Dayton Daily News & Radio’s ‘Joe’s
Journal’
It was early spring, not even the dandelions had popped up
through the cool, moist ground as we drove up the long lane, past
the two lovely white houses cozily situated at the far end. The
sprawling fields bore evidence of winter plowing here and there,
but planting was still a few weeks away.
In one field there would be strawberries, in another tomatoes,
yet another, watermelons, cantaloupes and Hallowe’en pumpkins
growing between rows of Silver Chief sweet corn. The only visible
crop above the ground were the eighty-some apple trees, planted
years ago–and these hadn’t even begun to bud. It was a cool,
overcast day– the lull between the end of winter and the spring
planting which soon would be coming up–a mighty fine time to
finish painting a couple of prize gas engines for the mid west gas
round-ups this summer.
‘What a beautiful engine,’ I said, spotting the big 1894
Springfield, occupying the center of the workshop floor where John
Stoltz and his father, Earl, had just finished some
touching-up.
‘Bet you can’t guess the horsepower of that engine,’
said John, figuring that the size and weight, as well as the
30-inch diameter fly-wheels would cause me to miscalculate–which
they did.
‘Let’s see–it looks like it might be a six-horse
engine,’ I replied. ‘How much is it?’
‘It’s a two-horse,’ explained John, noting the
surprise on my face.
‘I can hardly believe it’s only a two-horse,’ I
retorted. ‘But, when it comes to these old low-compression gas
engines, a horsepower really meant something.’
‘It has a five-inch bore and six-inch stroke,’ added
Stoltz. ‘But it turns over at only 275 rpm.’
The beautiful old Springfield Engine had been bought new from
the Springfield, Ohio, factory and was used to power an entire
machine shop in Urbana, Ohio, till 1908, when it was replaced by a
larger engine. Francis McCaffery bought it, but never used
it-having stored it until John Stoltz discovered and purchased it
in 1969.
‘That old engine had set in an old barn for sixty-one
years–just a block off the main street of Urbana,’ mused
Stoltz. ‘But nothing was stuck in it– absolutely nothing. And
we had it three years before we began restoring it.’
‘We honed out the cylinder by hand. At first it was
out-of-round by about thirty-thousandths, but when we finished it
was only five-thousandths,’ went on John. ‘Then we had the
piston enlarged by spraying it with bronze and turning it down to a
snug fit.’
‘We also made a new wrist-pin, an ignitor rod, a fuel-valve
rod and an injector-pump rod,’ added Stoltz. ‘Then I made a
muffler for it from scrap.’
Sitting alongside the big Springfield, and bearing evidence of
fresh red paint and aluminum trim, was a one-and-a-half horsepower
Chore Boy Engine with air-cooling fan situated to the side of the
cylinder. The newly-made runners and ignition box bore evidence of
just having been made and varnished to reveal the natural wood
grains.
‘What beautiful restoration, in both engine and
mounting,’ I exclaimed.
To which replied John Stoltz, ‘Yes–we’ve just finished
it. This old Chore Boy bears evidence of being manufactured around
in the early teens.’
‘The runners are made from red elm, and the battery box from
a coffee nut tree–both grown on our place,’ added the senior
Stoltz, Earl. ‘We had the boards sawed out over at the Robbins
Sawmill, west of Troy, Ohio. (An earlier Spark Plug story in G. E.
M.)
John and Earl Stoltz had just painted this 1? HP Chore Boy, with
air-cooling fan. Runners made from red elm, battery box from coffee
nut tree on Stoltz farm. The 2? HP Mogul in rear was their first
engine.
Spark Plug John Stoltz kept making apologies for the
‘untidiness’ of his shop–the only thing being out of place
was a single newspaper underneath the engine he and his father had
been painting. And before I could snap a picture, even that was
whisked out of sight, leaving everything spic ‘n span and quite
in order.
The well-appointed shop boasted almost every kind of wrench and
tool that a gas engine collector could want–and all in their
proper places. (How I wish the top of my desk could be half as
orderly.) Overhead were neatly lined dozens and dozens of old-time
parts–spark coils, ignitors, magnetoes and everything else in
between. Even an ancient Mousetrap Carburetor, the like of which
I’d never seen before. On a lower shelf were all kinds of
gaskets and cans of ‘goo’, while succeeding shelves further
down boasted all sizes and shapes of saws, carpenters’ squares,
wrecking bars, hammers, chisels, planes as well as socket sets,
monkey wrenches, pipe wrenches and box wrenches–ad infinitum,
world without end.
Spark Plug John Stoltz and his father. Earl, get the big
Springfield Gas Engine ready for the summer shows. It’s a real
beauty with lots of plumbing attached, but only 2-horsepower at 275
r.p.m. That’s no disappointment, as the old-time,
low-compression gas engines really could give a mighty tug on the
old belt, regardless of ratings. (John made the muffler. Engine
once ran a full shop). Back in the corner can be seen their first
engine, a 2? HP Mogul which runs the overhead line-shaft which came
out of the historic Mac-O-Chee Castle workshops, near West Liberty,
Ohio. Also note the old Coca Cola clock regulator.
The south side of the Stoltz shop looked even homier with the
old-time Coca Cola regulator clock at the far end of the bench
lathe, while down in the corner was a two-and-a-half horsepower
Mogul Engine belted to a very ancient power-shaft overhead.
‘That old Mogul was the very first engine Dad had,’
explained John. ‘After he got that, then we really began
collecting engines one by one. And the shaft overhead came out of
the old workshops at the historic Mac-O-Chee Castle near West
Liberty, Ohio.’
There were other old gas engines that Spark Plug John Stoltz and
his father showed me, as we toured their sprawling barns on both
sides of their farm lane. There was a three-horse Wonder of 1913
vintage, and a ten-horse International Type M, built in 1920. And
there was a one-horse Mogul (about 1915), a four-horse Mogul (of
1914), which John started just for the fun of hearing, and a
two-cylinder, eight-horsepower Cushman of the early teens which
uses a vibrator coil. Then there was the one-horse Perkins with
vertical side-shaft to actuate the mechanism, sitting back in the
corner which utilizes an unusual gravity-feed and inverted-cone
type fuel mixer.
Of the big four-horse Mogul, says John, ‘Only the wrist-pin
and rings needed replacing–no other parts. We honed the cylinder a
little and I made the muffler. That’s all.’ (And it does
run beautifully.)
It was a pleasure watching John start the big four-horse
Mogul–opening the pressure-valve and rocking the big flywheels
just enough to make ‘er take off.
In another part of the barn John Stoltz pointed out a whole
array of antique gas engines sitting here and there, along the
walls, from corner to corner. Engines of all vintages from before
the turn of the century to into the thirties, such as Associated,
International, Foos, Hercules, Field, Stickney, Simplicity Vertical
(with the very low serial No. of 126), Bauroth Brothers
(Spring-field 1890 and the oldest they have), United, Aermotor
(with the galvanized hopper), Economy, Tom Thumb, Fairbanks, Novo,
Delco, a hopper-cooled Famous and a Junior Engine made by I. H.
C–all rating from one to nine horsepower and all points
between.
John and Earl Stoltz look over 3 HP Wonder (1913 vintage) and
big 10 HP International Type M (made in 1920).
John and Earl Stoltz start 4 HP Mogul, built 1914. John made the
muffler. Back of John is a 1 HP Mogul, about 1915, and to far right
is an 8 HP Cushman 2-cylinder, built in the early teens.
In another barn was a 1904 six-horsepower Famous Horizontal
which had been buried under tar paper and boards only ten feet from
Lake Loramie for years, and, as John says, ‘I put gas in it and
it started right off.’
Sitting together was a two-and-a-half Associated, a twelve-horse
Associated, and a little brother Associated of six-horsepower, as
well as a three-horse Badger, a two-horse Fairbanks Type-H that
runs on kerosene, a four-and-a-half horse Olds, and still there
were more, too numerous to mention.
Of the several old-time tractors that Spark Plug John Stoltz and
his father Earl have around, there is the 22-40 cross-motor Case of
1920 vintage, a 12-25 Huber light-four cross motor from 1918, a
Huber Model B, a 1934 English Ford and a Farmall F-20.
It was well past dinner time at the Stoltz Fruit and Vegetable
Farm, north of New Carlisle, Ohio, when I wound up taking pictures
and notes. Apologizing profusely for interrupting their noontime
repast, the wife and I shook hands (or paws) with the
solemn-visaged and very dignified ‘Mike’–a typical Ohio
farm pooch collie with classy Lassie proportions–and then we waved
off. To the smaller house at the rear strode John–to dinner with
his wife, Patty, while the Senior Stoltz cut a straight swath to
Stella’s sideboard in the imposing front residence, leaving me
to mentally review my notes along the highway toward home. (Will I
ever get the Stoltz gas engines straightened out from my
scribbling?)
But by the time you read this story about a certain Spark Plug,
John Stoltz, and his father, Earl, the strawberries will no doubt
all have been picked, the corn all in tassel, the blossom will be
on the tomato plant, and the melon and pumpkin vines reaching out
all over the patch. And John and Earl will be lugging their gas
engines off to this ‘n that show, while waiting on the apples
in the orchard to grow. Then by the time they lug their engines
back home again, there’ll be apples to squeeze for cider, you
know.
However, hopping from workshop to strawberry patch to gasoline
alley thence back to the orchard in the valley is not the vicious
circle for the Stoltzes that life sometimes poses for the rest of
us mortals. For somehow the restoring of old gas engines and the
raising of fine vegetables and fruit to near perfection does have
its therapeutic and psychological reward. Though man cannot live by
bread alone, or for that matter just eating provender from the
Stoltz land, there is that extra spark of life one gets from seeing
the Stoltz engines as a sort of sideline dish between strawberry
short-cake and apple cider.
For all this, and for preserving our American farm heritage, we
offer you, John Stoltz–and Earl, too–an honored seat in our
vaunted Hall of Spark Plug Fame.
The Stoltz workshop is well-stocked with old-time gas engine
parts. John looks over old magnetos on top shelf. Earl fondles an
antique, and rare Mousetrap carburetor. Tools all hang orderly.
