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1/2-Scale Model Of A 1910 J.I. Case Steam Engine
That's my neighbor, Tim Chant, driving my 1/ 2-scale model of a 1910 J.I. Case steam engine in last summer's annual First of July parade. I built the machine out of scrap over two summers, basing it on an actual Case steam engine I saw in a nearby museum.
It's powered by an 8 hp Briggs & Stratton engine but it looks like the real McCoy. I used the inside flue of a hot water heater for the tractor's boiler and an old saddle tank out of a semi for the firebox. Rear 3-ft. high drive wheels are the bull wheels out of two old IHC binders, while front steering wheels are the front wheels off an old manure spreader. I used old furnace parts for the wood box, and a steering worm gear from a Case tractor together with a Melro pickup parts for the tractor's steering system. I used a line shaft out of a blacksmith shop for the main drive pulley and Maytag washing machine wringer parts for the governor. A plastic sewer pipe sleeve with a "school door" closer slide serves as the piston drive.
It took approximately 100 hours to build the machine, which measures 11 ft. long by 6 ft. wide and stands 5 ft. tall at the top of the smokestack. It's a real crowd pleaser at area parades I've taken it to. (Berthold Kolish, Box 251, Mossbank, Sask., Canada S0H 3G0; ph 306 354-2326)


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1998 - Volume #22, Issue #6