34540 Sherwood DriveSolon, Ohio 44139
On July 30, 31, August 1, 1993, the Historical Engine Society
held its twenty-third annual show at the Geauga County Historical
Society Century Village, in Burton, Ohio. The weather was a little
bit of everything. On the Thursday before the show, a storm which
was later coined the worst in 40 years, fringed the grounds with
members had fields flattened and several did not have power for
more than a week afterwards. With the bad weather out of the way,
the rest of the weekend was not bad. Sunday was absolutely
beautiful!
The Society was formed in 1970 by area engine buffs. We have
over 200 members with all kinds of interests, ranging from steam
traction to Maytag gas powered washing machines. Our members run
from 8 to almost 100 years of age, like most clubs, and the
membership shows its best when the club has a problem to solve or
somebody needs a helping hand.
As with some clubs, our steam contingent has dropped off.
Fortunately the Malz’s of Andover, Ohio, bring their 1910 18 HP
Aultman-Taylor, 25 HP Huber and one of the rarest engines a 1916 16
HP 20th Century, which was owned by Rev. Elmer Ritzman. Jim Malz
has had over 20 engines over the years. It all started in 1955 with
an 18 HP Greyhound. His wife Marilyn is an excellent engineer in
her own right and runs the Aultman-Taylor while he’s using the
Huber. Along with the full size steamers, scale model steamers are
also here. Chester Scheffel brings his scale Frick, along with the
shingle mill, which he built from scratch. Walter Payne has an
exact scale of a Case steamer with a water wagon.
In recent years steam railroad locomotives have gained
popularity at these shows. We are very lucky to have one of the few
remaining operating Cagney locomotives. The most remarkable feature
of this engine is that it was buried in mud for over 35 years at
Sandy Beach Amusement Park near Akron, Ohio. It’s one of our
most popular exhibits and it runs all three days of the show. The
Cagney is owned and operated by life member Howard Murphy of
Warren, Ohio. The subject of popular exhibits brings me to our most
recent exhibit, a 1920 Model B Erie steam crane recently restored
after a forced boiler retirement of 20 years. The crane was donated
to the Geauga County Historical Society by Harlow Whiting, who has
also donated the funds for its restoration. He is wanting to
convert it to a shovel and is searching for a dipper bucket, so if
you have one lying around, just drop a note in care of the
club.
We have quite a few rare items here at Burton as stated before,
and one of our combustion powered ones is a 1917 10 Austin Motor
Roller. It is owned by our membership secretary Jim Guthrie. Jim
found it rotting away in a field, and using blood, sweat and tears,
restored it to the original condition. The only thing Jim added was
the flywheel rim extension for easier starting. This particular
roller is one of very few running rollers left. It has a single
cylinder, low speed, heavy duty engine, with a jump spark type
ignition system, and an original compressed air self starter. It is
truly a beautiful machine.
The tractor displays number around 150. The most popular
tractors are John Deere and International Harvester, with
Fergusons, Leaders and Bockways thrown in for good measure. The
club has two outstanding tractor collectors: Fred Schroeder, who
has over 30 International Harvester tractors, and the Bates family
who have a huge collection of John Deere tractors. Most of our
tractor exhibitors are area people with one or a couple of their
favorite model tractors. We even have a few Oil Pulls to liven
things up.
Hit and miss engines are rather abundant at the show, with a
range from Maytag washing machine engines to the large hit and miss
ones that once pumped oil from the wells in Pennsylvania. The
wuffing of the hit and miss oil well engines and the putt-putt of
the smaller hit and miss engines, melt together for quite a
symphony for the lover of hit and miss engines.
Our twenty-fourth annual show will be held on July 29, 30, 31,
1994, and we are featuring Minneapolis Moline equipment and any Oil
Field engine.
So if you are new or old to this hobby, have a piece (s) you
would like to show, or just want to have a good time, come and join
the fun! We are located about 40 miles east of Cleveland, Ohio, in
Burton. If you need any further information feel free to contact
the club.ma
