I tried to get one of those engines running for a high school friends father
during WW-2 in a small SE Indiana town. Instead of a spark plug system, it
had mechanical "strikers" in the top of the cylinder that made contact and
ignited the gas vapour. (Later models had spark plugs.)
The electrical source for the strikers was missing, so I tried all sorts of
other electric sources but could never get the engine to fire.
The later spark plug models, such as the engine that ran a sorghum cane
grinder at another high school friends farm, started easily.
During the 1930s the Belknap Hardware Co. (Louisville) catalog had many
pages of those type engines; some quite large.
Gerry
We call them "hit and miss" engines, because the governor usually
holds the exhaust valve open on the intake stroke to prevent it from
generating an un-needed power stroke. At no load with the governor
set low, it may only fire every four or five power strokes unless set
VERY rich to make them fire all the time (no power).
Cooling was often an open head filled with water -- they boil merrily
under load.
Designed to run around 500 rpm or so (as is obvious by the flywheel
-- any faster and it would fly apart!) and used to drive stationary
equipment -- sawmills, threshing machines, overhead live shafts that
operate other equipment, and so forth.
Usually have 4:1 compression ratios and use vast quantities of fuel
in operation, even with the very long stroke. Hand started by
"bouncing" off the compression stroke backwards through a compression
stroke.
The Hercules brand was made here in Evansville -- I think you could
see the remains of the sign on the roof of the old factory until a
few years ago.
Peter
On Nov 3, 2008, at 8:31 AM, Loren Faeth wrote:
If you want to see hundreds of them in operation, along with
hundreds of antique tractors, and dozens of steam traction engines
(probably around 100) , Steam locomotives and electric trolleys in
operation go to Midwest Old Threshers Reunion. http://
www.oldthreshers.com/
At 04:46 PM 11/1/2008, you wrote:
There was a harvest festival today in the hood, and there was this
really old gasoline engine set up driving a stone mill to grind
corn for grits and meal. It was a single cylinder horizontal
shaft, with what looked like an open oil bath or water bath on top
(it was steaming), some kind of reservoir maybe, and a link
running from the output shaft (which was driving a wheel about 3ft
diameter), every rev it would pop-pop-pop (sometimes just pop-pop)
when that link opened a valve.
Sounded like an old John Deere, it was painted green. I had the
pups and they definitely did not want to get close to it, so I
could not check out the name that was cast into it. I guess it
was a 4 stroke as it had 2 exposed valves on top of the cyl head.
It was pretty cool though. Definitely not OSHA approved though,
stuff spinning and popping, no muffler!
I bought some grits from the mill, looking forward to a tasty
meal! I bought some fried peanuts too (you eat the whole thing!
-- good roughage I guess).
--R
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