My addiction for collecting all things old started when I was quite young. I used to travel to engine shows all over with Grampa. I can't recall how many shows we went to but we spent many a fond day at antique hit and miss engine shows. Now, I don't have many hit and miss engines of my own and I have strayed into more antique tractors, but I have always been welcome to bring any of Grampa's engines to the shows. Anyone that has been following lately has probably seen a few pictures of this little gem!
Yes it is in my living room, and yes Allyssia approved of it being there. This is a model hit and miss engine that was built by an acquaintance of Grampa's. He bought it and he also has had it sitting in his living room for a good many years, as long as I can recall it has been in the living room. I took it to a few shows this summer and could not get it to really run. I held onto it for quite a while and finally discovered that it had an air leak in the fuel line. Amazingly I changed the fuel line and started that little engine up and it ran just like the day it was built.
Headless Witte running
Now this engine is a 1/2 hp model headless Witte. you could buy the kit for them and you would have to machine out and finish a lot of the parts in order to put it together. This was expertly made and as I said runs flawlessly. In the video the tank with the wooden block in it is empty. usually that tank or hopper would be full of water to keep the cylinder cool. When running for very short periods it is alright to run without water in the hopper but at shows when it stays running for an extended period I fill the hopper with water.
It even makes my little work van look big! Anyways that is just a little bit about hit and miss engines and part of the reason that I have the broad array of old equipment. Hope you all enjoyed it and stay tuned for next time!!
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