Kentucky 40391
In the five years that I have been interested in Antique gas
Engines, and have been reading the G.E.M., I have not noticed any
mention or pictures of one Hagan Gas Engine. Inasmuch as the Hagan
is the favorite of my collection and was manufactured in the town I
live in, and because of the unusual carburetor that distinguishes
the Hagan from any other Gas Engine that I know of, prompts me to
pass on to the readers of G.E.M. some information and pictures of
this old relic.
The Hagan was manufactured here in Winchester. Ky., by the Hagan
family first about 1898 by L. T. and C. Hagan, two brothers, and
later under the name of The Hagan Gas Engine and Manufacturing
Company until about the time of World War I. I don’t know just
how accurate my history on the Company is (dales and such) and so
until and if I have better information on this, I will dwell on the
mechanics of the engine itself.
Except for the carburetor the engine was of usual design for the
times. Make and break ignition, not hit or miss but firing on every
compression stroke of the piston, Fire furnished for starting by
battery and to run by mag. and spark coil. The intake and exhaust
valve were activated by a rocker arm horizontal to and under the
center of the cylinder. The rocker arm shaft was activated and
timed by a cam and cam shaft turned by a gear drive off the crank
shaft.
Traction Engine from fourteen to fifty horsepower.
My efforts to recreate an old Hagan Gas Tractor.
The carburetor is something else. The pictures enclosed will
help you lo visualize a cast iron carburetor body roughly
cylindrical in shape, 4 in. in dia. outside, 5 in. long, one end
bored and threaded for a 1? in. pipe nipple to thread into the side
of the cylinder head. The opposite end of the carb. body had a
bolted on cast iron cap, center drilled and fitted with a sleeve
bearing to carry the carb. shaft, which on the outside has a fly
weight governor and pulley wheel driven by belt from the crank
shaft. The inner parts of the carburetor are made of brass (ports,
etc.) a part of which turn with the carb. shaft, along with the
aforementioned Governor assembly, the speed of which determines the
size of the air intake ports of the carburetor to control the speed
of the engine. Now attached to this assembly is a small brass
pulley wheel which is shaped to take an endless length of chain, 24
in. or so. Now as the carb. shaft turns, the chain turns and drops
down through an 1 x 3 in. opening in the bottom side of the main
body of the carb. There is a cast iron cover for the chain with an
opening at the top to fit the opening at the bottom of the
carburetor, with no other opening except a small threaded hole at
the bottom to accommodate a pipe from the gas tank. The gas tank is
so arranged to maintain a quantity of gas in the bottom of the
cover over the chain, so when the chain turns through the gasoline
enough is carried up into the works of the carb. to make a
combustible mixture. When the piston reaches intake stroke and
draws air over the gasoline saturated parts of the carb., this
mixture is in turn drawn into the cylinder head for compression —
fire — power — exhaust.
If this brief, rough description whits your interest but
doesn’t satisfy it, drop by and look me up some time and we
will crank up the devilish thing and you can figure it out for
yourself.
The Hagan Company also made a few gas traction engines. If there
are any in existence yet, I know not where, but I do have a picture
of one from an old Hagan catalogue. With one of Hagan engines as a
start and the picture as a guide, I am in the process of making a
replica of the Hagan Gas Traction Engine about
1/2 size. Note picture enclosed and a copy of
the original for comparison. I intend to finish, complete with
canopy.
I obtained wheels off manure spreader 40′ dia. x 7 in. face,
ringgear or bull gear off a grass seed stripper, front wheels off
an old farm wagon. The front axle and chain steering are homemade.
The frame, cooling systems and friction wheel drive off crank shaft
are also homemade. I hope to have this in operation this coming
summer.
Poem found in Hagan catalogue.
She Delights, with Blower Cutter To fill Silo’s to the top,
And the Boys must ‘get a move on’ Rush the Corn or Let Her
Stop.
Cutting sorghum, shredding stover, Cutting Eighty or more
shocks, With the HAGAN 6 Horse Power Hitched to 10 L. Blizzard
Box
She will turn that Dreaded grind-stone When there’s heavy
work to do Let the small boy ‘go a fishing’ — He needs
Rest, I think, don’t you?
Cuts the stove-wood without grumbling, Pumps the water every
morn, And would, if she could, split kindling, Rush the cook, and
blow the horn
Does your SHELLING, CRUSHING, GRINDING, DOUBLING VALUE OF YOUR
FEED; Can you fail to ‘see your finish’ If you pass so
great a need?
See your SMILE — but can you wait, sir For an ENGINE, till that
day When Carnegie’s done with Books, sir And is GIVING THESE
AWAY?
She was BUILT in old Kentucky, Where the meadow grass is blue,
So her PEDIGREE is perfect And her RUNNING RECORD true.
She has BATTERY for starting, Sparking DYNAMO for run, And CHAIN
FEED – all best equipments; Yes, she has them, every one.
Note her MODEL and CONSTRUCTION, See the OIL CUPS scattered
o’er, Such large Bearings – BRASS AND BABBITT WILL LAST TWENTY
YEARS or more.
Has no TRAPS nor TRIGGER FIXINGS To IMPEDE or to BESET, She is
simply ‘cleared for action,’ And will ACT, ‘don’t
you forget.’
On her CYLINDER no PACKING And no TRAP WORK that it hurts, Take
your wrench and look her through, sir, She was BUILT for
INEXPERTS.
So her REP. ‘gets busy quick,’ and ‘Keep right on
till work is done,’ Is the card to WIN THE BUYERS, And it wins
them ‘one by one.’
Machine Department.
Plant of the Hagan Gas Engine Manufacturing Company.
Erecting Department.
Four, Six and Nine Horsepower Engine. Section Through Carburetor
and Governor.
Governor and Interior Parts of Carburetor, showing the chain
that feeds the gasoline, etc.
Governor and Interior Parts of Carburetor, showing the chain
that feeds the gasoline, etc.
Credit for pictures goes to Sally and Paul Weber of Winchester,
Kentucky, for making the photographic copies from old Hagan
literature.
TESTIMONIALS
Richmond, Ky., Aug. 15, 1904 The Hagan Gas Engine & Mfg.
Co. Winchester, Ky.
Gentlemen — I purchased from D. B. Shackelford & Co. one of
your 10 horsepower engines and one Deering Corn Shredder last Fall.
The farmers were paying 15 cents per barrel to have their corn
shucked, and could not get it done at that. I bought this outfit
and husked 200 acres of corn and put it in crib, husked the corn
and put the shredded fodder in barn for 7 cents per barrel. Why
don’t you farmers wake up and get modern labor and money saving
machines like the Hagan engine? The engine is a marvel, and no
fanner can I realize how much he has lost heretofore until he gets
a good gasoline engine. I would rather be without my team of mules
than my engine. I am well posted on the subject of gas engines, and
of all my experience the Hagan has them all beat in every way, and
the few of the particular ways are: First, reliability; second,
small consumption of gasoline; third, more power than they claim;
fourth, will run in cold weather as well as warm, which is the time
when you want to do your work. I have seen some engines that you
have trouble in cold weather to get them started, and I could name
one hundred more such desirable features combined in the Hagan
Engine. Now, wake up, farmers, and get the moss off your backs, and
get rid of the old ideas that your great grandfathers handed down,
and buy a Hagan engine so that you can cut your feed when the
weather is good, and sit by the fire all winter, and lay up money
in the bank, and have fatter cattle than your neighbor. Yours
truly, Joe S. Boggs Ridgedale, Tenn., June 15,1904 The Hagan Gas
Engine & Mfg. Co. Winchester, Ky.
Dear Sirs — Yours, of sometime since, received. In reply will
say that I have had your engine two years and it has given me
entire satisfaction. You are at liberty to say any good thing for
your engine that you please. The only charge is that you send me
one of your new catalogues. My engine is a 3? horsepower, and am
running a Ferris Wheel with it.
Wishing you success, I am. Yours respectfully, Z. T.
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