I know, those of you not inclined to look at old motors will be saying, "What in hell is so interesting about this?" Here is the deal, this is a view of three parts from a couple of my precious hit and miss engines, a Little Jumbo and Hired Man to be exact. To look at them as an uninformed individual I will admit they just look like old, pastuer covered piles of rusted iron---which of course, they are. Admittedly, they are yet to run but hey!
However, as a amateur anthropologist (I had a couple of courses---but not on antiquated motors) one has to notice a couple of faciinating features with these parts. Photo one and two show shafts with rotating parts. It is easy to notice that the fit is not tight--like the word tolerances does not apply!, Oh ya, there is a great deal of play in the moving parts, a huge play. Most Porsche affectionatos would sure as hell note this, "Like dude, I mean, there is a hundreth of an inch there, maybe a couple. How can that be?" My response would be, "Top speed of motor is 400 RPMs. Just ain't no problem. This jewel was made to run down on the farm."
The remarkable thing about this is, clearly this motor was still working while in this condition, and possibly working for years. It is a testament to durability of these monsters. Bang around all you want but, baby, you are still running. I need you and you have to keep going. It is history, it is mechanical anthropology or at least archeology.
The above piece is the timer on the ignition system. It is a bent piece of copper that hits on the push rod to send the spark to the plug at the right moment. It is an clever little add-on that was put there when the magneto broke off. They simply added a Model T coil and a battery and off it went for another 20 years. Totally ingenious, totally functional on the spot repair done in the backwoods of Wisconsin, totally fudged, done probably in a time of need, a time of little money, maybe the depression. I love the story here. It is like a book.
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