Full-scale Economic model

Modeler's Corner

June 2009
By Thomas Burgess 
economic1
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Thomas Burgess's full-scale model of an Economic Motor Co. engine.
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About 10 years ago, while traveling on business, I found myself wandering through a downtown tourist-oriented shopping mall. I was attracted to a small antique shop which proved to have nothing of interest except there, in a glass case, was a Sept. 8, 1883, issue of Scientific American magazine with an engine I had never seen before on the front cover. This I could not resist.

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Unraveling the mystery
The engine was described as an Economic Motor Co. engine rated at 1/2 manpower (1/20 of a horsepower), also available in sizes up to 1/2 horsepower. The engine was of noncompression design with a flame ignition. I later discovered that this was the only non-compression engine designed and manufactured in the United States.

Fuel for this engine was illuminating gas, which was available in most large cities. It was manufactured from coal and also known as coal gas. The BTU content of this and similar gases was 1,000 BTUs per cubic foot or less. Illustrations in the magazine showed a rubber hose connecting the engine to a gas lamp on the wall. I recently discovered a patent covering a carburetor for operating this engine on gasoline.

Getting to work
The magazine lay in its protective cover for three or four years while I contemplated how I would obtain this engine. I slowly came to the conclusion that the possibility of any surviving engines was so poor that I had no chance of obtaining an original. The logical conclusion was that I must build a model, but I wanted a full-size engine. My preference was to build one that I could transport to shows without help, but this was complicated by the feeling that the engine would not be historically accurate if displayed on a cart. Another thing influencing my decision was foundry location. The nearest foundry I could locate that would do cast iron was over 400 miles away, while I had a friend with an aluminum foundry only 70 miles from home. The obvious conclusion was to build it mostly from aluminum.

A draftsman and I worked out the dimensions of the engine by scaling items that we recognized in the magazine drawings. This gave us a flywheel diameter of 21 inches. I also obtained copies of four patents filed by a man named Hopkins, which provided additional details on the construction. With this information, the draftsman produced a set of drawings for the major parts. The engine size I decided to make was the 1 manpower version.

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