FROM OREGON
I have been reading your magazine since 1954. We were at the Mt.
Pleasant Reunion in 1959. Did not have time to stay long.
I see on page 26 of the July-Aug 1961 issue, a small gas engine.
I had one in the 30’s. In 1916 I run a road tractor in Murry
Co., Minn. I stopped in at a farmer’s and he had one. It is an
one housing. A belt run around the fly-wheel and around the worm
end of the bowl. It had a tightner on the tight ends of the belt to
let the bowl pick up speed slowly.
J. VANDER HOFF, 1420 Jacobs Drive, Eugene, Oregon
THRESHING SCENE
On page 25 of the last issue of the ALBUM is a picture sent in
by Cecil E. Perry – a very interesting threshing scene. I have set
many a day in just such a setting in my home state of Minneapolis.
Mr. Perry states that he does not know the make of the engine. My
guess is a Buffalo-Pitts straight flue. Father and I had a return
flue Pitts and I see some familiar features in the picture. It has
the Pitts stack and wheels but most of all, the unusual high dome
and steam line from the top instead of out the side and the steam
line angling down to the cylinder at that familiar 45 degree angle.
Everything considered, I call it a Buffalo-Pitts.
Whatever it is, it’s a very interesting scene to an old
thresherman. Every year at this time I still get the longing for
the smell of coal smoke and hot cylinder oil and the thrill of
pulling a throttle and feeling the power surge through those iron
lungs as the old steamer obeyed the hand of her master – but it has
been 35 years since then but the memories still linger.
HARRY YATES, 3775 Herman Avenue, San Diego 4, California
MR. HAKE’S LETTER
Some time ago I mailed information and descriptions of the steam
engines I own and misquoted the size of the Westinghouse portable
threshing engine. It should have been 7 in. bore and 7 in. stroke
instead of 10x 12 as I stated. To the best of my knowledge and
information that I have, the largest Westinghouse was 8×8 rated 15
hp. This engine was rated 10 hp 56 two inch flues, fly wheel 30 x
6, and weighed 4400 lbs. The tubes carried the water, boiler was
vertical, and bolted together at the top of the firebox and the
base of the stack so the outer shell could be taken off when
refueling. This engine hasn’t been steamed since 1917 when it
was retired and set on field stone to keep from sinking in the
mud.
The man standing at the front of the engine was the son of the
original owner and has since passed away.
I haven’t been corrected on the misquote I made – my
statement appeared in the Jan-Feb 1958 issue.
