My neighbor fired off his emergency generator this weekend.
Now the ‘powerplant’ is a tad unconventional… And the generator is belt driven. And the ‘newest’ component is probably late 30s early 40s…
1921 or 22 Superior 20HP hit-miss engine, you can see the belt drive running off the left side in the second half of the video to an old portable oil field AC generator.
And it runs on ‘drip’, which is the gas that drips out of the crude oil at the well head. In other words, it’ll run on about anything…
Oh and it’s been in his family since new. His grandfather brought in the local oil field back in the 1920s-30s… And it was used in drilling for oil. Once it was obsolete, it was shuffled off as spare parts. My neighbor rebuilt it quite a few years ago, and runs it regularly… LOL
Low maintenance, high reliability. What’s not to like?
Cool, love old engines, steam or internal combustion. With a little lube that old girl will be popping away when the next ice age comes.
WSF- Yeah, he ‘might’ have said something similar… LOL
NRW- That it will! And it pretty much lubes itself! 😀
I’ve been lulled to sleep on many a camping trip by the sound of those old engines driving pump jacks. Very cool use of one.
Smart, an all-fuel engine back before they became popular again. Even better if he’s got a lathe and a mill and can rebuild any part that goes bad, you know, once every 25 years or so…
Never understood people who have wells on their property not utilizing the byproducts for their own use. Glad one family got with the program and has been keeping it up for the generations.
What’s the output? Bonus points if he has some line-shaft machinery to hook up to it, too, like a corn shucker or said above lathe or mill or one of those wonderful camelback drill presses.
Tole- Yep! 🙂
Beans- He ‘does’ have other ‘toys’ squirreled away… Old oil field guy. No telling what he could pull out if he needed it. There is a 40ft CONEX sitting there too… LOL
I had a friend in high-school that was hugely into steam and these hit-and-miss engines. He turned it into a modest career, traveling around the USA helping people repair theirs, and learning all the old technology.
He was kinda like a “Hobo With A Tool Bag”. He didn’t die “rich”, but he was wealthy nonetheless……
drjim- Being able to actually WORK on old tech is becoming a money making service industry… 🙂
KISS Principal at its best.
I just went to a antique and steam engine thing in Iowa, Threashers reunion i think it was called, for that kinda stuff and steam powered tractors and stationary engines it was heaven, look it up on u tube.
I’ve always wanted to visit the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion, though just for the steam trains and electric trolleys.
Stretch- Yep!
Russell- Wow, that had to be a trip! 🙂
I wonder when Harbor Freight will have one…
I echo Beans. I’d do that in a heartbeat if I could find an old engine like that.