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Farrar and Trefts Stationary Horizontal Engine Restoration

Adair Orr

Aluminum
Joined
Apr 11, 2006
Location
Seattle
Hello,

I'm eyeing another item in my father's collection. This engine has me captivated and it is succumbing to the damp environment in our neck of the woods. It deserves a comeback and it's old enough to deserve a museum quality restoration in my opinion (please withhold the museum rant from this thread).

What does it really take to bring all the machined parts back to bright steel? I'm intrigued by electrolyisis to remove the rust, but if the steel is quite pitted, what steps should one take then? Should the surfaces be re-machined? Is this a topic for a historic preservation forum?

In short, I'd love peoples opinions on how they might approach restoration of an engine like this and how far they would be willing to take it. I'd love to see this engine with satin machined surfaces again.

-Adair
 

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Hey, neat engine. What year? I used to do a bunch of restoring work for the old rascals. Some stuff I'd turn down just a tweak if weakness or fucntion didn't play a part. Flats would be surface ground. I did a set of cast iron flywheels on a Fairbanks & Morse model T vertical. Ground them 'til I almost got black lung. The buffed 'em until they shined.
Is that a hot tube?
 
That appears to be a very early steam engine complete with feed water pump.It has such a unique flywheel..lovely.If it were mine I would clean the bright work using a motorized wire brush..knock off the scale and crud...wipe it down and call it good.
The castings appear to have some traces of paint left.The castings can be cleaned by a variety of methods.This is a large engine but even so..I wouldn't get heavy handed on the castings.I think hand wire brushes and kerosene would probably cut through enough of the rust and flaking to look nice yet still keeping the character which comes only through age.
The cross head slides will probably need refinishing on the faces.It is hard to tell what you'll run into but often these old steam engines can be put back into service with just cleaning and adjusting the bearings and such.If you were just going to play with it now and then or show it once or twice a year a total tear down and restoration may not be necessary.
There is a very pronounced trend in keeping these unusual engines in their "old suit" because they possess a character unobtainable in a polish and paint restoration.Many times an engine is devalued by polish and paint because something is always lost in this type of restoration and never regained.
However it is your engine to do as you wish.It would be a gorgeous engine all shiny and new but I don't think she looks bad at all in her old clothes :) Maybe start with the cleaning and adjustments and see how you like it.Rubbed it down with oil and bring out her charms.The old look might grow on you and at the same time save you a tremendous amount of time and money:)
 
The oddly spoked flywheel is an added pulley. That has a piece broken off? If so; probably best (safest for sure)to remove if this engine were to be restored to operations. Some of this maker engines were converted to oil field 1/2 breeds and that was my first guess on photo #2 seeing the extra weighted pulley, but photo #4 shows it is still in original steam condition. This is a nice engine. I have a photo of one someplace that used to be hauled in for out of state and sown at Dublin NH.

I like the working "clothes look" or as Less calls it "old suit". That has become more appreciated as engines in that condition become more rare. I misted your previous posts, sorry but I guess the key question here is do you (or your dads collection) have a good boiler?

How far you take it depends on your skill and what it needs. You can scrap down the flats with a razor blade. Its nice if you can reveal the old planer marks on the flats. Sometimes you can turn the rounds on a lathe and use files and sand paper or polish in place while the engine turns. You might treat the rough painted surface with wax based preservative like LPS3 (working clothes look) or repaint some "sensible' and 'conservative' color. It might be a bit of a mixed blessing to learn on such a nicer old engine this size and vintage. Those terms being very relative when it comes to steam. You are very lucky to have the space, that is 90% problem solved right there.

I dont know from first hand, but; electrolysis might be a good start. I had a friend use this process on a very large machine with wet blankets. It was not necessary to build a big tank. Another area where you might experiment/practice first or start on something less valuable to learn. The pits don't both me but a little hand work might clean those up.

I sure love to see another post with one picture of each engine from this collection :)
 
Thank you for the quality feedback. I believe this steam engine is from the 1890's if not earlier. Dad picked it up from a Ford Museum auction many years back. It will be restored to running condition. It has been under steam in the last twenty years. The engine caught my eye for the detail in the castings and the simple, clean lines provided by the cast frame with separate crank bearings, cross head, and cylinder. It looks very elemental to me.

I am fond of patina, and I agree with comments made here that such indications of age and use cannot be reproduced. I guess I've been eyeing more pristine machines lately and coveting them. My father has quite a collection of large stationary steam engines and they are all "patina runners". They get run periodically and they do work and get gritty. This engine stood out to me as being very graceful and my imagination was drawn to brightly finished English pumping engines and the like. It would be great to have one example in a collection that looked so proud. Perhaps my imagination has gotten the better of me. No doubt this would look fine cleaned of loose rust and oiled down. A brick base would probably be the best compliment. That would require a permanent home.

Most appreciative of the comments.

I believe the engine in the background is a large Atlas.

-A.
 
Hello,

Attached is a picture of this engine while in the possession of the Henry Ford Museum, courtesy of Greg Johnson. It makes me sad to see that it was once looking good and mounted on a brick set foundation. The auction catalog advertised this engine in fair condition and dated it to 1875. The bore is 6" and the stroke is 10". Hope that it is now inside or it has been covered in grease or some sort of rust preventative.

Jake

Farrar&Trefts_HFM.jpg
 
Hello,

It makes me sad to see that it was once looking good and mounted on a brick set foundation.

View attachment 276059

It saddens me as well to know this engine once had a home in a major museum. I'm glad there were interested parties during the various deaccession auctions at the Ford Museum.

The engine has been indoors and stable. My father and I have not sorted out our strategy to undertake the work. As much affinity we share for old iron, we seem to butt heads about how projects are undertaken. Consequently I've been focusing on machine tools and my blacksmithing until I can reignite interest in the Farrar and Trefts.

Thanks for sharing the photo. She'll stand proudly on a proper base again.

-A.
 
A once yearly spray of thick waste gear oil thinned with a bit of kerosine would have preserved in museum condition...........funny,I was at a hoarder friends place last week ,and said Id decided to abandon my old crawler crane to the new owners of my land,rather than pay $2k to shift it........the father was getting really worked up,when the son mentions the current price of ferrous scrap.....the old man explodes (just about literally) ...how would you know the price of scrap?.....and you know the rest.
 
The Farrar & Trefts is still just hanging out, buried in a building with other big stationary engines and boilers in the way. I built a rolling base for it so that we might get better access.

In our climate no iron is safe unless it is in conditioned space or constantly maintained. Condensation is dreadful. I can barely stay on top of it with the machinery in my own shop.
 
I hear ya. Any bare metal will rust fast here too. Farm equipment with bare metal get sprayed with oil before storage, and shops have to be insulated properly with heat. I use a window AC unit in my 30 x 40' shop to take the humidity out in summer so my tools don't rust.
 
I believe this is a really old F&T engine as evidenced by the box bed construction. Most of the ones produced by them towards the latter part of 1800’s were what were called hog trough beds.
 








 
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