Special Engines
Circa 1944 Atlas Scraper & Engineering Co. Twin Cylinder Gas Engine
15 (?) Horse Power Gasoline Engine manufactured by the Atlas Scraper & Engineering Co., Bell, California.
The word I have on this unusual engine is that, being built in 1944, this engine was one of many built under contract for the Canadian Army during World War II, by the Atlas Scraper & Engineering Co. in Bell, CA. These engines were slated for use in an auger drive type of snow vehicle and were built around off-the-shelf items (mainly Ford). The crankshaft is of unknown origin, but includes the rear two rod journals and the original flywheel flange. The connecting rods are Ford model B rods, bored for inserts and setup for pressure lubrication. The pistons are light weight, small skirt aluminum. A modified cast iron gear oil pump is driven off of the distributor drive and is plumbed via 1/4″ copper tubing to the main caps. The crankshaft is also drilled for pressure lube. Early Ford V8 60 transmission parts (in ‘never used’ condition) occupy a custom cast aluminum gear box with a special set of reduction gears on the output shaft. This reduction also reverses the normal rotation of the engines output, presumably for the auger drive. An early Ford V8 dry disk clutch is used, again in a custom cast aluminum bell housing. The distributor is a modified Ford model A. The crowning touch has to be the ‘drain pipe fittings’ intake manifold. Aluminum castings are bolted to each intake port and a common carburetor plenum is mounted between the cylinders, all being connected together by two slip joint 1 1/2″ drain fittings commonly found under the kitchen sink. A very clever idea considering the smooth bends and clean, adjustable slip joints for ease of alignment! This engine has never been used and has, most likely, less than an hour on it since being built 66 years ago.
Circa 1956 Hercules Motor Corp. Four Cylinder Gas Engine
11 Horse Power Gasoline Engine manufactured by the Hercules Motors Corporation, Canton, Ohio.
Hercules Motors was the last surviving of at least three Hercules named engine companies during the 20th century, and just recently closed it’s doors in 1999. The company got it’s start in 1915 as suppliers of truck and tractor engines. This little 65 cubic inch flathead four cylinder was originally part of a 3 phase mobile generator set used by the military. Somewhere during it’s more recent life, the original generator and all the cowling was removed, and a portion of the original steel skids had been cut off with a torch. The single phase generator now seen in the photo, had been mounted to very minimal angle iron roughly welded to one side of the remaining skids with it’s input shaft facing backwards, away from the engine. Apparently, the party doing the modifications didn’t realize they were incorporating an altenator rather than a true generator, which meant they could have rotated the altenator either direction and thus been able to have it face the engine. A completely new frame and skid were fabricated, along with a new mount for the altenator and a new gas tank. All components were disassembled, cleaned, repaired, painted and everything reassembled as a unit. The unit will generate 115V at about 2,000 watts turning 1800 RPM, while the engine runs at 1200 RPM.