Half-Scale Steam Engine

Half-Scale Steam Engine AG WORLD 26-2-24 It looks just like the real thing and even belches smoke out the exhaust stack, so a lot of people think it works. However, it's built just for show," says Ken Java, Frederic, Wis., about his homemade half-scale steam engine. It's an exact scale replica of a Russell steam engine originally manufactured in 1910. Java's model is all hand-machined and fabricated as needed in his shop. The tractor is 6 ft. long and 3 ft. wide. The rear wheels are 2 ft. in diameter and 8 in. wide and are off an old hay wagon. He cut pieces of angle iron and welded them onto the wheels to look like cleats. The front wheels are off an old hay loader. He used the crank and screw system off an old building awning for the tractor's steering system. He used a piece of large storm sewer pipe for the tractor's boiler. The door on front of the boiler is off a furnace. He used sheet metal to make the firebox and corrugated tin to make the canopy. A 12-volt deep-cycle car battery powers an electric motor that turns a series of wheels and gears that turn the flywheel, which rotates and drives a piston inside the boiler. "It's a real crowd pleaser at area shows I've taken it to," says Java. "Many people think it's a real steam engine. I put pieces of old V belts, or even old bicycle tires, into the boiler and start them on fire so smoke comes out the exhaust stack. "When I'm not at shows I use it as a lawn ornament on my farm, where it's hooked up to a rare 1904 International Harvester ground-driven mower equipped with a 4-ft. sicklebar. It was designed to be pulled by only one horse. A neighbor gave the mower to me 40 years ago. I later learned that another neighbor was the original owner. So it has been in this neighborhood for 98 years." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ken Java, 3186 Benson Rd., Frederic, Wis. 54837 (ph 715 327-8445).

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