Gary has had several interruptions this year that kept him out of his engine shop, but work has resumed on the Bessemer that Susan and I collected near Blaine, Kentucky nearly forty years ago. I am still amazed that we loaded this thing into the back of the American Motors station wagon by ourselves, and even more amazed that we were able to drag it all the way to Southern Illinois in 1980. This project is a real capstone for Gary's engine collection. It's extremely rare, and the rebuild had several difficult challenges. He will be belting Bessy up to one of his engines soon to break her in before he actually fires up.
This engine ran a sorghum press during its short working career, and I think the owner should have stuck to using a mule. The water jacket is broken from freezing, and the rod was broken, probably from a lack of lubrication. The drip oiler had to be kept topped up and dripping well for the rod, and I bet it went dry several times before the rod hammered itself to death. Great Work, Gary!
Video courtesy of Gary Bahre
You can read about the restoration process and see more photos on This Smokstak Thread.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment