Part 10 (1/2)

Engine oil however should be but little lower in quality than the cylinder oil, owing to the proximity of the bearings to the boiler, they are at all times more or less heated, and require a much heavier oil than a journal subject only to the heat of its own friction. The Renown Engine Oil has the peculiarity of body or lasting qualities combined with the fact that it does not gum on the hot iron and allows the engine to be wiped clean.

INJECTORS

The next in the list of inquiries was for a reliable injector. I was not surprised at this for up to a few years ago there were a great many engines running throughout the country with only the independent or cross-head pump, and engineers wis.h.i.+ng to adopt the injector naturally want the best, while others had injectors more or less unsatisfactory.

In replying to these letters I recommend one of three or four different makes (all of which I had found satisfactory) with a request that the party asking for same should write to me if the injector proved unsatisfactory in any way. Of all the letters received, I never got one stating any objection to either the Penberthy or the Metropolitan. This fact has led me to think that probably my reputation as a judge of a good article was safer by sticking to the two named, which I shall do until I know there is something better. This does not mean that there are not other good injectors, but I am telling you what I know to be good, and not what may be good. The fact that I never received a single complaint from either of them was evidence to me that the makers of these two injectors are very careful not to allow any slighting of the work. They therefore get out no defective injectors. The Penberthy is made by The Penberthy Injector Co., of Detroit, Mich., and the Metropolitan by The Hayden & Derby Mfg. Co., New York, N. Y.

SIGHT FEED LUBRICATOR

These come next in the long list of inquiries and wis.h.i.+ng to satisfy myself as to the relative superiority of various cylinder Lubricators, I resorted to the same method as persued in regard to injectors. This method is very satisfactory to me from the fact that it gives us the actual experience of a cla.s.s of engineers who have all conditions with which to contend, and especially the unfavorable conditions. I have possibly written more letters in answer to such questions as: ”Why my Lubricator does this or that; and why it don't do so and so?” than of any other one part of an engine, (as a Sight Feed Lubricator might in this day be considered a part of an engine.) Of all the queries and objections made of the many Lubricators, there are two showing the least trouble to the operator. There are the Wm. Powell Sight Feed Lubricator (cla.s.s ”A”) especially adapted to traction and road engines owing to the sight-gla.s.s being of large diameter, which prevents the drop touching the side of gla.s.s, while the engine is making steep grades and rough uneven roads, made by The Wm. Powell Co., Cincinnati, O., and for sale by any good jobbing house, and the Detroit Lubricator made by the Detroit Lubricator Co., of Detroit, Mich. I have never received a legitimate objection to either of these two Lubricators, but I received the same query concerning both, and this objection, if it may be called such, is so clearly no fault of the construction or principle of the Lubricator that I have concluded that they are among if not actually the best sight feed Lubricator on the market to-day. The query referred to was: ”Why does my gla.s.s fill with oil?” Now the answer to this is so simple and so clearly no fault of the Lubricator that I am entirely satisfied that by recommending either of these Lubricators you will get value received; and here is a good place to answer the above query. If you have run a thres.h.i.+ng engine a season or part of a season you have learned that it is much easier to get a poor grade of oil than a good one, yet your Lubricator will do this at times even with best of oil, and the reason is due to the condition of the feed nozzle at the bottom of the feed gla.s.s. The surface around the needle point in the nozzle becomes coated or rough from sediment from the oil. This coating allows the drop to adhere to it until it becomes too large to pa.s.s up through the gla.s.s without striking the sides and the gla.s.s becomes blurred and has the appearance of being full of oil, so in a measure to obviate this Powell's Lubricators are fitted with 3/4 gla.s.ses-being of large internal diameter. The permanent remedy however is to take out the gla.s.s and clean the nozzle with waste or a rag, rubbing the points smooth and clean. The drop will then release itself at a moderate size and pa.s.s up through the gla.s.s without any danger of striking the sides. However, if the Lubricator is on crooked it may do this same thing. The remedy is very simple-straighten it up. While talking of the various appliances for oiling your engine you will pardon me if I say that I think every traction engine ought to be supplied with an oil pump as you will find it very convenient for a traction engine especially on the road. For instance, should the engine prime to any great extent your cylinder will require more oil for a few minutes than your sight feed will supply, and here is where, your little pump will help you out. Either the Detroit or Powell people make as good an article of this kind as you can find anywhere, and can furnish you either the gla.s.s or metal body.

Hard Grease and a good Cup come next. In my trips over various parts of the country I visit a great many engineers and find a great part of them using hard grease and I also find the quality varying all the way from the very best down to the cheapest grade of axle grease. The Badger Oil I think is the best that can be procured for this purpose, and while I do not know just who makes it, you will probably have but little trouble in finding it, and if you are looking for a first cla.s.s automatic cup for your wrist pin or crank box get the Wm. Powell Cup from any jobbing supply house.

These people also make a very neat little attachment for their Cla.s.s ”A”

Lubricator which is a decided convenience for the engineer, and is called a ”Filler.” It consists of a second reservoir or cup, of about the same capacity of the reservoir of Lubricator, thus doubling the capacity. It is attached at the filling plug, and is supplied with a fine strainer, which catches all dirt, and grit, allowing only clear oil to enter the lubricator, and by properly manipulating the little shut-off valve the strainer can be removed and cleaned and the cup refilled without disturbing the working of the Lubricator. This little attachment will soon be in general use.

BOILER FEEDERS

Injectors have a dangerous rival in the Moore Steam Pump or boiler feeder for traction engines, and the reason this little pump is not in more general use is the fact that among the oldest methods for feeding a boiler is the independent steam pump and they were always unsatisfactory from the fact that they were a steam engine within themselves, having a crank or disc, flywheel, eccentric, eccentric yoke, valve, valve stem, crosshead, slides, and all the reciprocating parts of a complete engine.

Being necessarily very small, these parts of course are very frail and delicate, were easily broken or damaged by the rough usage to which they were subjected while b.u.mping around over rough roads on a traction engine. The Moore Pump, manufactured by The Union Steam Pump Company, of Battle Creek, Mich., is a complete departure from the old steam engine pump, and if you take any interest in any of the novel ways in which steam can be utilized send to them for a circular and sectional cuts and you can spend several hours very profitably in determining just how the direct pressure from the boiler can be made to drive the piston head the full stroke of cylinder, open exhaust port, s.h.i.+ft the valve open steam port and drive the piston back again and repeat the operation as long as the boiler pressure is allowed to reach the pump and yet have no connection whatever with any of the reciprocating parts of the pump, and at the same time lift and force water into the boiler in any quant.i.ty desired.

Another novel feature in this ”little boiler feeder” is that after the steam has acted on the cylinder it can be exhausted directly into the feed water, thus utilizing all its heat to warm the water before entering the boiler. Now it required a certain number of heat units to produce this steam which after doing its work gives back all its heat again to the feed water and it would be a very interesting problem for some of the young engineers, as well as the old ones, to determine just what loss if any is sustained in this manner of supplying a boiler. If you are thinking of trying an independent pump, don't be afraid of this one. I take particular pride in recommending anything that I have tried myself, and know to be as recommended.

And a boiler feeder of this kind has all the advantage of the injector, as it will supply the boiler without running the engine, and it has the advantage over the injector, in not being so delicate, and will work water that can not be handled by the best of injectors.

We have very frequently had this question put to us: ”Ought I to grease my gearing?” If I said ”yes,” I had an argument on my hands at once. If I said ”no,” some one would disagree just as quickly, and how shall I answer it to the satisfaction of most engineers of a traction engine?

I always say what I have to say and stay by it until I am convinced of the error. Now some of you will smile when I say that the only thing for gear where there is dust, is ”Mica Axle Grease.” And you smile because you don't know what it is made of, but think it some common grease named for some old saint, but that is not the case. If these people who make this lubricant would give it another name, and get it introduced among engineers, nothing else would be used. You have seen it advertised for years as an axle grease and think that is all it is good for; and there is where you make a mistake. It is made of a combination of solid lubricant and ground or pulverized mica, that is where it gets its name, and nothing can equal mica as a lubricant if you could apply it to your gear; and to do this it has been combined with a heavy grease. This in being applied to the gear retains the small particles of mica, which soon imbed themselves in every little abrasion or rough place in the gearing, and the surface quickly becomes hard and smooth throughout the entire face of the engaging gear, and your gear will run quiet, and if your gearing is not out of line will stop cutting if applied in time.

It will run dry and dust will not collect on the surface of your cogs, and after a coating is once formed it should never be disturbed by sc.r.a.ping the face of the gear, and a very little added from time to time will keep your gear in fine shape. Its name is against it and if the makers would take a tumble to themselves and call it ”Mica Oil” or some catchy name and get it introduced among the users of tight gearing, they would sell just as much axle grease and all the grease for gearings.

FORCE FEED OILER

Force feed oiler come next on the list. This is something not generally understood by engineers of traction and farm engines, and accounts for it being so far down the list. But we think it will come into general use within a few years, as an oiler of this kind forces the oil instead of depending on gravity.

The Acorn Bra.s.s Works of Chicago make a very unique and successful little oiler which forces a small portion of oil in a spray into the valve and cylinder, and repeats the operation at each stroke of the engine, and is so arranged that it stops automatically as soon as the oil is out of the reservoir; and at once calls the attention of the engineer to the fact, and it can be regulated to throw any quant.i.ty of oil desired. Is made for any size or make of engine.

SPEEDER

One of the little things, that every engineer ought to have is a Motion counter or speeder. Of course, you can count the revolutions of your engine, but you frequently want to know the speed of the driven pulley, cylinder for instance: When you know the exact size of engine pulley and your cylinder pulley, and the exact speed of your engine, and there was no such thing as the slipping of drive belt, you could figure the speed of your cylinder, but by knowing this and then applying the speeder, you can determine the loss by comparing the figured speed with the actual speed shown by the speeder. If you have a good speeder you can make good use of it every day you run machinery. If you want one you want the best and there is nothing better than the one made by The Tabor Manufacturing Co., of Philadelphia, Pa. We use no other. You will see their advertis.e.m.e.nt in the American Thresherman.

SPARK ARRESTER

But one article in the entire list did I find to be sectional, and that was for a spark arrester. These inquiries were all without exception from the wooded country, that is, from a section where it is cheaper to burn wood than coal. There is nothing strange that parties running engines in these sections should ask for a spark arrester, as builders of this cla.s.s of engines usually supply their engines with a ”smoke stack”, with little or no reference to safety from fire. This being recognized by some genius in one of our wooded states who has profited by it and has produced a ”smoke stack” which is also a ”spark arrester.”

This stack is a success in every sense of the word, and is made for any and all styles of farm and saw mill engines. It is made by the South Bend Spark Arrester Co., of South Bend, Indiana, and if you are running an engine and firing with wood or straw, don't run too much risk for the engineer usually comes in for a big share of the blame if a fire is started from the engine. And as the above company make a specialty of this particular article, you will get something reliable if you are in a section where you need it.

LIFTING JACK