Tuesday Torque: Do You Subscribe To Gas Engine Magazine?

Gas Engine Magazine began in January 1966 as an outgrowth of the Iron Men Album, a steam engine magazine published by Reverend Elmer Ritzman. Elmer was a steam engine fan, and he started his publishing career in the 1940s with the Farm Album, which he soon renamed the Iron Men Album.  I have been taking Gas Engine since its beginning, and still do.  Elmer is long gone, but his baby lives on.  Iron Men went away, because the steam hobby is much smaller than the the gas engine hobby.

One of our engines, the 5 HP Falk made it to the cover of an issue a few years ago after Gary Bahre restored it to show condition, and we bought extra issues. Another engine that passed through our hands, a 5 HP Collis will soon be written up by Gary and featured in an article.

I bought a 5 HP Collis engine many years ago at a farm auction.  It was built in the eary 1920s for running a binder, but there weren't many made, and production soon ended.  It's a rare engine, and even though it is unremarkable in appearance it is highly collectible. The single pushrod and rocker arm operates both the intake and exhaust valves, and the radiator is in the flywheel  The radiator spins around the impeller for the water pump. It's a compact little engine and it marks a change from the big hit and miss engines of the day. Here it is as it left our garage several years ago.

And here it is after Gary put it back in running order. Gary has been published several time in Gas Engine over the years.  He finds unusual projects and sees them through to the end; then he is good about telling the story for other engine people to enjoy. Be watching for his article sometime in the next several issues.  Gary will also be finishing his article about the 8 HP Bessemer, and I suspect that one will be on the cover.