212 South Cedar St., Marshfield, Wisconsin 54449
The mystery tractor on page 28 of the Nov.-Dec. Magazine is no
longer a mystery, and the boys that helped me identify it should go
to the head of the class. On Dec. 28, I was at Osakis, Minn.,
visiting with Jim Withers and he told me that the 2 piston engine
was a lightning and was made by the Kansas City Hay Press Company
and that there was a 6 H.P. Skid engine at Mountain Lake,
Minnesota. On Dec. 30, I was at Adams Minn, and talked with a
fellow that used to work with this tractor, which was at Elkton,
Minn, and he said that the tractor was called a Kansas City. On
Dec. 31, I drove to Mountain Lake and saw this Skid Engine which is
in good running order in the summer time.
This Tractor was at Elkton, Minn, and I was about 11 years old
when I saw it. It takes a lot of head scratching to remember
anything that far back. The 10 H.P. rating is probably right. The
25 H.P. rating I gave it was an estimate of some of the people that
remembered it. It used to power a Baler real well and would pull 3
Plows. At one time it was belted up to a small Separator, about 18
inch cylinder with a straw carrier but did not have enough power
for that. It has gone the way of lots of old tractors but would be
worth a lot today. I would like to know if there are any left. It
would be a good project for someone to build a model of this
engine.
6 Hp. Lightning Engine at Mountain Lake, Minnesota.
6 Hp. Ligthning Engine at Mountain Lake, Minnesota.
The newest additions to the Wilcox family-65 hp. De La Vergne
Model DH #622 and l? hp. Domestic #4446. Sort of the big and little
of things.
The Model DH, brought out about 1915 by the De La Vergne Machine
Co., New York City, was one of the last steps in the evolution of
the solid injection Diesel. It compresses to about half the
pressure of a full Diesel, and fires with the aid of an uncooled
plate in the bottom of the head. It starts cold with the aid of a
smouldering fuse made from impregnated cloth rolled up to form a
bar about the size and shape of a cigarette. This fuse is lighted
and introduced to the combustion chamber in a special T-handled
plug, and the engine is then quickly rolled over with compressed
air. The fuse burns long enough to provide ignition until the
engine is warmed up, and eventually is completely consumed. If,
through some accident, the cylinder pressure becomes excessive, the
dead-weighted relief valve under the head opens and allows pressure
to blow off.
Courtesy of John P. Wilcox, 47 Deland Ave, Columbus 14, Ohio
Figure 2 shows a cross section through the governor head and
fuel pump. The by-pass valve beside the governor thrust collar
controls both the beginning and the end of injection by allowing
pumped oil to return to the tank. It gives the good sharp action
necessary to avoid dribble from the nozzle, and meters the injected
charge according to the length of time the governor allows it to be
closed. This governor is driven through a spring, its heavy head
acting as a flywheel to keep it from responding to short-term speed
variations as the engine compresses and fires.
The DH was also one of the first large engines to lubricate the
wrist pin from the crankshaft through a drilled con rod. The
passage in the rod holds about a quart of oil, and a necessary part
of the starting procedure is to remove a plug from the top of the
rod and fill it up!
Bore and stroke are 14 x 24, flywheels 76 diameter by 8? face,
and total weight 20,600 lb. A similar De La Vergne is in the
collection of A.D. Mast, 1316 Clayton Rd., Lancaster, Pa. and may
be seen on the Rough and Tumble show grounds at Kinzer. A. D. was
the previous owner of the little Domestic, and did a fine job of
cleaning it up and putting it in running order for me.
SANDOW – 2 cycle, reversing, S/N 12460, manufactured by the
Detroit Motor Car Supply Co. Restored and displayed by Marvin
Gordon, Port Charlotte, Fla. at the fall meeting of the Florida Gas
and Steam Engineers Club at one Sarasota Brandenton Speedway.
Marvin also has a model Z type D Fairbanks Morse and a Waterloo Boy
completely restored and is working on a McCormick Deering and an
upright Fairbanks Morse.
