700 mile road trip

[Mobuck]

I left home @ 4:40AM to go with Tom to pick up an old McCormick Deering "hit and miss" engine that had purportedly belonged to his maternal Great Grandfather. Got home @ 10:45PM after a long day in the pickup. Got to visit with Cousins and had a great lunch in Byron Ill. Also got a look at all the farming progress or lack thereof across Southern Iowa and WestCentral Ill.
All in all, not a bad trip.

 

[gramps]

Good Job! All ways fun to see how the other part of the world spins. Glad you made it safe and sound. Nice you got to renew the family relationships. 8)
gramps

 

[contender]

While many road trips involve some form of work,,, it's best when you can inject some fun into such trips. Something as simple as stopping into a store that interests you,, to an overnight stay just to see something new.
Rushing from point A to point B & back isn't always the best!

Sounds like y'all made the best of it AND got an heirloom.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Ah yes . . .

BANGputputputputBANGBANGputputputputputBANGputputputputput . . .

 

[Mobuck]

"BANGputputputputBANGBANGputputputputputBANGputputputputput . . ."

maybe more like : putt hiss hiss putt hiss hiss

We have no idea when this thing last ran. It does turn free (as in, not stuck) but I/we don't even know which direction it's supposed to spin.
The only missing parts that I noted was the exhaust screen (often missing and/or replaced by a soup can with holes punched in the sides) and I think there may have been a "tank cover" at one time on these. Most I've seen did not have that although I've seen a few with a sort of handmade looking screen over the open top of the coolant(?) tank.
Not many of these still in use by the time I can remember such things as most folks had REC electricity by then. A few here and there used to run a well pump for livestock water at remote locations.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

A friend of mine collects and rebuilds those old hit and miss engines.
He probably has 200 or more of them.
He is always taking them to shows and displaying them.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Mobuck,
Here is avideo that shows one being started with a crank and rotation. The guy couldn't find a mag. so he is using points and a battery.
I have seen a lot of these hooked up to an ice cream maker.
Fun to watch and listen to them run.
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=ymyy-t&p=McCormick+Deering+%22hit+and+miss%22+engine#id=2&vid=0c1a78597303da8c2f94316635ffaf2c&action=click

This is a 1/6" scale one running. Pretty cool

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=ymyy-t&p=McCormick+Deering+%22hit+and+miss%22+engine#id=19&vid=51d4e8e5f92821a896fd084594529584&action=view

 

[dreamer]

at the Nascar race in KCK last night there was an ice cream stand with an old John Deere, I think it was a JD, making ice cream,
at 50 degrees I didn't avail myself of their offerings

 

[graygun]

Haven't heard one run in decades.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

For those of you into that kinda stuff, here's an event worth checking out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Thresher%27s_Reunion

This is an annual "gathering" of old-timey farming stuff, including a couple dozen (or more, depending) of the huge old "steam tractors", literally a couple hundred antique gasoline tractors, and a whole bunch of the hit-or-miss engines of all sizes and shapes . . . and everything works/runs/performs. It's a really big deal that draws considerable crowds, five days ending Labor Day every year.

Being in southeast Iowa in late summer, you can count on it being either hot and dusty or quite rainy and wet underfoot, but always quite humid. Dress for it. There is quite a large campgrounds on-site for everything from pup tents to motor homes.

There is a running narrow-gauge steam railroad as well as a turn-of-the-century trolley loop providing scenic views of the whole thing as well as transportation to/from the campgrounds.

Way too much to fully describe. If this is your thing, you will become addicted and return every year.