BEFORE & AFTER
RESTORATION OF THE MONTH
Mystery Solved:
Virtue and Pound a One-of-a-Kind Engine
By Leslie C . McDaniel
Photos Submitted by Leslie C. McDaniel
Gene DeCamp was stumped. He'd bought a unique engine from a friend. The seller - Harold Ottoway, Wichita, Kan., - didn't know anything about the engine, and the man he'd bought it from years earlier hadn't had any information either. All Gene knew was what he could see: The engine was complete except for the mixer and a lever that operated the mixer from the governor weight; it was stuck; and the engine had been converted from a hot tube ignition to spark plug.
He even ran photographs and a plea for help in Gas Engine Magazine, but to no avail. One day, a friend - also an engine collector - was looking over Gene's iron pile.
"You what?"
George was sure that Gene's engine was, like his, a Virtue and Pound, made in Owatonna, Minn. To make sure, though, he came up with photos of his engine. The photos confirmed George's identification, but they also pointed up some differences.
"George's engine is a hit-and-miss, has doughnut flywheels, and the name and location of manufacture are cast in the base," Gene said. "My engine is throttle governed, the flywheels are conventional large diameter, and narrow; and - other than the number 1 - there's no name or identifying marks cast in the base."
They're the only two I've heard of," he said. "There's no others known of anywhere. I've checked around and advertised, looking for leads."
Still, he had enough to run with. Gene set out to research Virtue and Pound.
"James J. Hill Reference Library, St. Paul, Minn.: No information," Gene recounted. "Minnesota Historical Library, St. Paul: No information. Todd County Historical Library, Long Prairie, Minn: No information."