SOOT IN THE FLUES

Interested in a few answers to his questions, this message comes
from JOHN BRUNDAGE, 4700 NT. Rd., No. 169, Tiffin, Ohio 44883:
‘I would like to have any information your readers might have
about a Baker steam roller No. 17781. This machine has been donated
to the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum in Bellview, Ohio.

Having recently purchased a boiler and steam engine, I would
like to know how the old-timers removed scale from their boilers
and what they did to prevent scale. If I remove the scale from my
boiler should I expect to uncover some leaks. Help a
greenhorn.’

‘Can you or do you have any information on a Sawyer-Massey
steamer, as I would appreciate any data as I can’t find any
horsepower number or year of manufacture on it? If so, please write
PETER D. F. WIEBE, Box 101, Grunthal, Manitoba, Canada ROA
0R0.’

A short letter from LARRY D. VAN DE MARK, 518 S. Elliot, Webb
City, Missouri 64870 tells us: ‘I am somewhat new to steam
power, being interested in it about a year. In November of 19811
was able to buy a large weight 860-pound steam pump in very good
condition. I want to restore this pump, so if any IMA reader has
any information, it would be a big help. On the steam chest cover
is the following: AG-6 Gardner Gov. Co. Quincy, Illinois, 7 x 4? x
6. The specifications are 48′ long, 18′ wide and to the top
of the air chamber is 44′ tall. I’ll be looking for some
help.’

This next lengthy and interesting letter comes from THOMAS G.
DOWNING, RD. 1, Box 149A, Ell-wood City, Pennsylvania 16117:
‘Just thought it was time I got pen in hand and wrote a bit for
the magazine as from time to time I hear people say, ‘We need
more interesting articles.’

Well, this is a co-operative society folks and not a few people
making up and grinding our ficticious stories. So, if you want to
have something good to read, dig up the local history and antedotes
and write them up and mail them in. Then, maybe others will do the
same and we will all have more good reading to do.

13 HP Peerless and (?) Frick (?) thresher set near village of
Chewton, Lawrence Co. PA about 1915. Last man on right is John
McQuiston, Walt’s brother and part owner of the outfit.

Walt McQuiston, Clarence Brunswick, John McQuiston with 18 HP
Peerless and Hench & Dromgold sawmill set on Weingartner’s
farm off Bridge Street Extension, Wayne Township,Lawrence County,
PA about 1917.

1911, 20 HP 20th Century traction engine owned by M. J. Miller
on display at 1977 Farmer’s and Threshermen’s Jubilee at
New Center-ville, PA.Courtesy of Michael J. Miller, R.D. 2, Box
181, Rockwood, Pennsylvania 15557.

As for local stuff from here, I’ve talked a lot with several
of the old threshermen from this area, including the Dean of the
Crew, Walt McQuiston. Walt was a tough old man of 87 or 88 when we
first got acquainted, though I had heard his name for years. His
favorite engine was the Peerless, and he had six or seven of them
going to a tractor in 1932 or so. He also had at least one Frick
and appreciated the advantages of that fine make, and he and
brother John had a Leader which he had very little time for. He
gave me several excellent photos of setups in the local area. I try
to find all these I can and encourage others to save them–copy
them–share them as much as possible. When they are destroyed they
are lost forever. My friend, Bob Pratt of Devon, England, was very
active in a local history project when he lived at Ipswich in which
they borrowed and copied all sorts of local old pictures and filed
them in the town library to insure their preservation for
posterity. Now, if any county historical society is looking for
worthwhile activities, here is one to try. It will take some money
for copying and lots of digging to find the originals in dusty
attics, etc., but, oh the rewards!

But back to ‘Walt the Peerless.’ He told me he sat one
day and counted, if I recall, 56 silos he had set up a pipe
to–some of them over 20 years in a row, all over these hills. I
wonder what the record is? Also, one place over on Scott Ridge
someone, I guess, built a barn facing the prevailing winds wrong.
Anyhow, they burned three barns off one foundation with sparks and
dry straw. That’s a figure, maybe a record too, which I hope no
one tries to top. Walt particularly liked to husk corn and fill
silo. The invigoration of the warm engine in the crisp, cold fall
weather could have been part of it. He once told me, ‘All the
fun went out with steam. With the tractor it was just
work.’

Another place the thresher was to be set on a farm up in the
hill off old Pittsburgh Road out in Wayne Twp. somewhere, and the
direct approach was a steep, narrow, muddy lane which was surely to
be trouble. So they took the better road up around to another farm
and came in across a couple of fields where the sod held up okay,
as it was almost all level or slighty downhill. Okay, that is till
the Peerless settled her hind wheels in a wet furrow ditch and
refused to come out. So they unhitched the separator and sent for
the team of horses at the destination farm. Now, I don’t know
anything about work horses, but he described these as a black team
which wouldn’t normally pull the hat off your head and a driver
that let them get away with it. But they were afraid of that
hissing old Peerless so that they were a bit nervous. Well, he got
up a full head of steam and laid out the rope blocks secured to a
convenient fence row tree, and when the team arrived, they were
hooked up and got the ropes taut and he said, ‘Then I pulled
the throttle open with one hand and the whistle cord with the other
and boy did they pull. Their hind feet put mud on the smoke box
door from quite a piece away, but they put the Peerless out on dry
ground.’ I don’t know–well, yes, I probably do– what the
ASPCA would say about such behavior and I wouldn’t want to be
the driver of such a scared team and maybe the story was
embellished a bit by time, but it was quite a scene to visualize
for me. In those days the vital thing, of course, was to get the
engine out and moving again, and there was no bigger tractor or any
such around to send for.

In another case the local dairy farmer–well, the last survivor
of such because there used to be 12 or 15 or more local farm
dairies here a bouts–sent their Farquhar to a neighboring farm to
fill silo so another engine wouldn’t have to come from a long
way off. On the way home the young driver got over too far for an
oncoming team and wagon up by the cemetery and slid into a wet
ditch along the road. That one took nearly two days of hard work
with a stump puller to put it back on the hard road.

Well, old Walter is gone now, some 6 or 7 years ago at age 94 or
95, and so I must get some of these stories on paper to perpetuate
the memory and the legend. In addition, if oil prices keep moving
up we may be back to the old ways before another generation goes to
their reward. Some say we have already regressed–those of us
heating with wood and coal–but to me it’s real progress.

A couple requests for information I’ll repeat for the Soot
in the Flues column. First a repeat. Can anyone tell us any of the
history of a big three-tiered whistle we got out of the local steel
mill carrying a tag which says ‘Worcester Fire Signal’?
Could it be from Worcester, Massachusetts? Or is there a town by
that name in Pennsylvania or New York or wherever that built
whistles?

Second, I have a little thresher I gathered up to go with our
little engine and it has me stumped a bit. It has the name Ellis
Champion on the tailings elevator and on the end casting of the
cylinder, Ellis Keystone Agricultural Works, Pottstown, PA.’
When I got it someone ruined it. Well for looks and originality I
removed that presuming I would find where a slat stacker had been
attached, but none shows up. Could this size and age of machine
been built with no such device just leaving the straw to fall and
be taken away by forks? To help with dating the machine, the
numbers on it are: No. 3, machine #13590.

I will be very happy to correspond with anyone who might know
the history of the machine and/or the company.’

This letter comes from MIKE KORNESKI, 13075 Hilary Path,
Hastings, Minnesota 55033: ‘I own a Birdsall 9-12 HP 1898 steam
engine, at least, that is what a friend told me it was. It has no
data on it.

There is also a Garr Scott sunk in the lake out from my house,
that I am trying to raise–that is, when I get out of the
hospital.

I also have a Belsaw sawmill, but intend to build a larger one
and put the Birdsall on for auxiliary power. I salvage a lot of
white pine saw logs cut of the Mississippi River, and they make
very good lumber. Hope you can make use of my picture.’

‘I am writing to you in regard to an unclassified photo in
the Jan.-Feb. issue. Photo no. 6 on page 17 is a 12 HP single
cylinder Frick steam engine built in 1919. The owner of this steam
engine is a J. P. Smith of Fremont, Ohio. The picture was taken at
the north end of the Sandusky County Fairgrounds in Fremont, Ohio.
I do not know the date of picture. Mr. Smith and I are close
friends. We met shortly after my grandfather bought a 16 HP double
cylinder Frick steam engine in 1976. I was 11 years old at the
time. I am 16 years old now and have run both my grandfather’s
engine Mr. Smith’s engine.’ writes JIM LASHA-WAY, 9231
Boyer Road, Perrysburg, Ohio 43551.

From what you wrote Jim it sounds like there might be more to
find out about the engine–if so, why don’t you write it up or
send the further data on the above mentioned engine. Is there a
story? We would be glad to hear it.

An informative and interesting letter comes from CARL LATHROP,
108 Garfield Avenue, Madison, New Jersey 07940. Carl is a
consulting engineer and has sent in many contributions to our
magazine. This letter elaborates on his most recent article printed
in Jan.-Feb. 1982. We welcome his letter as he writes: ‘Years
ago in the early days of over ocean flying and while flying to
South America on Pan Am I read their bulletin which said,
‘Let’s face it, those of us who find it necessary to travel
face a certain amount of risk.’ I would now like to adapt that
to say, ‘… those of us who choose to write face the
possibility of incorrect data.’ Each time that I do an article
for a magazine and sent if off to the editor something happens.
That is, later I come across some reference that leads me to
believe that I could have made a modification. Fortunately, so far,
I haven’t found something that makes me dead wrong. ‘The
Wind on Grandpa’s Knob’ (IMA for Jan./Feb 1982) was no
exception.

In the first place I think that I dealt too lightly with that
famous wind-powered generator. There were quite a number of famous
engineers and scientists involved in those early experiments with
commercial level wind power. But, such men as Vanevar Bush have
received many accolades anyway.

Similarly, I did not go into enough detail on the historical
aspect of the rotor powered ship. In fact, it was only recently
that I came across a just released government publication that gave
me the technical details. I thought that I would now include them
in his letter to Soot in the Flues.

Around 1920 Anton Flettner consulted with the famous
hydrody-namicist, Ludwig Prandtl on how to improve upon the
efficiency of sailing vessels. It was from this that Flettner
developed his rotor which is based on the Magnus Effect. That is,
if a circular cylinder is rotated by auxiliary power while exposed
to a breeze there is formed a boundary layer effect of unbalanced
forces equal to nearly ten times the force of a conventional sail
of the same area in the same wind.

Flettner converted the three masted brig ‘BUCKAU’ into a
two rotor ship and renamed it ‘BADEN-BADEN’. The vessel
never was a great success and finally the project was abandoned. My
article implies that the Savonius rotor was used. And, that was the
impression that I had had up until I read the government
report.

Incidentally, the flyleaf of that report had what I believe was
a wonderful motto. ‘Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of
men of old; seek what they sought.’ (from The Rustic Gate by
Matsuo Bosho)

I feel certain that somewhere in Engine land there will be
someone that is familiar with these details. Perhaps this will
elicit correspondence for your column.

And, would you believe the next letter I picked up comes from
FRANK J. BURRIS, 1102 Box Canyon Road, Fallbrook, California 92028.
Frank has a lot of engineering experience and speaks to us also of
Carl’s article in Jan.-Feb. issue, adding comments and
suggestions to help us better identify with this type of article. I
know, to me, it is very technical and I appreciate both their
writings. We applaud both these gentlemen on their literary
capabilities.

‘Herewith a few additional comments which you may add to Mr.
Carl M. Lathrop’s article on ‘The Wind on Grandpa’s
Knob’ in the Jan.-Feb. edition of IMA. Mr. Lathrop’s
articles are always so instructive and interesting and possibly he
may see fit to expand a bit further on these energy-saving
aspects.

I have followed with great interest the government’s backing
(with enormous outpourings of finances) of certain windmill
development out here on the wind-blown deserts. It seems that
immediately some ‘crisis’ arises, all sorts of wild ideas
find rooting in some additional wing of bureaucracy. This is
usually encumbered by additional political factions which involve
totally inexperienced engineering (if not also management)
personnel.

At hand, and it seems that such monstrosities are still being
wafted across at taxpayers’ expense, is a prototype model of
windmill which is mounted on a 120 foot tower. Now this mill has
but two 60-foot long blades about 18′ wide, even down to the
hub section. It would appear that any good farmhand would have been
incredulous at such weak design structure; for the torsional stree
combined with the direct wind loading would be formidable. This
monstrosity of mill, which at that diameter, required much gearing
up at the generator, proved out true to reasonable expectations and
broke its vanes at the hub in the first strong breeze tryout. Now,
a two, three or four bladed propeller is okay on an aircraft
installation, because that is all the motor can swing to begin
with.

But in the case of such windmill design, consider the loss in
efficiency at the outset.* In the accompanying sketch of a
two-bladed long arm mill, where the r.p.m. is comparatively slow
with relation to the wind velocity, it may be readily noted that
some 95% of the wind effort is LOST between only the two
intercepting edges. Suppose the mill were modified to appear
similar to that employed in our old farmyard, as in sketch two.
This more efficiently coupled to-the-air mill would revolve at much
higher r.p.m. than its toothpick design. It would require much less
gearing up, and it would have much stronger (although much less
needed) hub construction. It would also require less clearance by
high tower design. It appears that some of these new loosely
book-learned experts were afraid to start from the old farm
machine; but thought it more apropos to take out after some zepplin
idea. There is no indication that any lab work was performed to
ascertain the most efficient and mechanically worthy design. It was
simply strike out in any direction. And it does look like they
‘struck out.’ Sad to say, after 31 years in government
engineering, such schenanigans are more the rule than the exception
(I didn’t do ’em!).

The above comments are my own contentions, based upon my own
engineering experience. I maintain that I have had about as much
work with windmills as the experts, of course.

Now I wish to offer a few suggestions with respect to Carl’s
treatment of induction generators. My textbook indicates that such
generators can furnish power output only in the case of loads
having a capacitative (leading) power factor. It is simply
explained that this is because the induction motor operates with a
lagging power factor of around 0.9; the load current thus lagging
the line voltage by some 26 degrees electrically. In consequence
were this machine to be driven in reverse fashion, that is in same
direction if a polyphase motor but at an overrunning speed, the
electromotive force would have to trail the current. Power factor
(Cosine of the angle between voltage and current in an
alternating-current circuit) is 1 or unity in a direct-current
circuit. But in practically all commercial and home power demands
upon the electric companies, the load is unity power factor only in
the case of resistance (lighting) loads; the large remainder is due
to induction motor driven machinery and thus presents a positive
power factor averaging 0.8 to 0.9 percent expressed as a common
factor. The angle of lag (or lead) can vary only between the limits
of plus (or minus) 0 to 90 electrical degrees, resulting in limits
correspondingly of power factor from minus One through Zero to plus
One.

The extra amperage flowing in a power line to furnish a given
load at less than unity power factor, when multiplied by the
voltage, yields what is termed ‘Wattless Energy.’ At very
low power factors of a load, it may be high enough to overload the
supply lines which will consequently become overheated. To prevent
this tendency in heavy loads such as steel mills, for example, the
user may employ a big synchronous motor on one of the mills and by
over-exciting the field winding, cause this motor to operate with a
very high negative (leading) power factor to balance out the rest
of the induction motors.

May I remind you again dear ones, that if parts or any objects
you would be able to buy are listed in your letters, I cannot print
that in the Soot in the Flues column. Items of that nature must
come under classified ads–I’m sure you understand.

Thank you folks for your articles and letters you send in for
our magazines and also for my columns–a medium whereby you can
exchange information, ideas and share your hobby experiences in
your own way. I look forward to hearing from you.

In closing might I leave you with a few thoughts? A mule makes
no headway when he is kicking, neither does a man.–You teach
little by what you say, but you teach most by what you are.–Busy
persons are not busybodies.–It is better to know less than to know
a lot that isn’t so. — There are three answers to prayer: Yes,
No, Wait A While.

Love ya all.