I’m 71 yrs old and back in the 50’s and 60’s when I was a kid my great grandfather lived in an oil and gas company house on Oil Ridge Tyler County WV. His job was to keep the massive meaning HUGE hit and miss engine running he also oiled the belts that ran several pumping stations off of the flywheel of the hit and miss engine. The main belt ran a pulley that ran other belts that went to the pumps. It was a pretty amazing thing to see for a little kid, the engine could be heard for miles. In the late 60’s the operation was converted to electric motors for the field pumps and my great Gran Pap had to move into town and lived with my grandmother. He had some amazing stories about the old hit and Miss engine. Those days in the USA were amazing.

The part that got the tears from laughing flowing for me was when he said "if you've got one of these at home.......it is possible to blow one of these up by doing an air start" Priceless.

Old Engineer here from Ireland. Beautiful engine and wonderful to hear. Heavenly to watch and it's kicking my memory cells alive. Well Done young Sir.

Look I’m just happy to see somebody younger. That actually has learned how to do all this correctly. It’s very impressive to an old man. It makes me smile. !! keep doing what you’re doing because you have knowledge very few people in the planet will have??!!!

Towing 5k+ with a jacked up Suzuki. That's some balls.

Just had our gardner ,1.5hp hot tube engine running last night. Glad to see our hobby is alive in 2024

I'm not an engineer, nor a mechanic, but I found this fascinating. The way you have explained everything and the detail you went into was absolutely brilliant! Thank you so much. 😃

In 1991 when I was a young man right out of grad school, I was the HR Rep for the Cooper-Bessemer plant in Grove City, PA. Fascinating place. It had three sections - the Foundry, with three 35-ton electric furnaces; the Machine Shop, with gigantic machine tools, and the Assembly Shop, where the reciprocating engines were assembled, tested, and prepared for shipment.

The spring doesn't control the amount of gas. When that plate lifts, it allows both gas and air into the engine. The gas regulator controls the ratio of gas to air. The spring keeps the plate closed, so it only gets gas when it draws in air.

The longer the hot tube, the more advanced the timing. That tube seems to be too long and ignition is starting well before TDC. It also makes it very unforgiving to start. I'd go back to that 6" now that you have it running and see how it behaves.

As an old ships engineer I must say your explanations are excellent. I did not had any knowledge of this kind of two stroke gas engines, how to time them or hot pipes. In an other video I learned about hit and mis engines, magnetos and how to re-magnetize them. You do this better than every teacher I had. One remark, the rod between crosshead and the piston we called the piston rod. You probably already knew this (sorry).

That was the first time I had heard a good explanation of a hot tube and timing. Nice instruction! Loved the CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) visual aids. It was cool (hot?) to see how the length makes a difference. It was almost like a diesel pre-chamber. Thanks.

Surely there is a better method of turning rod without chewing up the rid with a monkey wrench??? WTH, damn, even a piece of thick cloth would be better than nothing??? Regards from South Africa

5 minutes in, the display and description adds tremendous value to the learning curve ! Thanks mate ! 😊 Cheers from New Zealand

As an older man with a steam boiler background, this was 38 minutes well spent!!!

My grandfather grew up near Sheffield Pa, and had a hunting lodge there. This is the heart of the Allegheny National Forest. Near his camp there were 2 stationary steam engines that ran push rods through the woods to run oil well pumps. Some of the rods are still strung through the Allegheny National Forest as of 2007. This engine was used to replace those steam engines. The Bessemer plant is still in Grove City, sadly boarded up. I went to college there. Fascinating stuff.

Simple engines can still be a pain to get going, good job overcoming the problems.

Thanks for the long detailed closeup of the engine running. And thanks for explaining all the components. Very educational.

Thanks- great explanation with simple but accurate pieces. I wish all the specialists doung stuff on you tube were as clear as you.

I stumbled across one of these in a shed in western PA, Butler area about 40 years ago as a kid riding horses. the whole setup was there, even the belt from the engine to the main beam of the pump jack. It will had plenty of compression, it would hold me standing on the flywheel of about the same size as this one. Only difference is where this has a crosshead guide, the one I saw was directly connected to the piston that you could see the back of. Most of the valve gear and governor control was missing. I'd love to wander back into the woods some day and see if it's still in there. It's obviously big enough that someone would have to make concerted effort to get it out because it was way up a valley with minimal access. Thanks for the explanation of the hot tube ignition, I never understood how those worked... basically a diesel engine with a glow plug. I do wonder however if the type of gas would also have an effect on timing as it should be easier to light natural gas than propane since it's lighter. Now whether that means it needs more or less ignition, I don't know... theoretically running propane, you should only need 1/3 the fuel you'd use on natural gas to get the same thermal energy per ignition... So depending on where that engine came from, and what it was being fed, that may have played a role and explained its odd timing. Cool video!

God those big old two strokes sound sooooo lovely. Thanks for sharing her with us

Excellent job getting that beast running. Great explanation on how it all works was awesome too. Thanks for the video!😀👍

EXCELLENT! THANK YOU for the detailed explanation of the parts of this engine and how it (engine) and they function. MOST KZfaq engine channels omit this 👎 Your very detailed explanation is VERY helpful to those of us who are not experts. PLEASE do more videos in this manner. 👍👍👍

You have done a great job again, I am sure your friend will appreciate the work you put into getting the engine running, it would be nice to see her again after you finish the fine tuning, to see how easy a start you can achieve, and if you give your buddy a crash course in air starting.

I have loved old steam and hit and miss engines since my childhood. Thanks for clarifying with detail on how they work. Fascinating how they produced power from this in 1899. Thanks for sharing.

I'm here in England and loving your video. I think it's important to keep the old technology running. Thank you from Graham aged 70 and a bit. XXX

Great video! Thank you for posting! I worked for Cooper-Bessemer (Cooper Energy Services) in the 70's - 80's. Never saw anything about the Bessemer engines, even though I spent time in the Grove City 'Bessemer' plant.

Love the cardboard and tape explanation of two-stroke operation!!! Subscribed!

I'm 62 years old and lived on a farm as a kid but, never delt with such machinery as this. We did have an old tractor,( brand escapes me), with steel spiked wheels that a wide belt ran from the side of the engine area to a large cutting wheel/table combo behind it that we used to clear our land of trees and cut them into logs. So, I never experienced these combustion engines like this but I sure as hell am amused and love watching these videos! You got a new viewer for as long as you do your work on them. Thanks for letting me learn about how things work from the past.

I wonder if part of the issue might be that propane is less easy to ignite than natural gas which has a lot of methane in it.

This is one of the best KZfaq videos I've seen! I love that a guy knows how to work on these. I have one of those tool and die lifts they're super handy.

Always great to see you getting these going!!

Lot of skill and knowledge you have on these old engines. Very interesting vid and great to watch.

Love that these old bits of kit are still around. Also love the fact people still have the 'know how' on how to get them going and to fettle them!. Nice one, Nuff said!.

Great tutorial/instructional video on the explanation of how those engines work. Taking the head off, Taking the valve off and showing the intake and exhaust ports. Gives one a much better understanding of the engine internals. Thank you for this video.

All the oil sight glasses seem to be short of oil, especially the one adding oil to the intake port.

I learned stuff I couldn't have imagined I needed to know. 🙂 Thanks and keep on chuggin'.

Thanks so much for this video. Terrific explanation of how this thing works. A bit of pucker factor starting the old girl!

Amazing to think that Richard Trevithick born in 1771 was the inventor of high pressure steam engines. I know that everyone thinks that Stephenson was the inventor of railways but Richard Trevithick got there first. In the U.K. you can see and hear single cylinder boat engines and see beautiful old engines pumping water from underground to maintain water level on a canal.that are really huge still work, 17:44 operated by volunteers.

Love the Suzuki, those things were awesome, bare bones, light and small but great 4wd and a lot of fun.

Thanks, a beautiful machine and the noise when running is very satisfying, I must be turning into one of those guys at the country fairs.

LOL....I was waiting for a misfire and it sending you flying through the garage when you were trying to kick start it.....wise choice using that air bump start.....great job getting it running

Ayo you deserve a lot more views and you explain very well thanks.

i appreciate the effort put into the diagram, felt like watching Watch Wes Work for a second there

Not bad! I'm quite impressed with your lvl of engineering. Stay awesome my friend! We need everyone of your type we have. God bless!

you did a great job explaining how this works. I like visuals

You persevered and eventually got it going when many others would have given up just like the owner did. Although a simple engine it takes knowledge as to how they actually work. Watching you work on this stationary engine made a nice change

That was fun to see how this big engine works and to see it up and running. I did notice though that the fly ball governor was not hooked up.

New sub! Love the old engines! Love to watch and listen to them running! Great explanation also.. Thank you

Thank you for your very interesting lessons. I love these old engines but unfortunately don’t have any of them anymore. I learned a lot from your video and have subscribed. Thank you very much. Cheers for Australia 🇦🇺

These look like they should be in Willie Wonka's factory pumping out strange candy

BEEN GOING TO TRACTOR SHOWS FOR 60 YRS AND NEVER KNEW HOW ONE OF THESE THINGS WORK,,,,,UNTILL NOW,,,,THANKYOU !!!!!

Loves the diagram Looking at the connecting rod someone did not look at the original paint and adjusted it. I always look for clues like that

God I’d Love to get me one of them old hit & miss engines. They have a hit & miss engine shows in Portland, Indiana every year. There’s a bunch of them there. And it’s less than 30 miles from me. Thanks for sharing Bud. You have a nice one there.

Great video. I recently started learning about engines. My Cummins had a problem with the camshaft, and I realized I didn't know what that was. So I've been learning a lot. I'm going to go up and talk to those guys at the county fair this year!

I am impressed, You have a lot of patients.

Thanks for the video, fun stuff! It looks to me like the counter rocking of the trailer was one of the reasons it was so hard to get it going. It was losing a LOT of momentum moving that trailer which would have gone into piston movement otherwise. Just an engineer's quick observation. Great video!

Also. That thing is awesome. You’re a great tech, man. Looks great working!

thanks for the patience in explaining the working on the pieces you are dealing with australian fan

Amazing, truly a thing of beauty...thank you for sharing this great machine ❤❤❤

I really learned a lot watching this repair video. Nice job and thanks.

Your one 🧑‍🔧 " hell of a mechanic " Ole buddy 😁👍

Great vid !!! I'm an old 2 stroke motorcycle enthusiast so 2 strokes hold no terrors for me.......however that hot tube ignition system is something else again. Imagine timing the engine by varying the length of the hot tube !!! I'll be remembering that tip, for sure. Thanks for such an informative vid.

The small one I was Building was a 6 stroke - fired on both ends the piston has 2 plugs or ignition sites. Runs on Propane and air. has a large wheel and a smaller wide wheel. Somewhat like this but different. Complex timing. Nice explanation. Called a "Merry"

Makes one wonder how long they tried to get the first one functioning.😊 Needs some counter weights to steady it on the ground.

Awesome! We have the 3-day show at Jacktown where I'm from, everything from shoebox size to steam tractors. I grew up around this stuff, antique farming and all.

I'm from just south of where that was made. I learned a lot thank you! You sir have a new subscriber

That answered any questions I had about them engines. Thanks and I'm a new subscriber now.

I can see parallels with later car engines but the primitive technology is amazing.

Very cool channel 🏁 stuff you don't see every day. Boy engines sure come along way 😂

I gotta say how interesting that was, I've seen one of those engines in the science museum London, all be it a bigger version, your explanation was so clear and easy to understand, thanks..

We had two, similar to that one, on each Light Ship back in the 1950's, I admire your knowledge on something so old, well done. They gave us all the power we needed for the huge light and all our domestic usage we needed. You cant give it too much oil, so oil, oil, oil and in case I forgfot more oil. We had a platform on the top of the flywheel so we could run it round by foot. and the fly wheel mwas much wider than yours to make it easy to run it round. And ours were parafin. I wish I fcould be with you.

This is absolutely fascinating - really informative.

Hi, Thanks for ALL the details of a gas engine. Ive had a lot to do with large 2 stroke marine diesel engines but no experience with gas engines. Oh don't forget to put oil in those drip feed oilers !

Such a neat old 1899 2 stroke Engine

I now know exactly how a two stroke engine works. Very good explanation.

Thanks for all the info and unique machine.

Great video, learned a good bit on these type engines, thank you.

Excellent presentation. Thank you!

Well, I'm 62, and my first tractor was a model H "Poppin John" which was ancient when I was 20. It could be used to back into a 6 or 8" drive belt and become a stationary engine to drive a cane mill. Even though it was tiny tractor, it had incredible torque.

That’s a lot of crap in the water jacket, obviously gravity keeps most at the bottom. Thanks for the knowledge! Super cool! I live in Oklahoma and have three of these that are visible from my house 💪

Great channel my friend. Very informative. Cheers from Birmingham, England

Nice job getting it running. and awesome videography. This was both educational and entertaining. regard D. G. Winnipeg Manitoba Canada

Very interesting. I love engines and this is amazing that our forefathers could engineer these fabulous machines.

You did a great job explaining how the engine works

i did have some idea how a 2 stroke gas/petrol engine worked, but you cleared some details right up. great job. sub +1

I wonder how many times someone got these engines to fire and the things end up firing backwards??🤣🍻 Great video my friend i learned something today

I love these engines! Thanks for a great tutorial…

Casting the cylinder would have been tricky big ports and intricate lines what a beautiful engine ❤

Looks like the trailer movement is making the engine run uneven. Anyway, it was good to learn about the timing issue with the hot tube. I guess it is not just the length but also the temperature that affects the ignition point. There are many variables to get right as you demonstrated, the gas pressure and the strength of the inlet valve spring. I assume that each engine needed to be adjusted to suit the conditions at each oil well, back in the day. I wonder if any of the old boys that kept them running are still around? I imagine the magneto was added to take some of the timing guesswork out of the equation. I suppose the hot bulb ignition needed a constantly running blowlamp? The air start was pretty dicey but better than seeing you run the risk of getting mangled in the flywheel. Good interesting video.

Very interesting. I've never seen an engine like this. John from MI

I learned a lot from this video, time well spent. Thanks

Cool! I enjoyed that a lot. Keep tinkerin'!

The best explanation I have heard so far. Thank you

"that's another reason your piston timing is important, because if your cylinder is too far forward it's gonna slap your cylinder head" what

Very cool restoration work!!!

Love the content 🎉just subscribed thanks for sharing and teaching much appreciated

Great job! Learned a lot!

Good video! A museum has similar engines they run once a a year. Their engines are larger I think. The museum is at Gossel , Kansas. The only thing i'd make was a comment on the flat belt pulley , maybe a photo if I could find one.

Nice job Chase, missed seeing you at Kylespring.