Rare Witte Engine Saved from A Salvage Yard

By Leslie C. Mcdaniel
Published on August 1, 1998
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The restored Witte on display at a recent show. This is the only known 30 hp Witte to survive World War II scrap metal drives. Inset: A 1904 campaign button featuring presidential candidate Alton B. Parker and the Witte company.
The restored Witte on display at a recent show. This is the only known 30 hp Witte to survive World War II scrap metal drives. Inset: A 1904 campaign button featuring presidential candidate Alton B. Parker and the Witte company.
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A Witte Engine Works watch fob.
A Witte Engine Works watch fob.
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A matchsafe distributed as a dealer's premium, probably dating to the early teens.
A matchsafe distributed as a dealer's premium, probably dating to the early teens.
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Jerry Abplanalp, who bought the fully restored 30 hp Witte sideshaft engine in 1994.
Jerry Abplanalp, who bought the fully restored 30 hp Witte sideshaft engine in 1994.
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Harold Ottaway, who rescued the circa-1915 30 hp Witte sideshaft engine from being scrapped.
Harold Ottaway, who rescued the circa-1915 30 hp Witte sideshaft engine from being scrapped.
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The 30 hp Witte sideshaft just after recovery from a salvage yard.
The 30 hp Witte sideshaft just after recovery from a salvage yard.
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The Witte Iron Works facility in Kansas City at about 1910. At one time, Witte had representatives in 44 countries worldwide.
The Witte Iron Works facility in Kansas City at about 1910. At one time, Witte had representatives in 44 countries worldwide.

In its prime, this circa-1915 Witte 30 hp “sideshaft” portable gas engine was used to power a thresher.

But by the time Harold Ottaway, Wichita, Kan., got hold of it, the engine had fallen on hard times indeed.

The engine had spent much of its life on a small farm in southwestern Oklahoma. The owner, though, wouldn’t part with it. A friend of Harold’s kept an eye on the engine as he passed through that area each year. In 1961, the call came: The owner had died, and the engine had been sold to a salvage yard, where it was being scrapped. Harold immediately contacted Harold Jones, owner of the Duncan, Okla., salvage yard. His source was right: Jones said that the engine had been cut up, and much of it had already been loaded onto a rail car. But Ottaway could have what was there, for 3 cents a pound (about $180). The vintage engine was in sorry shape.

The engine’s steel parts had already been removed from the cast iron: the portable truck wheels, crankshaft, sideshaft and connecting rod had all been torched off and shipped out. The brass had been stripped off and was long gone. To most, it looked like an uphill battle. Even Harold’s brother – an accomplished machinist and welder – scowled at the prospect of restoration. “I don’t know why he’s messing with that,” he said. “He’ll never put it together anyway.”

That was all the challenge Jerry Abplanalp needed. Harold had asked Jerry, owner of Jerry’s Welding and Machine, Wichita, for his help in rebuilding the Witte.

“It did look kind of impossible when we first looked at it,” Jerry said. “It had been laying out in the open for a while, and it was half in pieces.

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