Engines

Here are a few pictures of the Bob and Ileen's engines.  These were manufactured in the early part of the last century.  Prior to the Rural Electric Association's 'Electrification of America' these were rural America's only alternative to manpower, horse power, or oxen power.  They were used to pump water, grind grain, shell corn, drive grain elevators, and run shop equipment (grinders saws, drills, planes, etc.).  Although it is hard to imagine a world without electricity, it is harder to imagine a world without gas engines, but these were not commonplace on farms until 1905 to 1920.  By 1940, most of America had electric power, and these engines were not as necessary as they were when new.  During WWII, the call for scrap metal to support the war effort, saw many thousands of these engines melted down to build ships and guns.

With very little encouragement, Bob and Ileen demonstrate these engines to almost anybody who is interested.  About twice per month in the summertime, they use one of them to run an ice cream maker on Sunday afternoon.  Eating two gallons of ice cream in one sitting, would not be good for Bob or Ileen, so a few dozen people show up each time they make it, to help assure that there are no leftovers.

This 1916 Galloway engine is six horsepower, and was used for many farm tasks.  It was probably originally equipped with a huge saw blade and sliding saw table, and used for cutting up trees.  It is pulled by a team of horses to the site where it is needed.  It has a very large pulley that has a built in clutch.  It is a hit-and-miss engine, meaning that it only "fires" when it needs power, and coasts (and misses) the rest of the time.  Without being under any load, it 'hits' once, then 'misses' seven to ten times.  When it is slowed way down, it turns so slow, that you are sure that the huge flywheel stops, just before it 'hits' again.  The Galloway starts on the first try and always runs well.  The engine and cart weigh about 2,000 pounds.

This 1936 John Deere is one that Bob restored.  It has new rings, and internal bushings, and the fuel tank was modified.
 
It is on a homemade cart.  It is one of the engines used to make ice cream.  It is a hit-and-miss engine, and the weights that govern the speed, are internal.  The crankshaft is covered by a case, so there is not as much to watch while it runs.  The mechanism added to the muffler, tosses a pop can into the air, whenever the engine 'hits'.  This activity fascinates many onlookers, especially those that are young or young at heart.

This 1941 International Harvester LA is the first engine that Bob and Ileen bought.  It is not hit-and-miss, but is 'throttle' governed. 
 

It 'hits' every cycle, and as a load is applied, it will hit more frequently.  It can be slowed down quite a bit, but needs to run fast to make good ice cream.  Bob cleaned this engine up, and built the cart.

This 1905 International Harvester Victor is part of our engine family.  It is a three horsepower vertical engine that was mostly used in sheds or buildings and probably connected to a line shaft for running multiple pieces of equipment.  One of its selling features was that the fuel tank was remote from the engine, and could be located outside and up to thirty feet away. 

It is a hit-and-miss engine, and has a unique latch mechanism to hold the intake valve closed during the 'miss' cycles, so that no fuel is wasted.  This engine is very unique, in that it is cooled by a thermal siphoning action.  The water around the cylinder head gets hot, then expands and spills out of the top of the head into the 'bucket' attached to the head; at the same time, water is drawn into the bottom of the head, to replace the water that went out the top.  It is a fascinating concept, and it really works.  Bob will probably restore this engine this Winter.

Our most recent engine is a 1927 International Harvester Model M.  The IHC-M is thought to be the most reliable and easiest starting and most maintenance-free engine of its time.  They came in 1.5 hp, and 3 hp, and 6hp versions.  Ours is the 3hp model.  Bob's uncle restored a 1.5 hp version of this engine, which was purchased new by Bob's grandpa. 

Here are some other views of the engine.  Bob spent some time cleaning it up and making it run right.  It runs so smooth that a nickel placed on the hopper, stays upright.  It was originally run on Kerosene, but required Gasoline to get it started.  When running on Kerosene under load, you had to inject a little water with the Kerosene to avoid 'knock'.  The engine  came with a nice IHC toolbox.

Friends got Bob and Ileen to pose in front of their 'ice cream making machine' which is an IHC-LA with a built in pump-jack which has been modified to have a square shaft output that connects to an adaptor that connects to the White Mountain ice cream maker.  The adaptor has an aluminum wire 'shear pin' that prevents damage to the ice cream maker when the ice cream is done.  The engine is quiet enough to run inside the hangar, but it would hamper the conversations of the many participants who came to swap stories and eat ice cream, not listen to some old engine.

Bob and Ileen are always looking for additional engines.  We are also looking for an older tractor, and are waiting to find a John Deere Unstyled B model, with spoked wheels.  Here is what we are looking for:

Bob and Ileen were looking for a SAW RIG to attach to their Galloway.  Here is a photo of a Galloway engine and cart, identical to Bob and Ileen's, that also has the saw attachment.  We found everything on the left half of this photo.  Now we have to restore the saw rig, and add it to our engine and cart.