9111 Louis Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
I am enclosing two photographs of my approximately 1/2 scale
model traction engine taken at the 1973 Mason-Dixon show at
Westminster, Md. I purchased this engine at the 1973 Eastern Shore
Threshermens & Collectors Association show here in Maryland
from Mr. Andrew Burr of Baldwin, N.Y.
The engine is rather unique in that it contains very few parts
from tractors or other agricultural machinery. With the exception
of the flywheel, gears, differential and steering wheel, the major
parts of the engine appear to have been made by hand. The handmade
items include the boiler, wheels, crank disk, connecting rod and
crosshead, crosshead guide, cylinder, steam chest, slide valve,
Woolf-type reverse gear and the control levers. Ball bearings have
been used on the crank pin, for main bearings, for rear wheel
bearings, and in much of the gear train assembly. Apparently the
engine was equipped with a canopy at one time.
It would appear that the engine started out to be a FRICK, for
it has the typical FRICK frame and the long, narrow FRICK-style
water tank on the right side between the firebox and the rear
wheel. However, the engine itself (5X6), resembles a late-style
CASE. People ask me what make the traction engine is and I tell
them ‘FRICASE’ (pronounced ‘Frick-us’).
It is evident that much time and effort have been expended in
building this engine and that those responsible possessed much
skill, talent and ingenuity. The extensive welding and machine work
suggests that it was made in a well-equipped machine shop. There is
evidence chat some sort of identification plate was at one time
attached to the crosshead guide assembly.
The two questions asked most frequently about the engine are:
(1) Who made the engine? and (2; How old is it? It is for this
reason that I am trying to establish who built the engine and when
it was made. I would also like to give proper credit to the
builder. Considerable differences of opinion have arisen among
several who have seen the engine. Some say it was made by the late
Harry Bricker of Plainfield, Pa., while others say it definitely
was not. Still others say it came from Ohio.
I will pay for a one year’s subscription to the IMA or GEM
for the first two persons who can identify this engine, or furnish
information leading to identification and the year it was
made.