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As Seen at Renfro Valley Appalachian Harvest Festival__2006
A very nice example of a Fairbanks-Morse Hit-'n'-Miss Flywheel Engine
Fairbanks Morse and Company began in 1823 manufacturing cast-iron plows and stoves.
Fairbanks-Morse manufactured many and varied products; they were famous for their platform scales which sat in any feed-mill or store that sold bulk bagged or boxed items by weight.
Fairbanks-Morse even manufactured a line of diesel-electric rail-road locomotives; the "Fairbanks-Morse Trainmaster."
The parent company lasted until it was merged in 1958 and by then had become a huge company.
Three subsidiary companies exist under the Fairbanks-Morse name to this day, manufacturing scales, engines, and pumps.
US Hwy 25 - Renfro Valley - Rockcastle County - Kentucky
I-75 Exit #62 Saturday_07-October-2006
As Seen at Renfro Valley Appalachian Harvest Festival__2006
850 Watts - 1-1/2-horsepower
The Light Plant was removed from the home of Rachel Ware Bush(1896-1974) of Winchester in Clark County, Kentucky.
Rachel was temporarily married to wealthy Clay-Wachs Stockyard owner Floyd Greene Clay whose background and history is well worth a read - check out his father and grandfather.
There are sixteen glass batteries/cells, containing Lead and Zinc Plates submerged within Sulphuric Acid.
Just like the 6- or 12-volt battery in your truck, each cell is nominal 2-volts; they are connected in series to yield 16-cells x 2-volts = 32-volts.
Fully charged and under light load, they are capable of upwards of 50-volts.
You can parallel-connect as many more 16-cell batteries as you wish to increase the reserve capacity without increasing voltage.
If you wish, you can series connect three 12-volt car batteries or five or six 6-volt car batteries and it will charge them as well.
Delco offered a whole compliment of 32-volt household and farming appliances.
Those big glass reservoirs had enough holding power that you could go a long time before the engine would start and charge the cells again.
Unlike the disposable car batteries of today, you could remove the top, wash everything, replace or repair any damaged plates, dump the old weak dirty acid in the sinkhole, and replace it with new, and never again have to buy another cell.
US Hwy 25 - Renfro Valley - Rockcastle County - Kentucky
I-75 Exit #62 Saturday_07-October-2006
37° 23' 1.07"N 84° 19' 43.12"W Elevation 928'
The rural Casey County family of Katherine Stafford Rubarts(Eugene) and Martha Stafford Wilkinson(Wallace) were well-to-do enough that they had a Delco Light Plant on their farm; many times they have told me the stories of how they had electricity and all the conveniences many years before any of their neighbors.
Heavily Modified Ford Model "A" Belt-powering an Ireland Drag Saw
As Seen at Masiker's Machinery Exhibition_2025
A book could be written on the extensive modifications to this machine; as best I can tell, it is a Model "A" Ford; but, it may not even be a Ford.
The single-bottom plow is raised and lowered manually by a long lever.
You can see the long belt, which is wrapped around the left-rear tire, exiting the photo to left.
The rear wheels, "widow-makers" which do not match, are from two different models of 1-1/2-ton truck; they have been re-drilled and fitted with home-made adapters.
Take note of the "V-8" hub-caps on both front wheels; the engine is an inline 4-cylinder; the current wheels and definitely the hub-caps are not original to the car.
The left-front tire is a testament to the integrity and longevity of good old Bias-ply Tires; it has worn through three layers of cord and is as crackled and rotten as can be and is still holding together and will still be so thirty years from now; a modern steel-belted radial is lucky to last five years before it slings it's tread and explodes into a twisted wad of rusty wire.
When that modern computerized plastic marvel that you are driving today is 90-plus-years-old, will there be enough of it left to be put to some useful purpose such as this Model "A" has ?
910 Shop Hill Road - Liberty - Casey County - Kentucky Saturday_04-October-2025
37°20'36.88"N 85° 3'10.30"W 1,012'
Ireland Drag Saw
Ireland Machine & Foundry Co.
Norwich, New York
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