TAYLOR VACUUM ENGINES

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 Route 1, State Hwy. 103, Oakfield, Wisconsin 53065

Author's Note: Before I begin, I would like to thank the following people for the information they gave me: Mr. H. D. Stephan of the Universal Milking Machine Company; Harold W. Schulze from West Chicago, Illinois who talked to Mr. Taylor before his death in 1977; Ken D. Dawson from Moorhead, Minnesota, who helped in compiling this data for this article; and the many other people who sent in this information to Ken Dawson and myself.

I would also like to point out that due to somewhat less than complete information, some dates and information may be wrong and I will be glad to hear from anyone who can correct me.

Mr. Jack E. Taylor, who founded the company, was born in Adair County, Iowa, on February 15, 1888. At that time, his father was sheriff.

Before 1920, the year the engine was being developed, Mr. Taylor was a salesman for the Universal Milking Machine Company, working in the Elgin, Illinois area.

During that time, Mr. Taylor began to think of a self-contained unit, such as an engine and vacuum pump, as one unit, which would be more compact and convenient with the elimination of the belting of an engine to a vacuum pump. He thought of using a two diameter piston, (which is the principle of the engine). He spoke to an engineer on how to go about this.

Mr. Taylor built his first engine and showed and demonstrated it at the Wisconsin State Fair, (possibly in 1921). Many milking machine companies were interested in the engine for its convenience.

Taylor Supply Company started in 1920, during its years (1920-1937), produced some 14,000 engines. (More about this later.)

Mr. Taylor produced four styles of engines. The first had no designation for these were experimental. Serial numbers 0-5000 were used for these experimental engines. It is doubtful that 5,000 experimental engines were built. So 5,000 was a start for production of sellable engines. To my knowledge, as of this date, none of the experimental engines have been found.

Mr. Taylor had some parts, besides the block made by other companies and assembled them in his Elgin plant. This accounts for the similarity of some parts to other engines, such as the carburetor and flywheels on some Alamo, Economy and Stover engines.

In the beginning he had some parts made by the Challenge Company of Batavia, Illinois, which had the 6-spoke flywheels on the type A style, after which Fairbanks Morse made disc type flywheels and other parts for the later engines.

For most of the years, he had some parts made by the Alamo Company of Hillsdale, Michigan. In about 1935, the Alamo people went out of business and Mr. Taylor then had the parts made by the Stover Company of Freeport, Illinois, until the time he stopped building the engines.

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