This is the short life story of “Oatie,” a surviving engine built by, S.W. Wood Engine Co., in upstate New York. The Wood company, located in Clyde, N.Y., in Wayne County, was organized in 1831 and made various rural products under a succession of owners. Seth Wood took control of the company in 1866. Two years later the first of the portable steamers was built. Traction engines steered by horse were added in 1881, and by 1882, self-steering traction engines were produced.
During this period the Wood company did not produce any related products such as threshers and sawmills, as did most steam engine firms. The company concentrated their efforts on steam alone. After 1926, the company focused on repair and machine work, and operated under various owners throughout the years until closing in 1954. The firm operated under the names S.W. Wood, S.W. Wood & Son and S.W. Wood Engine Co. Today none of the buildings remain.
In 1914 the firm produced a 16 HP New Model traction engine, which differed from previous engines. One of the New Models was purchased by Otis Deyoe (hence the name “Oatie”), an agent for the Wood company, of Prattsville, Green County, N.Y., for $1,900. Prattsville is located in the rugged Catskill Mountains of eastern New York. It was delivered in nearby Grand Gorge, N.Y. Years ago I had the pleasure of talking with a gentleman who, as a child, had been allowed to stay home from school the day the engine was delivered.
The New Model joined a skid engine and an older model 12 HP traction engine of the same make. Soon after delivery, a heavy snowfall collapsed many local buildings creating a large demand for lumber. The New Model engine was put to work on a sawmill until demand was met. I have been told this was about the only serious work, for any duration, the engine ever performed.
In the 1920s, Otis had some family problems and activity on the home slowed down. In his later years he became somewhat of a hermit. His infrequent trips to town were made on a homemade tractor. In 1955 Otis died in a tragic fire in his farmhouse. Today no traces remain of any of the buildings that once stood on the site.
An auction was held to dispose of all the items remaining on the property. The auction was attended by a local scrap dealer and his friend Carl Wilkinson. The scrap dealer bought all his pocketbook would allow and borrowed money from Carl to continue bidding. A short time later, the scrap man had junked the skid engine and the older traction engine, and came to repay the borrowed funds. Carl considered forgiving the loan in return for the remaining traction engine. A deal was struck and Oatie escaped the torch.
Carl was a little disappointed when he went to retrieve the engine, as many major and minor items were missing. Somehow he loaded the engine on his 1-1/2-ton Chevrolet truck. The engine was longer than the rack so he laid down heavy timbers to support the engine’s front wheels beyond the end of the truck bed. Then Carl crawled down the mountains, mostly in first gear, fearing the worst most of the way. (I am familiar with this area of the mountains and the ride must have been truly terrifying.)
Carl thought the engine would be a drawing card at his farm equipment business about 20 miles east in Coxsackie, N.Y. His plans to paint the engine and place it out front of the business never materialized. The engine sat in the horse pasture until 1969. This is the only time, of any extent, the engine sat in the weather since it was new, but it had been saved.
Now, I enter the picture armed with funds I received from the sale of my Birdsall traction engine (another story in itself). I bought the engine and had it trucked home, and not on a ton and a half either! Then I began the repairs, replacement and restoration process. Surely many readers with old engine affliction can relate.
In June of 1976, armed with a new state boiler certificate, Oatie ran again. How many years had elapsed since it was last run is anyone’s guess, but surely a long, long time. When the engine had been last used, all the hand holes had been removed, which kept air circulating. Coupled with being under cover many years, this preserved the boiler very well. To this day, the stay bolts exhibit sharp threads right to the crown sheet, an area where much wasting sometimes occurs.
Oatie has threshed and run a sawmill at home and appeared at the New York Steam Engine Assn.’s Pageant of Steam in Canandaigua, N.Y., a few times. I believe I am the only one to own and operate Oatie – other than the original owner – since it left Clyde on a flatcar 93 years ago.
I have attempted to locate or document other surviving S.W. Wood engines and discovered 18 of them thus far. Sixteen are small portables, about half of them operational. A 12 HP traction engine survives, the only known, but unfortunately sidelined with serious boiler problems. Of course Oatie is the only known 16 HP.
I would appreciate hearing from other Wood engine owners to update the survivor’s list. If readers send their return address I will send a copy of the roster when completed. Steve Davis, 654 Route 20, West Winfield, NY 13491; (315) 822-5835.
Useful Information
• The U.S. Standard gallon of water weighs 8-1/2 pounds and contains 231 cubic inches.
• The U.S. Standard bushel measures 2150.42 cubic inches or nearly 1-1/4 feet.
• Water expands one-ninth of its bulk in freezing.
• A cubic foot of water contains 7-1/2 gallons and weights 62-1/2 pounds.
• Ice weighs 56-1/2 pounds per cubic foot.
• One cubic foot of anthracite (coal) weighs about 58 pounds.
• One cubic foot of bituminous coal weighs from 47 to 50 pounds.
• One ton of coal is equivalent to two cords of wood for steam purposes.
• Doubling the diameter of a pipe increases its capacity four times.
• Hay, dry and settled down in the mow, 512 cubic feet weighs 1 ton.
• A barrel is 28 inches long, 17 inches diameter at the heads, 19 inches diameter at the bung and contains 7,689 cubic inches or 31-1/2 gallons.
• To remove an obdurate screw, apply a red hot iron to the head for a short time, apply the screw driver while the screw is hot.
• To take lime out of the injector tube mix one part of muriatic acid 10 parts of soft water. Let the tube remain in the mixture over night.
To Find —
• The circumference of a circle, multiply the diameter by 3.1416.
• The diameter of a circle, multiply the circumference by .31831.
• The area of a circle, multiply the square of the diameter by .7854.
• The capacity of tanks in U.S. Gallons, square the diameter in inches, multiply by the length in inches and by .0034.
• The number of bushels of apples, potatoes, etc., in a bin, multiply the length, breadth and depth together and this product by 8 and point off one figure in the product for decimals.
• The speed of a circular saw. The rule is that the rim of a saw shall run 9,000 feet per minute, divide 9,000 feet by the circumference of the saw, reduced to feet, and the result is the revolutions the saw should run per minute.
• A well made, Powerful and Economical Traction or Portable Steam Engine. Drop a card or call on
S.W. Wood Engine Company, Inc., Clyde, N.Y.
– Excerpt from a S.W. Wood Engine Co. Inc., established 1866, catalog
New Model Traction Sixteen – Horse – Power
• We wish especially to call your attention to our new model sixteen-horse-power traction.
• The general design of the engine remains the same. We have changed the proportion of the gearing, which increases the drawing capacity.
• The boiler is 5-16 steel, double riveted, 29 inches diameter, 36 inch firebox with 41 2 inch x 7 feet tubes.
• The rear wheels are 58 inches diameter, 16 inch face, 9-16 inch steel plates with cast hubs, malleable spokes and cleets.
• The front wheels are 42 inches diameter, 8 inch face, 1-2 inch steel plates with cast hubs and steel spokes.
• The frame of the platform is of Channel steel, secured to the boiler with cast brackets; to the channel bars are fastened the spiral springs that support the platform. The draw head passes through the frame and is provided with a compression spring on the inside, which lessens the strain from a sudden jerking.
• The steel tool and coal boxes are fastened to the platform and are of ample capacity.
– Excerpt from a S.W. Wood Engine Co. Inc., established 1866, catalog