December 2013

Fall Show

By Paul Harvey

The Winter holidays are fast approaching with all their excitement, especially for children and the "kids" still in all of us.  There will be Christmas gifts and dinners and the chance for families to reunite and relax together; perhaps the only time to do so for the entire year.  Christmas Eve church services are so special to many of us and then the quiet time to return home and open all the fancy packages. Soon after, a New Year unfolds with celebrations and a new future called 2014.  I think that it is best that we do not know what it holds.

But now, I would like to reflect back a bit and recall the Fall Show of 2013.  The weather was mostly favorable with a little  typical "Coolspring" rain.  Seems that it was the last warm weekend of the year with a lot of bright sunshine and tee shirt afternoons. This made our famous "engine churned" ice cream taste very good and the engines kept busy cranking it out. The show went very well with a great flea market and wonderful exhibitors, and I will take this opportunity to share some photos.  This photo essay will include some museum photos as well as those from the exhibitors.  Sit back and enjoy.     

I snapped Photo 1 Tuesday afternoon before the show as some of our guests were arriving and setting up, ready to display their prizes.  So many come back year after year and take their same places in the fields.  It is nice to renew the friendships and chat a bit.  Later that evening, I found the Friends Exhibition Hall, one of the new buildings on the hill, awaiting the visitors that will soon be coming.  See Photo 2. There are some very unusual engines housed here and it is always a very pleasant place to visit.

Photo 3 shows a new donation to the museum, a 40 hp Franklin Valveless oil engine.  It is now located near the Municipal Works building and awaiting restoration.   This piece is especially important to the museum as it was used by Hud Smith, a driller from Brookville, PA, and has a long and interesting local history.  It drilled many gas wells in the Brookville area in the days gone by and we are happy to have it to restore and interpret its history. 

The museum's biggest engine, the 600 hp Snow, is now running and Photo 4 shows it awaiting the night before the show.  It is an impressive piece weighing 140 tons and sports a 24 inch bore and 48 inch stroke.  It was built in 1917 and was in service until 1994 where it compressed natural gas at the Roystone Station of National Fuel Gas located near Ludlow, PA. It delivered natural gas from the local production fields to the markets in the Buffalo and Rochester, NY, area.  Today, Roystone is gone and there is little to recall this legacy.  This engine and its sister now located at Rollag, MN, are perhaps two of the biggest antique gas engines in operation in the world.    

Found displayed in the exhibitor's field was this interesting four-cylinder Sterling Marine Engine made in Buffalo, NY.  As seen in Photo 5 it is very complete and looks ready to power a boat probably used on Lake Erie.   Note the ornate name plate, Photo 6, that carries the wording, "The engine of refinement for the finest boats that float."  This engine is probably late 1920s vintage.  It makes one wonder if engines were made for boats that did not float? 

Photo 7 is another new donation to the museum; a Bucyrus-Erie 28L spudding-type drilling machine.  The donor plans to support a display of cable tool type drilling used in the 1940s and 1950s.  This is a lost art today as most all drills for gas and water wells are now bored using the rotary technology.  We are looking forward to be able to interpret this machine to our future generations.

The water tower that will provide cooling to Exley Station (for the Snow engine),  Friends Exhibition Hall, and Pat's Place is nearing completion with the placement of the 10,000 gallon tank onto the thirty foot high tower.  Photo 8 shows the museum's Lorain crane making the lift.  Note the size of the tower and tank compared to the truck parked nearby!  The top of the tank will be visible from route 36 and, hopefully, will help locate the museum to our visitors.

Photo 9 shows a very nicely restored portable International Famous engine that I found in the exhibitor area.  The cart, or "trucks," is original as is the location of the very high driver's seat seen to the left of the engine.  This position would give the person a good view of the team of horses used to transport the engine from one site to another, as it was belted to whatever needed power.  These horse drawn portables were used on the farms before tractors and would power wood saws, grain threshers, water pumps, and all other chores that needed done.

Early Friday, I caught Bob preparing to start the museum's 50 hp Otto diesel as seen in Photo 10.  This engine originally powered an ammonia compressor and electric alternator in the Ice House of Lewisburg (PA) to make crystal clear blocks of ice popular with the local Amish.  We display all this equipment.  Close by, Photo 11,  Scott proudly operates his White engine made in Wisconsin.  He has nicely restored it and it sports a vertical governor head and most interesting and unusual valve and igniter mechanism.  Strangely, most of this firm's production was shipped to New Zealand as was this engine where it spent its working life.

Walking out of the Expo Building into the display area, I found this display of John Deere farm engines, all gleaming in the morning sunlight, Photo 12.  At one time in the past, these durable engines could be found doing many chores around the farm.  Since they were on wheels and could be easily pulled to any location, the women loved them to power their washing machines on Monday morns.  Further down, I found this big Bulldog, made in Lansing, MI,  Photo 13.  These big hopper cooled engine were almost non-destructible and seemed to run forever.

Friday had so many great engines on display that it was difficult to choose for this article.  The next one,  Photo 14, is an early Fairbanks Morse semi diesel, two-cycle oil engine, Type Y.  Note the heavy, crowned, electric lighting flywheels that made it run so very smoothly.  I then saw a very interesting Novo engine and air compressor all mounted on portable trucks.  See Photo 15.  Actually doing what it was meant to, compressing air for whatever use, and it provided an interesting display.

By the Friends Exhibition Hall, I was happy to see "The Engine from Paradise" (Flywheel Article, October, 2013),  Photo 16,  running so smoothly.  I first saw this engine in 1967;  then it slept in a barn for 35 years before coming to life again. We are its second owners. Thanks to our dedicated volunteers, it is preserved in its original condition except for some internal repairs.  It is a 12 hp Associated portable engine. The original condition, grease, rust, old wood and all, has been kept.

Friday afternoon was the Dedication Ceremony for the museum's 600 hp Snow engine which has come to life here at the culmination of twenty years of hard work by a very dedicated crew.  The weather was exceptionally mild and a large crowd was gathered to hear the words of the crew and see the engine in operation.  Photo 17 shows Chris speaking as Ben awaits his turn.  After the short ceremony, Photo 18  shows Chris at the control pod doing the starting procedure; but unseen, the other members of the crew are watching all else to ensure a successful start.  And it did run so very well to everyone's delight.  Be sure to watch the video ("Part 1" with more to come) from the Dedication Ceremony.

In the early evening, I found the museum's 20 hp South Penn Special, built in Clarksburg, WV, in operation.  See Photo 19.  This engine came to the museum in April and finally minor repairs and pipe work were completed so that it could operate for the show.  These engines were built on Oil City Boiler Works frames with the addition of a South Penn cylinder and used on many of the oil wells in West Virginia.  This one drilled a well near Dutchman Run, WV, in 1916 and remained on site pumping it until 2012.

Later Friday evening, the new addition to the museum's Pump House was still in operation.  Helping to re-circulate the cooling water is a 5 hp Otto engine belted to a Knowles triplex pump, as seen in Photo 20.  Running long hours each day of the show, it was successful to help the other pumps keep an adequate supply of cooling water as well as providing an interesting display.

Saturday morning, I was able to snap this photo of a very rare Ajax gas engine, made in Corry, PA, as it was leaving for its homeward journey.  See Photo 21.  Seems that there is never enough time to chat with everybody and photo all the display engines.

During the show, one of our members purchased this unusual Wise engine, built in Butler, PA, and decided to display it here.  Seen in Photo 22, this engine has the valves in the head instead of the usual valve box on the side.  Also of note is a nicely finished round connecting rod and bearing instead of the usual "I" beam rod.  It will be in operation in 2014.

The final surprise visit on Saturday morning was four great classic trucks from the North East Ohio Chapter of the American Truck Historical Society.  They were prominently displayed and the chapter has promised to bring back more trucks for our History Day and Truck Show in July, 2014.  Photo 23 is a 2010 International Lonestar which has the distinction of being the first Lonestar day cab built.  A beautiful and working truck.

The museum is now asleep for the winter but special tours and visits can be arranged by prior notice.  Please call the museum at 814-849-6883 for any and all information.  The Featured Engine theme for 2014 will be "Foreign Engines" and this theme includes any engine not built in the USA.  Polish up your foreign jewels and display them here in June 2014.  There are many Canadian goodies that we would love to see! 

 On behalf of the entire museum staff, we would like to wish you:

A VERY JOYOUS CHRISTMAS

A VERY PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR