Rough and Tumble Engineering

by James H. Maggard

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. 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 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 his engine carefully, wiping every working part, watching or looking carefully at every point that 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 picked 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 took a greasy rag and while he was using it to clean his engine, he was at the same time carefully examining every part. His main object was to see that everything was all right. If he had found a nut loose or any part out of place, then he would have taken his wrench, for he had use for it.

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 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 to talk. 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 a nut or peck away at something else, and can't see anything for grease and dirt. 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 get 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. You have a perfect right to know what is wrong with the engine. The trouble may not be so serious and it is evident to you that the engine is not running just as nicely as it should. Now, if your engine runs irregularly, that is if it runs up to a higher speed than you want, and then runs down, you are likely to say at once, "Oh I know what the trouble is, it is the governor." Well, suppose it is, what are you going to do about it, are you going to shut down at once and go to tinkering with it? No, don't do that, stay close to the throttle valve and watch the governor closely. Keep your eye on the governor stem, and when the engine starts off on one of its high speed tilts, you will see the stem go down through the stuffing box and then stop and stick in one place until the engine slows down below its regular speed, and it then lets loose and goes up quickly and your engine lopes off again. You have now located the trouble. It is in the stuffing box around the little brass rod or governor stem. The packing has become dry and by loosening it up and applying oil you may remedy the trouble until such time as you can repack it with fresh packing. Candle wick is as good for this purpose as anything you can use.

But if the governor does not act as I have described and the stem seems to be perfectly free and easy in the box, and the governor still acts queerly, starting off and running fast for a few seconds, and then suddenly concluding to take it easy and away goes the engine again, see if the governor belt is all right, and if it is, it would be well for you to stop and see if a wheel is not loose. It might be either the little belt wheel or one of the little cog wheels. If you find these are all right, examine the spool on the crank shaft from which the governor is run and you will probably find it loose. If the engine has been run for any length of time, you will always find the trouble in one of these places, but if it is a new one the governor valve might fit a little tight in the valve chamber and you may have to take it out and use a little emery paper to take off the rough projections on the valve. Never use a file on this valve if you can get emery paper, and I would advise you to always have some of it with you. It will often come handy. Now if the engine should start off at a lively gait and continue to run still faster, you must stop at once. The trouble this time is surely in the governor. If the belt is all right, examine the jam nuts on the top of the governor valve stem. You will probably find that these nuts have worked loose and the rod is working up, which will increase the speed of the engine. If these are all right, you will find that either a pulley or a little cog wheel is loose. A quick eye will locate the trouble before you have time to stop. If the belt is loose, the governor will lag while the engine will run away. If the wheel is loose, the governor will most likely stop and the engine will go on a tear. If the jam nut has worked loose, the governor will run as usual, except that it will increase its speed as the speed of the engine is increased. Now any of these little things may happen and are likely to. None of them are serious, provided you take my advice, and remain near the engine. Now if you are thirty or forty feet away from the engine and the governor belt slips, or gets unlaced, or the pulley gets off, about the first thing the engine would do would be to jump out of the belt and by the time you get to it, it will be having a mighty lively time all alone. This might happen once and do no harm, and it might happen again and do a great deal of damage, and you are being paid to run the engine and you must stay by it. The governor is not a difficult thing to handle, but it requires your attention.

Now if I should drop the governor, you might say that I had not given you any instructions about how to regulate it to speed. I really do not know whether it is worth while to say much about it, for governors are of different designs and are necessarily differently arranged for regulating, but to help young learners I will take the Waters governors which I think the most generally used on threshing and farm engines. You will find on the upper end of the valve or governor stem two little brass nuts. The upper one is a thumb nut and is made fast to the stem. The second nut is a loose jam nut. To increase the speed of the engine loosen this jam nut and take hold of the thumb nut and turn it back slowly, watching the motion of your engine all the while. When you have obtained the speed you require, run the thumb nut down as tight as you can with your fingers. Never use a wrench on these nuts. To slow or slacken the speed, loosen the jam nut as before, except that you must run it up a few turns, then taking hold of the thumb nut, turn down slowly until you have the speed required, when you again set the thumb nut secure. In regulating the speed, be careful not to press down on the stem when turning, as this will make the engine run a little slower than it will after the pressure of your hand is removed.

If at any time your engine refuses to start with an open throttle, notice your governor stem, and you will find that it has been screwed down as far as it will go. This frequently happens with a new engine, the stem having been screwed down for its protection in transportation.

In traveling through timber with an engine, be very careful not to let any over-hanging limbs come in contact with the governor.