Terry Harper

No connection with Wisconsin Motor Manufacturing. Beaver was based in Milwaukee with the parent company listed as Filer & Stowell Co. They appear to have maintained a pretty good level of advertising visibility in period publications. Their advertising targeted manufacturers of cars, trucks and tractors. This was a screen shot taken with my I-Pad so please excuse the un-cropped areas. I am pretty confident this engine powered the Mercer featured in the original post. T-Head, six cylinder, proper time frame and by Beaver of which Mercer used almost exclusively until the advent of the Delling designed L-Head. This was clipped from “The Automobile Trade Journal” (February 1913). Note the reference to 1913 being the “…sixth successful year building six-cylinder motors”

Mercer sourced engines from Beaver though one source claims that Finley Robertson Porter tuned them if you will. However I cannot find any primary source material that supports that. The outlier are the race cars built I believe in 1908 under the Roebling-Planche name that used a beast of an engine that may have been designed by Etienne Planche but no one knows for sure. Remember also that Finley Robertson Porter seemed to have an affinity for large four cylinder engines as witnessed by his development of the big thumping four cylinder, overhead cam FRP and his swan song Porter automobile which used the FRP engine as well. As far as I know, until the introduction of the later L-head, the T-heads used by Mercer were traditional T-heads with no separate head. Since Mercer, like many other manufacturers, purchased their engines from various suppliers, they seem to have tended to keep that knowledge hush hush to a certain degree. For instance there are a number of period articles on the various Mercers which dive into great detail on the engines but seldom mention that they were supplied by an outside source. the later Mercer L-Head was designed in-house by Eric H. Delling who later designed and attempted to bring to market a fascinating steam automobile. Do a Google Books search for Mercer automobile, Beaver engines etc. Pretty cool period articles crop up. It can quickly turn into a very deep rabbit hole!

I was always understood that Mercer purchased motors from Beaver Manufacturing while Stutz did in fact use Wisconsin T-Heads. All of Wisconsin’s 6 cylinder motors were large, low rpm (1200-1400) beasts designed for marine, truck, tractor or industrial use.

Back on February 17th we had our winter event at the museum. This got me thinking about a set of skis for the 10 ton Lombard Tractor-Truck. These machines were designed for winter use with skis for steering, however the factory also offered a kit that allowed wheels to be swapped for the skis. This particular machine was purchased new by the city of Waterville, Maine in 1934 and used for plowing and either lost the skis at some point or never had a set. anyway, with the Tuesday crews help we have logs on the way to the mill and will shortly have 5x8 Timbers to cut out the skis from. Being a logging museum with a fully functional mill complex and having plenty of salvage logs after a recent winter storm makes this aspect of the project that much easier. Today, Paul removed the pedestals, stock and axle from another Lombard that is in the restoration queue. now we just need to gather it all together and purchase the steel and fasteners. Update: 3-5-2024 It being a beautiful day at the Museum, with the infamous Tuesday Crew out and about working on various project, Charlie, Aaron and Byron ran the logs through our vintage Hackett & Witham sawmill. so we now have some lovely 5”x8” Timbers to work with.

Of more recent vintage, the short lived but clever Costin Amigo comes to mind which used a wood chassis.

If only Pebble was an event held in snow country

They have a wonderful video on as well:

I believe the Reading steam carriage used a similar setup with upright cylinders attached to a fire tube boiler.

Don't see a stash like this everyday. Facebook Marketplace: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1546663282791815/ Seller's Description Six Avantis in various conditions, from terrible to driveable. 4 1963's, 1 1964, 1 1979. Two of the 1963s are R2s. Hoping to sell the package, but will consider individual sales. Trades considered. Dave,

Looks to be a very nice survivor. Can't comment on the price. Facebook Marketplace: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/354169224121833/ Seller's Description DURANT,,,DURANT MOTORS,,,FB has no listing for it so I put FORD,,,very rare car,no rust,original paint,clear title,good interior,keep it all original or make a one of a kind street rod,,,I priced it at $12,500 but really just want to trade for an old pickup truck to ride around in for my retirement,,,TRADE!,,,TRADE!,,,TRADE! Sabina,Ohio.

In addition to having the dump truck out and about we also had the 10 ton, 1934 Lombard Tractor-Truck out on the log hauler road with the sleds. Equipped with wheels rather than the far more common skis, it was used by the City of Waterville, Maine to keep the roads clear during the long winter months. We hope to swap the wheels for skis for next years event. Often these machines were purchased with a set of skis and a set of wheels. Even the dump truck is set up so it can use skis. the partial load of logs was a nod to its designed use which was hauling trains of sleds loaded with over 200 tons of logs or pulpwood.

As a rule we run non-ethanol. Since the tanks are large (60 gallons on the 10 ton tractor) and never anywhere near full and we have an unheated building combined with this time of year when the days can start in the single digits and climb to the high thirties or low forties within 12 hours, it’s been worth the extra cost. Absolutely! The cost compared to the benefit of the experience, enjoyment and delight brought to our visitors is totally insignificant.

Yesterday we had our winter event at the Maine Forest & Logging Museum. This winter snow has been unusually sparse here in northern Maine. Rough sledding as they would say back in the day. However, the museum roads were pretty much sheets of ice with just a dusting of snow. Needless to say it didn’t take much convincing to fire up the 1928 Lombard Model T dump truck and put it to use sanding the road. Of course saying your going to do something and actually doing it are two vastly different things. The Lombard of course ran flawless but being far advanced in age from the strength of my youth I was left wanting when it came to taking a pick axe to the frozen sand pile. Luckily Brian and his son Tim arrived to save us from complete disgrace. This wonderful beast was built new for the Town of Gorham, Maine. Weighing 8 tons it was used for plowing and road work and later used in the woods by a lumber company. It was an honor to put it to use as originally intended and sharing that experience with my daughter and good friends - it was truly the highlight of a wonderful day. since fuel consumption with the Lombard is measured in gallons per hour I am doubtful the beast earned its keep…. But it was priceless. https://youtu.be/brQecW09ZPs?si=h56_i3PUPgOVNnG4

Thank you Phillip!

Problem is I haven't made a lot of post lately and I cannot for the life of me recall anything that would have been considered inappropriate or disrespectful.

Why all of a sudden do some of my post need to be “reviewed “ by a moderator?? Have I been assigned to the naughty list? it has happened twice today

Hello Joe, Great comment. I can think of lots of parts but… every tool has its optimal application and 3D printing is no different. Sometimes it will be the best option and sometimes not. Your example of the moto meter would indeed be a good application of the technology either lost PLA or 3D metal printing. here are a couple more examples: I needed a fixture to hold headlight forks for machining. I few minutes using CAD (in this case Solidworks) and a few hours letting the 3D printer work its magic (while I work on something else) and I now have a cheap fixture that cost me less than 20 minutes of my time at a fraction of the cost to make it out of aluminum etc. Another example is the end cap to a generator we did recently. We scanned the part, reverse engineered it and created the shop drawings. With the part modeled we have several options - direct to 3D metal printing or with some modifications using lost PLA here is a rendering of the Solidworks file Another application is foundry patterns. This is a water pump impeller for an early Nash. As with the generator end cap we scanned it, reverse engineered it, created the shop drawings and 3D printed a pattern for traditional sand casting. It also could have been done as a lost PLA casting.

For 3D printing its always STL format. Most CAD programs should be able to export an STL file. The real problem is often when you are moving from one CAD program to another.

That I do know.. Currently have a lab full of students learning Solidworks, a bit of Fusion 360, Revit and Infraworks..

Gary, Don’t forget that unless they can do the CAD work themselves, you need to include your time and overhead in the equation.

Yes, you are absolutely correct! Its a wonderful tool yet like any tool, there are times when its a great advantage and other times when other methods are better suited. Its all about choosing the right tool for the specific job.

Contact a person or firm and get an estimate. Its impossible to provide an estimate without seeing the actual part or understanding the desired outcome or deliverables. Every part is different - some complex, some simple etc. Could you entice an engineering student to do the work? Probably. Would that work include not just the CAD model but also a set of shop drawings including GD&T and fits and tolerances? Probably not. However, if the part requires machining that would be a must to maintain design intent. (i.e. how the component interfaces with other components) If your willing to pay for quality work don't be surprised if the CAD work is the most expensive part of the project.... by far. As for 3D scanning: Scan the part, reverse engineer (i.e. create a optimized model) in this instance, since the 3D scanner cannot capture internal features and geometry, a considerable amount of time will be spent working in Solidworks to reverse engineer and create those optimized models followed by determining fits and calculating tolerances to be included in the shop drawings - takes time and money as well. You cannot short cut that unless you can do it yourself. Merged and aligned scans Final output from scanner. Next step reverse engineering in Solidworks or other CAD program.

Years ago (late 1990’s) I ran across a Mack that was pretty much identical to this in an old granite quarry near Bar Harbor. The truck itself was a bit rougher but both the engine on the truck and the crane would still turn on the crank. I remember being quite impressed with those wide, hard rubber rear tires.

That Baldwin is sweet indeed….. however, speaking from experience…. Even the cost of a top tier antique automobile pales significantly in comparison to the vast quantities of cash and treasure a locomotive rebuild can consume… sigh… but I love them so! The grid lines on the boiler and dome are a guide for the Ultrasonic thickness testing to determine wastage of the shell, firebox sheets and back head. Before a buyer plunks down their hard earned cash, they might want to get a copy of that survey.