Flywheel logo

February 2025

Fairbanks-Morse Power and Concrete Pumping

By Paul Harvey

Wow! That says a lot about this little machine!  But what is it and what does it do?  Good questions, so let’s look around a bit and see what we can find.  Hmmm!  We have a cute little Fairbanks-Morse engine belted to a F-M pump jack, running an apparent hopper and pumping apparatus.  Not sure if it is factory or shop made.  There is no identification.  Fascinating!  So, let’s take a journey to really look at it!  I think you will enjoy!

F-M Powered Concrete Pump

So why pump concrete?  Well, pumping transfers concrete to areas of the job that cannot be reached by the big mixer truck.  Our little rig has a 2-inch discharge hose, while modern concrete pumping rigs have long and wide delivery pipes.  All fascinating and intended to make the job easier.  Here, we have pumped concrete through a small pipe for ease of placement, as contrasted to a modern rig.

Concrete Pump Truck

So, what is concrete?  Wow!  It’s the second most common building material in the world!  It’s made from cement, water, and aggregate stones.  Better yet, cement is made from limestone and clay.  How fortunate that all these materials are fairly common in nature and are essentially nontoxic.  Just look around and you’ll see concrete almost everywhere!

Concrete Pour

So now, I want to turn the reader’s attention to our machine’s engine.  Commonly known as the “salt block” due to its shape, it is a Fairbanks-Morse model Z, style D, 1½ HP engine.  Appearing in 1928, and with a 2¼-inch bore and 3¼-inch stroke, it ran at 1,500 RPM.  The valves are located in the block, which ushered in a new phase of engine design.  Single wheel on one side and pulley on the other running at half speed.  This arrangement made it very versatile for multiple uses.

F-M Model Z Engine

The photo below shows a factory parts diagram for the engine.  It’s really quite simple, accounting for the large market it served.  Note the auxiliary cooling water tank which our engine has.  I presume this tank was an aftermarket addition.

Parts Diagram

Moving on, we will now look at the pump jack driven by the engine.  Fairbanks-Morse actually made a myriad of pump jacks for every possible use.  As shown, our unit is fairly heavy duty for the small engine.  There was one reciprocating lever that could activate an overhead beam, or could pump a well.  Note how the jack is formed to nestle around the well casing.

F-M Pump Jack

Finally, the entire unit is mounted on an attractive four-wheel cart.  A useful and attractive display.

 

Text Copyright © by Coolspring Power Museum