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Mini Steam Engine Works Just Like The Real Thing
It's not exactly what one might think of when you say "family heirloom". But that's OK with Kevin Holcomb, whose grandfather, Kermit, built a miniature steam engine that really works.
"He built it in his shop using anything he could find lying around and modeled it after his own 22-65 Advance Rumely steam engine
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Mini Steam Engine Works Just Like The Real Thing ENGINES Engines 23-5-22 It's not exactly what one might think of when you say "family heirloom". But that's OK with Kevin Holcomb, whose grandfather, Kermit, built a miniature steam engine that really works.
"He built it in his shop using anything he could find lying around and modeled it after his own 22-65 Advance Rumely steam engine," says Kevin.
The rig started as an "engine-only" model that was mounted on a platform attached to the side of the full-size steam engine. The grandchildren could sit on the platform and run the small engine while grandpa ran the large one.
Eventually Kermit removed the small engine and attached wheels to make it self-propelled.
The mini steam engine remained a favorite toy for the Holcomb family for three generations. Kermit died in 1977. His grandson Kevin acquired the miniature steam engine in 1989 and began restoring it, which turned out to be quite a project. "I found that some of Kermit's self-made parts were quite innovative," says Kevin. "For example, the drive gear for the wheels is actually the flywheel ring gear from a Volkswagen Beetle. The pulley is a wheel off a field cultivator."
Last year Kevin sandblasted the mini engine and gave it a fresh coat of paint. He also built a wooden platform to support the tractor and attached it to the top of his Deere yard cart, which he pulls behind his Deere 325 garden tractor and takes to local steam and tractor shows.
"To run it you just put material like newsprint, straw, or pine wood split up real fine into the boiler," says Kevin. "The water jacket around the boiler heats the water which forms steam. A valve releases the steam into the cylinder which makes the tractor go forward or backward. A hammer handle on back of the tractor goes up and down and is used to pump water into the boiler. On my display, the back wheels turn but are kept off the platform by a pair of wooden blocks.
"My 10-year-old son, Jack, already has the ębug' and enjoys showing the engine off almost as much as I do," he notes.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Kevin D. Holcomb, 4103 Prairie Ridge Rd., Eagan, Minn. 55123 (ph 651 452-9098).
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