Tired Iron

By Staff
Published on November 1, 1969
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Courtesy of Russell Ginnow, 3125 W. Fisk Ave., Rt. 3, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
Courtesy of Russell Ginnow, 3125 W. Fisk Ave., Rt. 3, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901
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Courtesy of Bill May, 1591 Greenfield Drive, El Cajon, California 92021.
Courtesy of Bill May, 1591 Greenfield Drive, El Cajon, California 92021.

3125 W. Fisk Ave. R.3 Oshkosh, Wis. 54901

Another gasoline engine I have restored is a Hippe-Steiner made
in Chilton, Wisconsin. It is six horse power at 350 RPM, no serial
number, 6/2 inch bore, 8 inch stroke, hit and miss governor, make
and break battery ignition and 36 inch flywheels.

This engine has a few things that I don’t see on other
engines, like the cylinder head cast in one piece with the
cylinder. The valves are in a ‘F’ arrangement. The exhaust
valve is about 21 inches long, coming back to an adjusting screw on
a lever. This lever is on a shaft that goes through the base to the
other side to another lever with a roller running on the exhaust
cam. The governor is on one flywheel with a linkage by the exhaust
valve adjusting screw. A separate cam runs the igniter continuous.
The battery is grounded through a grounding switch on the exhaust
lever to stop the igniter from using current when the engine is
coasting. The carburetor and connecting rod are made of solid
bronze. The rod bearing has a spring loaded grease cup, the main
bearings have oil reservoirs, and the cylinder an oil cup. All the
?inch screws have 12 threads per inch instead of the now standard
?-13. I wonder if anyone knows what year this change over was
made.

This engine was complete with wagon and pulley with clutch but
the gas tank and battery box had rotted away. Everything was badly
rusted and the piston was stuck. Under some grease I found the
engine was painted blue with yellow striping on the flywheels and
the wagon was red.

It took new rings, a homemade wrist pin, small pins and springs,
gas tank, battery box, complete paint job and a lot of work on all
parts to make it run. This engine seems to be quite large for six
horse power.

I haven’t seen or heard of any other Hippe-Steiner engines.
I wonder if any one who has one could give me any information as to
sizes and when they were made.

In Sept.-Oct. 1968 GEM I had a picture and story in ‘What Is
It?’ about a B & EM Co. engine. I want to thank all the
engine men that wrote to me about this engine. It seems to have
been made and sold by Bates and Edmonds Motor Co. Lansing, Mich. in
about 1900-1910, and also sold by Blakeslee, Birmingham, Ala. and
Fairbanks Co., New York City. There is no indication of it ever
having a nameplate, only the B & EM Co. casted in the
flywheel.

Hippe-Steiner of Chilton, Wisconsin. 6V2′ bore, 8′
storke. 6 Hp. at 350 rpm. No serial number. 36′ flywheels with
make and break battery ignition. Hit and Miss. (See story – A
Little From ‘Tired Iron’).

A3 hp. Fuller Johnson engine restored by the fellow in the
picture, Alton Rexin, our treasurer from Hughson, California.

To clean old grease and paint from these old engines I found it
works good to disassemble the engine and put all the parts in a 50
gallon steel barrel. Then put in enough water to cover the parts
and add three to four cans of lye. Then put a burner under the
barrel to boil the water for three to four hours. When you take the
parts out of the barrel wash them off with a garden hose. Then
rinse with vinegar to neutralize the lye and rinse with water.

The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot
do.

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