing this letter in search of assistance on these three items.
1. Does anyone know where 1 can inquire the year of manufacture of
a 6 hp. Witte No. 25562?
2. I have two Gray hit and miss engines. Each has a different
push rod and governor control system. (a) 21?’ flywheel
diameter, engine No. 529 — hp. — 2?on brass plate on front. No
name cast on hopper. What year was it built? (b) 26?’ flywheel
diameter by 2?’ wide piston 4?’ diameter x 6′ stroke
approx. No identification plate but has name cast on water hopper.
What year was this engine built? What hp. might this be?
3. Added to these questions, I would like to correspond with
someone who has a Wade Drag Saw. This one I have might be
considered a basket case with the wood parts completely rotted or
non-existent. Concerning this piece of equipment, I would like to
know the color, years produced and a diagram or photo of the wooden
construction.
This communication comes from WENDELL STICKLE, Blandinsville,
Illinois 61420, and he pens: ‘Last winter 1 found and bought a
gas engine and to date have not found anybody that knows anything
about the company or the engine. Have had it to several engine
shows this summer. It is an upright, air-cooled four cycle,
automatic intake valve, 3? inch bore, cast iron cylinder sleeve
with 13 brass fins on it. Aluminum crankcase and brass connection
rod. Two flywheels in crankcase with crank-pin between them. The
only lettering or figures on engine is Wippern Motor Company,
Chicago, Illinois — cast in one side of crankcase. Could it be out
of an old automobile? Help, please!’
In July-August issue of 1970 there was a story entitled ‘A
Stubborn Shadow’ the title was a mistake as the correct title
is ‘A Stubborn Sandow’ but it was to have been written by
Arthur DeKalb, 1223 Westover Drive, Danville, Virginia 24541. We
have since received a letter from Arthur telling us it is not his
and that the author is probably not happy about this — Arthur has
received a letter with reference to the article. This being true,
it must be a mistake on my part — I don’t know how, but
I’m ready for my punishment I’ll probably have to scrub the
office with a toothbrush or twenty lashes at the typewriter. We
just hope we can find the person who wrote the article and
we’ll put in the correction the next time. Please forgive!
That about winds things up until next issue — we are leaving
for the shore tomorrow — another family and ours will share a
cottage together — 4 adults and 7 children. (That’s a
vacation?) Well — it is a change of pace and will be enjoyed by
all. And for me, to sit and look at the ocean renews my spirit ….
which, believe me, I need. And remember one always needs a
vacation, even if it’s only to recover from the exhaustion of
packing for it.
