Rough and tumble engineering; a book of instructions for operators of farm and traction engines

Front matter

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Preface

In placing this book before the public the author wishes it understood that it is not his intention to produce a scientific work on engineering. Such a book would be valuable only to engineers of large stationary engines. In a nice engine room nice theories and scientific calculations are practical. This book is intended for engineers of farm and traction engines, “rough and tumble engineers,” who have everything in their favor today, and tomorrow are in mud holes, who with the same engine do eight horse work one day and sixteen horse work the next day. Reader, the author has had all these experiences and you will have them, but don’t get discouraged. You can get through them to your entire satisfaction.

Don’t conclude that all you need to do is to read this book. It will not make an engineer of you. But read it carefully, use good judgment and common sense, do as it tells you, and my word for it, in one month, you, for all practical purposes, will be a better engineer than fourfifths of the so-called engineers today, who think what they don’t know would not make much of a book.

Don’t deceive yourself with the idea that what you get out of this will be merely “book learning.” What is said in this will be plain, unvarnished, practical facts. It is not the author’s intention to use any scientific terms, but plain everyday field talk. There will be a number^ of things you will not find in this book, but nothing will be left out that would be of practical value to you. You will not find any geometrical figures made up of circles, curves, angles, letters and figures in a vain effort to make you understand the principle of an eccentric. While it is all very nice to know these things, it is not necessary, and the putting ©f them in this book would defeat the very object for which it was intended. Be content with being a good, practical, everyday engineer, and all these things will come in time.

INTRODUCTORY.

If you have not read the preface on the preceding pages, turn back and read it. You will see that we have stated there that we will use no scientific terms, but plain everyday talk. It is presumed by us that there will be more young men, wishing to become good engineers, read this work than old engineers. We will, therefore, be all the more plain and say as little as possible that will tend to confuse the reader, and what we do say will be said in the same language that we would use if we were in the field, instructing you how to handle your engine. So if the more experienced engineer thinks we might have gone further in some certain points, he will please remember that by so doing we might confuse the less experienced, and thereby cover up the very point we tried to make plain. And yet it is not to be supposed that we will endeavor to make an engineer out of a man who never saw an engine. It is, therefore, not necessary to tell the learner how an engine is made or what it looks like. We are not trying to teach you how to build an engine, but rather how to handle one after it is built; how to know when it is in proper shape and how to let it alone when it is in shape. We will suppose that you already know as much as an ordinary water boy, and just here we will say that we have seen water haulers that were more capable of handling the engine for which they were hauling water, than the engineer, and the engineer would not have made a good water boy, for the reason that he was lazy, and we want the reader to stick a pin here, and if he has any symptoms of that complaint, don’t undertake to run an engine, for a lazy engineer will spoil a good engine, if by no other means than getting it in the habit of loafing.

Part One

In order to get the learner started, it is reasonable to suppose that the engine he is to run is in good running order. It would not be fair to put the green boy onto an old, dilapidated, worn-out engine, for he might have to learn too fast, in order to get the engine running in good shape. He might have to learn so fast that he would get the big head, or have no head at all, by the time he got through with it. And I don’t know but that a boy without a head is about as good as an engineer with the big head. We will, therefore, suppose that his engine is in good running order. By good running order we mean that it is all there, and in its proper place, and that with from ten to twenty pounds of steam, the engine will start ofif at a good lively pace. And let us say here (remember that we are talking of the lone engine, no load considered), that if you are starting a new engine and it starts off nice and easy with twenty pounds, you can make up your mind that you have an engine that is going to be nice to handle and give you but little, if any, trouble. But if it should require fifty or sixty pounds to start it, you want to keep your eyes open;

something is tight; but don’t take it to pieces. You might get more pieces than you would know what to do with. Oil the bearings freely and put your engine in motion and run it carefully for a while and see if you don’t find something getting warm. If you do, stop and loosen up a very little and start it up again. If it still heats, loosen about the same as before, and you will find that it will soon be all right. But remember to loosen but very little at a time, for a box or journal will heat from being too lose as quickly as from being too tight, and you will make trouble for yourself, for inexperienced as you are, you don’t know whether it is too loose or too tight, and if you have found a warm box, don’t let that box take all of your attention, but keep an eye on all other bearings. Remember that we are not threshing yet, we have just run the engine out of the shed (and for the sake of the engine and the young engineer, we hope that it did not stand out all winter) and are getting in shape for a good fall’s run. "In the meantime, to find out if anything heats, you can try your pumps, but to help you along, we will suppose that your pump, or injector, as the case may be, works all right.

Now suppose that we go back where we started this new engine that was slow to start with less than fifty pounds, and when it did start, we watched it carefully and found after oiling thoroughly that nothing heated

ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE ENGINEERING.

as far as we could see. So we conclude that the trouble must be in the cylinder. Well, what next? Must we take off the cylinder head and look for the trouble? Oh, no, not by any means. The trouble is not serious. The rings are a little tight, which is no serious fault. Keep them well oiled and in a day or two ten pounds will start the empty engine in good shape. If you are starting an engine that has been run, the above instructions are not necessary, but if it is a new one these precautions are not out of the way, and a great deal of the trouble caused in starting a new engine can be avoided if these precautions are observed.

It is not uncommon for a hot box to be caused from a coal cinder dropping in the box in shipment. Before starting a new engine, clean out the boxes thoroughly, which can be done by taking off the caps, or top box, and wiping the journal clean with an oily rag or waste. Every engineer should supply himself with this very necessary article, especially if he is the kind of an engineer who intends to keep his engine clean.

The engine should be run slowly and carefully for a while, to give a chance to find out if anything is going to heat before putting on any load.

Now if your engine is all right, you can run the pressure up to the point of blowing off, which is from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty pounds.

Most new pop valves, or safety valves, are set within these pressures. I would advise you to fire to the popping off point, to see that your safety is all right. It is not uncommon for a new pop to stick, and as the steam runs up it is well to try it, by pulling the relief lever. If, on letting it go, it stops the escaping steam at once, it is all right. If, however, the steam continues to escape, the valve sticks in the chamber. Usually a slight tap with a wrench or a hammer will stop it at once, but never get excited over escaping steam, and perhaps here is as good a place as any to say to you, don’t get excited over anything. As long as you have plenty of water, and know you have, there is no danger.

The young engineer will most likely wonder why we have not said something about the danger of explosions. We did not start to write about explosions. That is just what we don’t want to have anything to do with. But, you say, is there no danger of a boiler exploding? Yes. But if you wish to explode your boiler you must treat it very differently from the way we advise. We have just stated, that as long as you have plenty of water, and knoiv you have, there is no danger. Well, how are you to know? This is not a difficult thing to know, provided your boiler is fitted with the proper appliances, and all builders of any prominence, at this date, fit their boilers with from two to four try-cocks, and a glass gauge.

The boiler is tapped in from two to four places for the try-cocks, the location of the cocks ranging from a line an inch above the level of the crown sheet, or top of fire box, to eight inches above, depending somewhat on the amount of water space above the crown sheet, as this space differs very materially in different makes of the same sized boiler. The boiler is also tapped on or near the level of the crown sheet, to receive the lower water glass cock and directly above this, for the top cock. The space between shows the safe variation of the water. Don’t let the water get above the top of the glass, for if you are running your engine at hard work, you may knock out a cylinder head, and don’t let it get below the lower gauge, or you may get your own head knocked off.

Now the glass gauge is put on for your convenience, as you can determine the location of the water as correctly by this as if you were looking directly into the boiler, provided the glass gauge is in perfect order. But as there are a number of ways in which it may become disarranged or unreliable, we want to impress on your mind that you must not depend on it entirely. We will give these causes further on. You are not only provided with the glass gauge, but with the try-cocks. These cocks are located so that the upper and lower cock is on or near the level with the lower and upper end of the glass gauge. With another try-cock about on a level

IO with the center of the glass gauge, or in other words, if the water stands about the center of the glass it will at the same time show at the middle cock when tried. Now we will suppose that your glass gauge is in perfect condition and the water shows two inches in the glass. You now try the lower cock, and find plenty of water; you will then try the next upper cock and get steam. Now as the lower cock is located below the water line, shown by the glass, and the second cock above this line, you not only see the water line by the glass, but you have a way of proving it. Should the water be within two inches of the top of glass you again have the line between two cocks and can also prove it. Now you can know for a certainty where the water stands in the boiler, and we repeat when you know this, there is nothing to fear from this source. A properly constructed boiler never explodes, except from low water or high pressure, and as we have already cautioned you about your safety valve, you have nothing to fear, provided you have made up your mind to follow these instructions, and unless you can do this, let your job to one who can. Since you say you will do as we have directed, we will then go back to the gauges. Don’t depend on your glass gauge alone, for several reasons. One is, if you depend on the glass entirly, the try-cocks become limed up and are useless, solely because they are not used.

ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE ENGINEERING II

Some time ago the writer was standing near a traction engine, when the engineer, (I guess I must call him that) asked me to stay with the engine a few minutes. I consented. After he had been gone a short time I thought I would look after the water. It showed about two inches in the glass, which was all right, but as I have advised you, I proposed to know that it was there and thought I would prove it by trying the cocks. But on attempting to try them I found them limed up so1 id. Had I been hunting an engineer, that fellow would not have secured the job. Suppose before I had looked at the glass, it had bursted, which it is liable to do any time. I would have shut the gauge cocks off as soon as possible to stop the escaping steam and water. Then I would have tried the cocks to find where the water was in the boiler. I would have been in a bad boat, not knowing whether I had water or not. Shortly after this the fellow that was helping the engine run (I guess I will put it that way) came back. I asked him what the trouble was with his try cocks. He said, “Oh, I don’t bother with them.” I asked him what he would do if his glass should break. His reply was, “Oh, that won’t break.” Now such an engineer as that spoils many a good engine, and then blames it on the manufacturer. Now this is one good reason why you are not to depend entirely on the glass gauge. Another equally as good reason is, that your glass may fool you, for you see the try-cocks may lime up, so may your glass gauge cocks, but you say you use them. You use them by looking at them. You are not letting the steam or water escape from them every few minutes and thereby cutting the lime away, as is the case with try-cocks. Now you want to know' how you are to keep them open. Well, that is easy. Shut off the stop gauge and open the drain cock at bottom of gauge cock. This allows the water and steam to flow out of the lower cock. Then after allowing it to escape a few seconds, shut off the lower gauge and open the top one, and allow it to blow about the same time. Then shut the drain cock and open both gauge cocks, and you will see the water seek its level, and you can rest assured that it is reliable. This little operation I want you to perform every day you run an engine. It will prevent you from guessing about the water level. I don’t want you to guess. I intend that you shall know. You remember we said, if you know you have water, you are safe, and every one around you will be safe

Now here is something I want you to remember. Never be guilty of going to your engine in the morning and building a fire simply because you see water in the glass. We could give you the names of a score of men who have ruined their engines by doing this very thing.

You, as a matter of course, want to know why this can do any harm. It could not, if the water in the boiler were as high as it shows in the glass, but it is not always that high, and that is what causes the trouble. You probably have lived long enough in the world to know that there are a great many boys in it, and it seems to be second nature with them to turn everything on an engine that is possible to turn. All glass gauge cocks are fitted with a small hand wheel. The small boy sees this about the first thing and he begins to turn it, and he generally turns as long as it turns easy, and when it stops he will try the other one, and when it stops he has done the mischief, by shutting the water off from the boiler, and all the water that was in the glass remains there. You may have stopped work with an ordinary gauge of water, and as water expands when heated, it also contracts when it becomes cool. Water will also simmer away, if there is any fire left in the fire box, especially if there should be any vent or leak in the boiler, and the water may by morning have dropped to as much as an inch below the crown sheet. You approach the engine and on looking at the glass see two or three inches of water. Should you start a fire without investigating any further, you will have done the damage, while if you try the gauge cocks first you will discover that some one has tampered with the engine. The boy did the mischief through no malicious motives, but we regret to say that there are people in this world who are mean enough to do this very thing, and not stop at what the boy did unconsciously, but after shutting the water in the gauge for the purpose of deceiving you, they then go to the blow-off cock and let enough water out to insure a dry crown sheet. While I detest a human being guilty of such a dastardly trick, I have no sympathy to waste on an engineer who can be caught in this way. So, if by this time you have made up your mind never to build a fire until you know where the water is, you will never be fooled and will never have to explain an accident by saying, “I thought I had plenty of water.” You may be fooled in another way. You are aware that when a boiler is fired up, or, in other words, has a steam pressure on, the air is excluded, so when the boiler cools down, the steam condenses and becomes water again, hence the space which was occupied by steam now when cold becomes a vacuum.

Now should your boiler be in perfect shape, we mean perfectly tight, your throttle equally as tight, your pump or injector in perfect condition, and you were to leave your engine with the hose in the tank, and the supply globe to your pump open, you will find on returning to your engine in the morning that the boiler will be nearly if not quite full of water. I have heard engineers say that someone had been tampering with their engines and storm around about it, while the facts were that the supply being open the wTater simply flowed in from atmospheric pressure, in order to fill the space made vacant by the condensed steam. You will find further on that all check valves are arranged to prevent any flowing out from the boiler, but nothing to prevent water flowing in. Such an occurrence will do no harm, but the knowing how it was done may prevent your giving yourself away.

A good authority on steam boilers says : “All ex-

plosions come either from poor material, poor workmanship, too high pressure, or a too low gauge of water.” Now to protect yourself from the first two causes, buy your engine from some factory having a reputation for doing good work and for using good material. The last two causes depend very much on yourself, if you are running your own engine. If not, then see that you have an engineer who knows when his safety valve is in good shape and who knows when he has plenty of water, or knows enough to pull his fire, when for some reason the water should become low. If poor material and poor workmanship were unknown and carelessness in engineers were unknown, such a thing as a boiler explosion would also be unknown.

You no doubt have made up your mind by this time that I have no use for a careless engineer, and let me il6 ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE ENGINEERING

add right here that if you are inclined to be careless or forgetful, (they both mean the same thing,) you are a mighty poor risk for an insurance company, but on the other hand, if you are careful and attentive to business, you are as safe a risk as any one. Your own success and the durability and life of your engine depends entirely upon you, and it is not worth your while to try to shift the responsibility of an accident to your engine upon some one else.

If you should go away from your engine and leave it with the water boy, or anyone who might be handy, or leave it alone, as is often done, and something goes wrong with the engine, you are at fault. You had no business to leave it; but you say you had to go to the separator and help fix something there. At the separator is not your place. It is not our intention to tell you how to run both ends of an outfit. We could not tell you if we wanted to. If the men at the separator can’t handle it, get someone or get your boss to get someone who can. Your place is at the engine. If your engine is running nicely, there is all the more reason why you should stay by it, as that is the way to keep it running. I have seen twenty dollars’ damage done to the separator and two days’ time lost all because the engineer was as near the separator as he was to the engine when a root went into the cylinder. Stay with your engine, and if anything

A 22 H. P. HEAVY GEARING AND STEEL, WHEEL PLOWING ENGINE

To show this engine and then say it is a Gaar-Scott, reminds us of the fellow who painted a horse, and then wrote under it, “This is a horse.” Gaar-Scott & Co., Richmond, Ind., build a full line of engines and threshers, including 16 and 18 H. P. cast wheel, straw and standard coal burning engines. Also a splendid line,, of Double Cylinder Traction engines from 16 to 40 H. P. Wood, coal and universal boilers. Saw Mills and Clover Hullers.

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goes wrong at the separator, you are ready to stop and stop quickly, and if you are signaled to start you are ready to start at once. You are therefore making time for your employer or for yourself, and to make time while running a threshing outfit means to make money. There are engineers running engines today who waste time enough every day to pay their wages.

There is one thing that may be a little difficult to learn, and that is to let your engine alone when it is all right. I once gave a young fellow a recommendation to a farmer who wanted an engineer, and afterward noticed that when I happened around he immediately picked up a wrench and commenced to loosen up first one thing and then another. If that engineer ever loses that recommendation he will be out of a job, if his getting one depends on my giving him another one. I wish to say to the learner that that is not the way to run an engine. Whenever I happen to go around an engine, (and I never lose an opportunity), and see an engineer watching his engine, (now don’t understand me to mean standing and gazing at it), I conclude that he knows his business. What I mean by watching an engine is, every few minutes let your eye wander over the engine, and you will be surprised to see how quickly you will detect anything out of place. So when I see an engineer watching his engine closely while running, I am most certain to see i8 another commendable feature in a good engineer, and that is, when he stops his engine he will pick up a greasy rag and go over it carefully, wiping every working part, watching or looking carefully at every part he touches. If a nut is working loose he finds it, if a bearing is hot he finds it. If any part of his engine has been cutting, he finds it. He picks up a greasy rag instead of a wrench, for the engineer that understands his business and attends to it never picks up a wrench unless he has something to do with it. The good engineer takes a greasy rag, and while he is using it to clean his engine he is at the same time carefully examining every part. His main object is to see that everything is all right. If he finds a loose nut or any part out of place, he will then have use for a wrench.

Now what a contrast there is between this engineer and a poor one, and unfortunately there are hundreds of poor engineers running portable and traction engines. You will find a poor engineer very willing to talk. This is a bad habit number one. He cannot talk and have his mind on his work. Beginners must not forget this. When I tell you how to fire an engine you will understand how important it is. The poor engineer is very apt to ask an outsider to stay at his engine while he goes to the separator. This is bad habit number two. Even if the outsider is a good engineer, he does not know whether the pump is throwing more water than is being used or whether it is throwing less. He can only ascertain this by watching the column of water in the glass, and he hardly knows whether to throw in fuel or not. He don’t want the steam to go down, and he don’t know at what pressure the pop valve will blow off. There may be a box or journal that has been giving the engineer trouble and the outsider knows nothing about it. There are a dozen other good reasons why bad habit number two is very bad.

If you will watch the poor engineer when he stops his engine, he will, if he does anything, pick up a wrench, go around to the wrist pin, strike the key a little crack, draw down a nut or peck away at something else. You can’t see anything for grease and dirt, and when he starts up, ten to one the wrist pin heats, and he stops and loosens it up and then it knocks. Now if he had picked up a rag instead of a wrench, he would not have hit that key, but he would have run his hand over it and if he had found it all right, he would have let it alone, and would have gone over the balance of the engine, and when he started up again his engine would have looked better for the wiping it got and would have run just as well as before he stopped it. Now you will understand why a good engineer wears out more rags than wrenches, while a poor one wears out more wrenches than rags.

Never bother an engine until it bothers you. If you do, you will make lots of grief for yourself.

I have mentioned the bad habits of a poor engineer so that you may avoid them. If you carefully avoid all the bad habits connected with the running of an engine, you will be certain to fall into good habits and will become a good engineer.

TINKERING ENGINEERS

After carelessness, meddling with an engine comes next in the list of bad habits. The tinkering engineer never knows whether his engine is in good shape or not, and the chances are that if he should get it in good shape he would not know enough to let it alone. If anything does actually go wrong with your engine, do not be afraid to take hold of it, for something must be done, and you are the one to do it, but before you do anything be certain that you know what is wrong. For instance, should the valve become disarranged on the valve stem or in any other way, do not try to remedy the trouble by changing the eccentric, or if the eccentric slips do not go to the valve to mend the trouble. I am well aware that among young engineers the impression prevails that a valve is a wonderful piece of mechanism liable to kick out of place and play smash generally. Now let me tell you right here that a valve (I mean the ordinary slide valve, such as is used on traction and portable engines), is one of the simplest parts of an engine, and you are not to lose any sleep about it, so be patient until I am ready to introduce you to this part of your work.