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Model Engines

Scale Model of a 1905 Olds Hit and Miss Engine

Operational 1/2 Scale Model of a 1 1/2 Horse Power Gasoline Engine originally manufactured by the
Olds Gasoline Engine Works, Lansing, Michigan

1 7/8” Bore X 2″ Stroke – Approx. 3/4 H.P.
This little engine (the flywheels measure 8″ (20.3 cm) in diameter) started out as a set of blue prints and a box of raw, un-machined castings direct from the foundry. After 259 actual machining hours and many long nights, the basic engine itself was ready to be assembled and tested. Once test run, all parts were disassembled, cleaned, painted and reassembled. The cart was then patterned after the hardware of the period and is completely homemade with the exception of the actual wheels, requiring an addition 80 hours to complete. The wheels are authentic antiques coming off of a Fairbanks-Morse floor scale dating back about 100 years. The project took about a year and a half to complete. Ignition is battery operated using a modern coil and miniature spark plug. All small parts, except for screws, had to be fabricated from raw stock. This also included the one piece crankshaft. The whole unit is 31″ (78.7 cm) in length and weighs approximately 70 lbs. (31.7 kg).

Scale Model of an 1895 Rider-Ericsson Hot-Air Engine

Operational 1/3 Scale Model of a Hot-Air Pumping Engine
originally manufactured by the
Rider-Ericsson Engine Co., New York, New York

2″ Bore X 1″ Stroke – Small fractional H.P.
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This kit engine was comprised mainly of aluminum castings of the major components. All the brass, bronze and steel parts were made from stock material. The engine is constructed and operates exactly as the full size engine, including the burner, the only noticable difference being the legs. The model represents the use of the ornate cast iron legs that were usually used on the full size engine. My full size original happens to have the simpler cast steel legs, which are better for my transporting the engine to our shows, due to their greater strength. The kit required about 2 months of full time work to complete the machine work. Once built, a way of displaying the engine had to be designed in order to provide the fuel (propane) and a source of cooling water in the proper “setting”. The result was a full water supply system in miniature showing how the original engine might have been used. The model stands 16″ (40.6 cm) tall at the top of the flywheel.

Scale Model of an 1895 Mery Explosive Engine

Operational 1/4 Scale Model of a Double Acting, 6 Cycle Gas Engine originally manufactured by
Michael L. Mery and his foundry in Chico, California

1 1/2” Bore X 3″ Stroke – Small fractional H.P.
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This engine is a true 6 cycle using a 3:1 cam gear ratio. The extra two cycles, a “purge intake” and “purge exhaust”, were incorporated in the design to clear the combustion chambers of all spent gases before introducing the next air/fuel charges. It utilizes both sides of the piston in seperate combustion chambers, thus acting as a two cylinder engine while only having one physical piston and cylinder. There are no cams used with this design, but 2 eccentrics are used, one to operate the exhaust valves and the other to operate some of the ignition system. The model operates exactly the same as the only known existing full size engine, though it can be noted that several things shown on the original patent papers no longer exist on the original engine, and thus were left out of the model. The machinist has the option to extract what information he can from the patent papers and fabricate the missing items. The kit is now complete and running, requiring more than 1400 machine and construction hours to complete the display. For now, check out the Mery page here.

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