Friday, November 1, 2013

Weekend Steam: Very Rare Harrison Chain Drive Traction Engine

Small, pre-wind-stacker engines are rare, because they fell into disuse, and then were scrapped when the Great War came along. This early traction engine survived because it was buried in mud in an old river channel. It was rescued, restored, and has been on display at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa for many years. It has been moved out of the permanent display and is fired up every Labor Day weekend nowadays. The sound of the chain drive is a joy to old iron aficianados, and the smokestack going through the steam dome is priceless. Get a load of the Stephenson eccentrics riding the journal offset from the crankpin...all designed with paper and pencil from someone's imagination.

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