1. Witte Engine Serial Numbers
  2. Witte Engine
  3. Witte Gas Engine Serial Numbers

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For instance, there is a 3HP with a 3-3/4' bore and a 3HP with a 4-1/4' bore and Witte chose not to put the model on the serial tag. Some serial tags have 1/2 added to the HP (again, the diameter of the cyl. Is the most important information you can give us). At one time we had a 2HP, 2-1/2HP, and 3HP in the engine barn, all the same size.
The following is an excerpt from the Bores and Strokes series of pamphlets (vol 17, No.1) distributed by the Coolspring Power Museum, of Coolspring, PA. The Coolspring Power Museum’s mission is To collect, restore, operate, display, preserve and interpret historically significant and mechanically interesting early internal combustion engines for the education and enjoyment of everyone.”
As a child, I developed a fascination in all things mechanical, from simple toy electric motors to one of the most fascinating machines to be found on the farm at the time, the square hay bailer, and its ingenious knotter.When I was six, my father took me to the local saw mill in West Leyden, which was still powered by steam.Although I was terrified of the dark, hissing machine in the basement, I was utterly fascinated.Around that time, my Dad gave me a small toy steam engine, which I ran until it was worn out.I was hooked.
In 1975, my father took me to the first annual Flywheels and Pulleys engine and tractor show in Constableville, NY. There I saw many relics of the past, including a large 10 HP Pohl engine.Over the ensuing years, many stories, artifacts, and actual Pohl engines came to my attention.Eventually, I took it upon myself to collect this information so it wouldn’t be lost forever.This publication of Bores and Strokes it the result.I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
In 1854, Dr. Nicolaus Otto began experimenting with the internal combustion engine.Although he was preceded by others, such as Lenior, he was met with success, first in 1866, with his atmospheric engine, then, in 1876, with his “silent” engine.While all this activity was going on in the German Fatherland, the son of a German immigrant was learning the blacksmiths trade in a small corner of a distant land.

Witte Engine Serial Numbers

Adam Pohl, with his brothers George and Valentine, emigrated to America from Darmstadt, Germany in 1853 by way of New York City. On shipboard, Adam met Franziska Vogel, also an émigré from Germany, and they were married soon after arriving in America. They all settled in West Leyden, in the North Country of New York State, in 1854.
George Daniel Pohl was born to Adam and Franziska in West Leyden on December 25, 1855. The Adam Pohl family eventually moved to Ava, a small hamlet south of West Leyden. In 1879, George and his brother Valentine opened a blacksmith shop at the southeast corner of the single intersection in Ava. They also had an inventive bent, and, in 1883, they patented a cheese curd mill, and began manufacturing this and other milk and cheese processing equipment. In those days, there was no refrigeration equipment for preserving foods, and milk in excess of what could be immediately used was converted to butter or cheese in order to be stored or transported over distances. Thus, cheese factories were abundant in rural New York State, and there was a ready market for their processing equipment. The brothers also began manufacturing small vertical stationary steam engines of about six horsepower. Production of these apparently continued for some time.
Tag from an Ava-made Pohl steam engine.

The factory in Ava.Note the flywheel, pulley, and engine frame in the center of the picture.

Interior view of the factory in Ava.

In 1893, George D. Pohl went to the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. There he met Colonel William Ritchie of the Advance Manufacturing Co. of Hamilton, Ohio, who was chairman of the committee on machinery and the designer of Hamilton gas engines. George became greatly interested in gas and gasoline engines as a result of this experience. In 1894, he enlisted the help of an engineer named Henry Pokosney, originally from Vienna, Austria, then working for the Otto Gas Engine Works in Philadelphia, to help him design and manufacture internal combustion engines.
Pohl and Pokosney either copied Ritchie's design for the Hamilton engine or at least were greatly influenced by it. This probably arose through an arrangement between Pohl and Ritchie’s company, the Advance Manufacturing Company. The designs of Geo. D. Pohl and Hamilton engines were so similar that customers tried to order replacement parts for Hamilton engines through Pohl subsidiaries. The Pohl engines even adopted the 'Advance' name of the Ohio company. In addition to his engine shop, Pohl set up a foundry to cast parts for his engines. Thus the Geo. D. Pohl Manufacturing Company began the manufacture and sale of gasoline engines in the tiny crossroad town of Ava.
J. J. Bartholomew, mayor of Vernon, New York, frequently traveled north to Lowville, and passed through Ava on his way. He observed the rapid early growth of the Geo. D. Pohl Mfg. Co., and foresaw that such a growing enterprise could bring jobs and prosperity to his home town. In 1898, he persuaded Pohl to move his company to Vernon with the incentives of free land to build on and an adjacent, established railroad spur to ship engines far and wide. Prior to that, the nearest transportation means available for shipping Pohl engines from Ava were a railroad station and the Black River Canal in Boonville, about 10 hilly miles from Ava. In addition, the land in Vernon bordered on Sconondoa Creek. Every manufacturing factory needed a moving stream to carry away waste in that era and the creek served the purpose well.At the time of the move, Valentine opted out of the business to run his dairy farm.His place in the company was taken by Henry Pohl, their brother.
Witte Engine Serial Numbers

Witte Engine

The factory was located in Vernon behind the West Shore Hotel on Verona Street (now New York State Route 31). The factory building was constructed across the tracks from the West Shore railroad station. A photograph of the time shows the building with its employees standing in front and with a small steam traction engine at one side. A short, well-dressed man stands apart from the rest. This is George D. Pohl.

The Geo. D. Pohl Manufacturing Co., Vernon.The man on the far right is George Pohl.

Pohl “Advance” portable engine of 8 or 10 HP.This engine is equipped with a belt driven magneto, under the cylinder in front of the flywheel, and a centrifugal water pump.Note the cordwood on the ground behind the engine, and “man’s best friend” behind the rear cart wheel.This image was made from an original glass negative.

Chapter 2 The heyday
After the move to Vernon, the Geo. D. Pohl Manufacturing Company enjoyed a period of prosperity.The company expanded its product line to include many other items in addition to the engines and other products of the past. Pohl offered saw rigs powered by their 8 HP engines, saws, pump jacks, hand and belt powered curd mills andsalters, and electric washing machines.Also offered were engine hoists for setting up larger engines and pumps.Milking machine and cheese processing equipment was in the lineup throughout the life of the company.Steam engines were offered for a period of time, carried over from the Ava days.

The factory in the mid teens.Note the new office and expanded factory building.

The company began work on Traction engines, and had 2 built for trials, one scraping roads, another hauling stone.Correspondence of the time indicates that the frames were too weak, and the engine was too far forward on the frame.The tractors kept breaking drive gears. The tractor frames were not built by Pohl but were bought in. Not many were made; none are known to exist. All used Pohl’s 20 HP portable engine.Pohl also built an automobile, at a time when these now ubiquitous machines were very uncommon, indeed.This line of development was not pursued, as it was considered too expensive.

A Henry, Millard, and Henry advertisement showing the Advance tractor.Henry, Millard and Henry were a Pennsylvania distributor for Pohl engines.

The Geo. D. Pohl Mfg. Co. provided other services besides manufacturing.A ruler distributed by the company advertised“Contracting Engineers; Complete Milk Plants; Power Transmission Machinery; Electric Light Plants”, as well as the engines.They provided repair and rebuilding services for their engines, of course, but they were also capable of refurbishing other makers engines, and apparently did so, either engines taken in on trade, or for customers with engines other than those made by Pohl.
Foundry work was also done for other parties.Early Franklin automobiles, for example, had their engine blocks cast by Pohl.Other engine manufacturers and experimenters also availed themselves of Pohl’s foundry and machining facilities.The Jones oil engines, as noted elsewhere, bear a close resemblance to the Pohl offerings of the time.General machine services were also available.
Agents, at various times from 1900 to 1918 included J. E. Jones, of Theresa, NY;Holmes and Blanchard, of Boston, Mass; Henry, Millard, and Henry, of York, PA; Geo. H. Sprague, in Dallas, TX;Henry L. Chenery,of Portland, Me.,and John A. VanDerWater, of Arlington, NY.
Competition from International Harvester Corporation and other manufacturers was fierce.For example, VanDerWater got outbid on a sale of a 10 HP engine.Pohl’s price was $525, IHC was $475 delivered.The agent for IHC was in Modina, NY at the time, and IHC was willing to sell engines at cost, give a small commission to the agent at a loss and expense it.At the time, Pohl was trying to perfect the tractor to compete with the IHC offerings.Fifteen horsepower IHC tractors were selling for $1300, Pohl’s 20 HP offering was $1450
VanDerWater Sold a 35” clutch pulley to a customer with a Hamilton engine in 1912, as well as a Hendricks magneto.Pohl didn’t guarantee their parts would work on other engines. The price for the pulley was $25 to VanDerWater, $35 suggested resale price.The magneto, either friction or belt drive, was $12.00.Pohl gave a 10% Discount to VanDerWater on these items.
At one point, VanDerWater had a complaint that the exhaust valve chest for 10HP engine currently in production wouldn’t fit an older engine.A cylinder change was needed, since newer chests were water cooled, and the older ones weren’t.These were referred to as “old style” or O. S. engines in contemporary correspondence.
W. G. Wright, of Oenaville, TX, were general agents.They were associated with Geo. H. Sprague, manufacturers agents, of Dallas. Wright sold a tandem engine to Thrall Gin Co, in July of 1912. This engine was shipped on the S. S. El Dia, but the shipment was delayed due to a workers strike. Other large engines were sold in the area. Many customers wanted to run on “Solar” oil of the area. Solar oil is a heavy distillate of crude oil only slightly lighter than lubricating oil. Competition in the area included Callahan in Texas, and Fairbanks-Morse, in Oklahoma.
Oil engine development began in 1912 because of this situation.Apparently, the Fairbanks-Morse oil (kerosene) engines didn’t work very well on Texas Solar oil of the area.Because of this, customers started using naphtha.The Fairbanks-Morse kerosene offerings in the mid teens were throttling governed engines, which allowed them to run hot enough to burn kerosene.These had standard make and break ignition, and were started and run on a small amount of gasoline until warm, then were switched over to the heavier oil.George Pohl wanted to develop a true heavy oil engine.
The company and their agents had many problems with larger engines, both in the delivery and set-up, and on location.One installed at Zephyr, TX was a failure, and was sent back to be rebuilt and re-sold.This was a large tandem.

Large engine, marketed by Pohl.It was made by Struthers-Wells of Warren, PA

Notable Customers
Most customers for Advance engines were local farmers and manufacturers.They were used to saw wood, crush stone, run milkers and other domestic machinery, and pump water.Customers also included George Boldt, a wealthy industrialist, who bought 2 used engines for Wellesley Farms along the St. Laurence River.Municipalities such as the town of Newburgh and Marlborough, in the Hudson Valley of New York, and printers such as the Pulaski (NY) Democrat Publishing Company, the Wesleyan Methodist Publishing association of Syracuse, NY, and the Thousand Island Sun, of Alexandria Bay, NY purchased “Advance” engines.Canning companies used Advance engines as well. The Lee Canning Co. of Hamilton, NY, the Burt Olney canning company of Oneida, NY, and a canning company in Lee Center, NY all used Pohl engines.
One interesting customer of Pohl’s was Neese Brothers, of Auburn, New York.Their letterhead indicates that they were “Manufacturers of Stationary and Marine Gas and Gasoline Engines”There is at least one Neese Brothers manufactured gasoline engine in existence yet, a little vertical open framed single flywheel affair with a decided “California” look to it.They purchased a Holbrook and Armstrong made 2 ½ HP engine, Pohl number 1458, on May 28, 1913.
Another “customer” was The Thresherman’s Review of Canada, 10 Wellington St, Toronto, Canada, publishers. Engine number 1469, a 6 HP engine was given to them as payment for advertisements in the Thresherman’s Review and Canadian Implement and Vehicle Trade magazines.Other customers included Valentine Pohl, of Boonville (Engine # 1524, 2 ½ HP Thompson, and an electric washer), and H. G. Pohl of Ava (Engine 1466, 10 HP hopper cooled, for $298 on March 1, 1913.)
Personnel
Some of the names of people who worked at the Geo. D. Pohl Manufacturing Company are listed below, along with their positions and year they were known to have worked there.
Henry Pokosney; gas engine designer, 1893
Frank Tyron, from Syracuse, NY.;Foreman, Foundry, 1896
S. E. Mitchell; General Superintendent, 1912
F. P. Conrad; Sales Manager, 1912
Mr. Mac, Installer; Field Engineer, 1912
Jesse Ferris; 1913
In the move from Ava, Pohl was accompanied by draftsman and machinist Solomon Butler, with his wife, Esther Mahedy Butler, and their children Zora and Joseph. Soon whole families became employees of the new company, some even from out of state. Esther McKay's nephews, Frank and Myron McKay, who had often visited from Canada, came to work for the Pohl company, as did their sister Mina's husband, Allen Fulmer.
Other employees of George Pohl include various members of the Pohl family.Henry Pohl, George’s brother, and his son, Emerson, worked at the factory for a time.George’s own son, Arthur, was a field repairman for the company.
In 1909, A letter from C. W. Bogart, of Buffalo, NY indicates that he was a consultant, of sorts, for Pohl, advising on such things as engine design and gas producers.Bogart worked at Farrar and Trefts of Buffalo, NY, who built the Bogart line of gas engines.
In March of 1912, George Pohl received a letter from Ned E. Hildreth, superintendent and factory manager at the Witte Iron Works, of Kansas City, MO.Mr. Hildreth, who designed the Novo gas engine for the Hildreth (later Novo) Engine Company of Lansing, MI., was seeking employment with Pohl.Another letter, from June of 1912 from a Mr. Williams of the same company, was also looking for employment in a sales position.At this time, Witte Engine works was phasing out its earlier engines in favor of the “Headless” series of engines, and apparently suffering some growing pains in the process.
Chapter 3 Oil engines
In 1912, Pohl was looking into engines to run on crude oil or heavier distillates.At first, they looked into attachments for the gasoline engines similar to International Harvester and Fairbanks-Morse and Co. systems.This was to be a stop gap until they could develop a “real” oil engine along the lines of Meitz and Weiss, Delavan, and Mitchell of England.These were Hot Bulb type low compression engines.It is not known if a kerosene attachment was developed for the existing line of engines, although the Advance design would have been ideal for this application.
Eventually, Pohl settled on the Hvid style of compression ignition oil engines, designed to start and run on kerosene, crude oil, and other heavier oils. An early catalog of Advance engines declares that they were “…assisted from time to time by some of the most noted gas engine experts in America.”This indicates that Pohl tended to hire or contract engine designers as needed.Since the oil engines were robustly built, Pohl seemed to avoid the mistake of early Hvid designers in making the engines too light.This, coupled with the fact that the engine is completely unlike any of their previous designs, indicates that an expert was called in from outside.This could explain the superficial similarities between Pohl oil engines and makes such as Jones and St. Mary’s oil engines.
Rasmus M. Hvid (pronounced “Veed”, Danish for “White”) of R. M. Hvid Co., Chicago, was the U. S. agent of Brons patents, 868,839 and 922,383.This was a system of fuel injection for compression ignition engines.A true diesel engine injects fuel under high pressure at the time of ignition.In the Hvid system, fuel and a bit of air are admitted into an injector mounted on top of the cylinder head during the intake stroke.The amount of fuel is determined by a needle valve under control of the governor.The fuel falls into a cup in the cylinder, with small holes in it.Air is also admitted to purge the cup of residual burnt gasses.Some of the fuel in the cup is vaporized and ignites due to the extreme heat generated during compression, around 1000 degrees F.This forces the remainder of the fuel into the hot mass of compressed air in the cylinder, which also ignites, completing the combustion process.

Hvid style Pohl injector

These engines operated at around 450 PSI of compression before ignition.This is higher than diesel engines, and caused many problems.The engines had to be built very heavily to withstand the pressures of compression and combustion.Even at that, the engines suffered broken frames and crankshafts. These engines required skilled operators to prevent such occurrences.Another problem was that the high compression would force the fuel past the rings, washing away the cylinder lubricating oil, resulting in short cylinder life.An existing Pohl oil engine needed to have the cylinder re-bored, new rings, and hairline cracks in the crankshaft professionally repaired by a specialty diesel crankshaft repair shop before it could be started.Existing examples of any Hvid oil engine require a skilled touch and lots of determination to start.
Pohl catalogs from 1914 period show small hopper cooled engine of 3 and 5 HP, semi portable and stationary styles, and a 15 HP stationary tank cooled engine.These engines were Hvid oil engines, although the catalog describes these as semi Diesel engines.The frames of the 3 HP engines were enclosed. The 5 HP engines were of a more conventional design, and are shown in the catalog.Another catalog lists the smaller engines as 2 ½ HP.These engines were advertised as late as 1917, in the Oneida County Farm Directory.

Pohl Oil Engine, 5 HP as advertised in the Oneida County Farm Directory

As noted before, there also appears to be a connection between Geo. D. Pohl Mfg. Co, and Jones oil engines of Syracuse.The Jones catalogs illustrate a 5 HP engine identical to the Pohl offering, and existing engines of the 3 HP style have some similarities, but are not identical.Jones, for example, chose to cast its name into the hopper, and Pohl used powered intake and exhaust valves, while the Jones engines have an atmospheric valve.
The Hvid engines enjoyed a brief popularity among engine manufacturers, until the problems from field use became apparent.This turned out to be a dead end in the evolution of the internal combustion engines.

15 HP Pohl Hvid engine, which used the 20 HP gasoline engine frame

Compare this catalog picture to the Oil engine above.
The End
After many years of prosperity, a number of problems began to beset the company.In the latter years, Pohl had trouble getting paid.Frequently, his customers (especially the cotton people in Texas) couldn’t pay their notes, so Pohl couldn’t pay his suppliers. The company would take engines in trade, which were refurbished and re-sold, a marginal business at best.
In the late teens, competition from International Harvester and Fairbanks, Morse & Co. was intense.The IHC “M” and F-M “Z” were cheap, good, and mass produced in quantities never heard of before.Pohl’s design at this time was decidedly dated and expensive, with its elegant sideshaft and signature governor.Their gamble with the Hvid oil engines was doomed to failure.The tractor also failed to materialize. Electric motors were becoming popular in industrial applications, and farmers bought the cheap, mass produces engines or the new cheap tractors.Around 1918 the Bank of Vernon padlocked the factory door, and production ceased. The patterns for the once mighty Pohl engines were burned for firewood by the family. The factory was abandoned and finally torn down.The office building was used as a print shop for a time, but this, too, was eventually abandoned.Somewhat less than 3000 engines were ever numbered in the Pohl shops. Uebler Milking Machine Co, of Vernon probably took over the manufacture of the milk processing equipment.
Other than the coveted engines in the hands of collectors, or, perhaps, still on location in barns or hedgerows, few remains of the Geo. D. Pohl Mfg. Co. still exist. Catalogs, postcards, rulers and other advertising material exist, but these are rare.Correspondence from the company also exists, but this is even rarer.It is estimated that only about 60 Advance engines exist in the world today.
George Daniel Pohl died January 5, 1926.He had just turned 70.He is buried in the family plot in the Cooper St. Cemetery in Vernon.
Chapter 4 Design of the Gas and Gasoline Engines

Witte Gas Engine Serial Numbers

The Geo. D. Pohl Manufacturing Co. built Advance internal combustion engines starting around 1894 in Ava, NY.Production was continued in Vernon from 1898 to about 1918.It is estimated that less than 50 gas or gasoline engines were made in Ava, although steam engines may have been more numerous.None of the Ava made internal combustion engines are known to exist.
Advance gas and gasoline engines are sideshaft engines of the throttling governor type.Most of them had a very distinctive governor virtually identical to the Hamilton engines, driven from the sideshaft.Later, a different style “upside down” governor was used on some of the larger engines.
Since Pohl’s primary market for these engines were the farms in upstate New York, where gaseous fuels were not readily available, they were offered as gasoline engines from the beginning.Gas engines, which burned either illuminating gas from town supplies, natural gas, or producer gas made on-site from coal or wood, were manufactured for industrial users.Kerosene experiments began in 1913, culminating in the Hvid compression ignition engine design.These were also intended primarily for farm use.

Pohl engine with a gas mixer.

The smaller horsepower engines had atmospheric intake valves. As the piston moved out during the intake stroke, a vacuum was created in the cylinder, drawing the intake valve open, and allowing the gas-air mixture into the cylinder.Larger engines had powered intake valves.The configuration of these valves varied on the larger engines.
The 6 and 8 HP engines used counterweights cast into the flywheels to balance the engine, and the larger engines used weights on the crank itself.Some of the earlier large horsepower engines used a disk type crank weight. Machined, forged connecting rods were used through production, as well as machined drop forged crankshafts.

Early Advance engine, around 1900.Note the disk crank and the plunger type cooling pump behind the rear wheel.

At first, the engines were only offered as tank cooled versions, either with a thermosyphon cooling system, or a water pump through a screen cooling system.Later, hopper cooled engines of 6, 8, and 10 HP were offered.The tank cooled engines could also be cooled with a source of continuously flowing water, such as a village water supply.
Ignition usually consisted of make and break type of ignition.This involved a set of electrical points situated inside the cylinder on a removable plug, called an igniter.One of the points was insulated from the frame, and the other was allowed to pivot in the casting.During the compression stroke, near the point of ignition, a trip on the end of the sideshaft closed the movable point to the insulated point.At the exact time of ignition, the trip slipped off a pin on the sideshaft, allowing the points to rapidly separate.The points were energized with electricity, and when they separated, a spark was created between the points, thus igniting the charge in the cylinder.A large coil of wire around a soft iron core was used to “push” the spark across the gap for a hotter spark.Power was supplied from a battery or magneto.Batteries used included the venerable Edison type RR wet cell, and Acme Rapid Fire dry cells.
Witte engine serial numbers

Pohl igniter

Since the engine was a throttling governor type, it fired every second revolution, as opposed to the hit and miss type of operation, which allowed the engine to fire only when its speed fell below the point determined by the governor.As a result, most Pohl engines used some sort of magneto for supplying the current for ignition, as batteries would quickly be run down.Early engines were supplied with magnetos made by the Hendricks Novelty Works, with either a friction drive, that rubbed on the flywheel rim, or belt driven, from a pulley on the crankshaft. These setups required a battery to start the engine. Later, Accurate and Webster oscillating magnetos were supplied as units integrated into the igniter.This eliminated the need for storage batteries.Also available on later engines was a gear driven magneto placed on a platform between the flywheel and frame, and geared to the sideshaft.This was timed to give the greatest spark at the time the igniter tripped.The belt driven magnetos were also offered on later engines. Hot tube ignition, where a constantly heated tube was used for igniting the charge, and spark plug ignition were available at various times as options.Pohl was also interested in “igniters” from the Witherbee Igniter Company, maker of the famous WICO magnetos, although these were not adopted.
The throttling governor system consists of a round butterfly valve in the path of the fuel and air mix.As the engine speeds up, the governor closes the valve through a series of links, including a geared sector that meshes with a partial gear attached to the butterfly valve.The engines had a design flaw that, to this day, is still suffered upon these otherwise fine engines.Normally, when the valve closes, it contacts the sides of the intake passage, keeping it from going further than fully closed.As the engine heats up, the iron passage expands, and the butterfly valve can go past closed, allowing the engine to run away.This has happened to engines in the distant past, as well as the ones that have survived to this day.The solution is to keep the butterfly valve from going past vertical in a positive manner. This is done by either limiting the geared sector movement (6 HP), or a pin to keep the butterfly valve from moving past the closed position.

Pohl Governor

All larger Advance engines, and many of the smaller ones, were equipped with a clutch pulley.These was made by Glen W. Munson Co., of Utica, NY, and allowed the engine to be disconnected from its load when starting or for any other reason.
Several carts were used on the portable engines.Pohl made their own carts, which are characterized by a diagonal cut to the main frames under the driver’s footboard.These were not cut with a saw.A series of closely spaced holes were drilled along the desired line to separate the metal and create the diagonal cut.Other carts used on Pohl engines include Bittendorf carts, and wooden wheeled carts.The wooden carts were referred to as “cheap” carts in Pohl correspondence.Portable engines used a short sub base instead of the full base, and the fuel pump position was moved to a point just under the governor.
Catalogs from the early 1900’s illustrate tank cooled engines only, starting with a 3 to 7 HP gas or gasoline engine.These were similar in construction, but the gas version, meant to run on natural or producer gas, had a gas mixer in place of the mixer and fuel delivery system of the gasoline engine.
Engines of a slightly different design was developed for the 10 to 50 HP range.These gas or gasoline engines featured a very long stroke, with a correspondingly long base, giving the engine a very distinctive appearance.Larger horsepower engines were developed from these by simply coupling 2 single cylinder frames together at the crankshaft with an extra large belt pulley.

Early 2 cylinder Advance engine.

Other options available in the early 1900’s include semi portable engines, with thermosyphon cooling, and portable engines with a plunger water pump operated from the sideshaft.Complete producer gas outfits, which manufactured the gas needed for the engine from coal in a unit called a “producer”, were available on special order.These were purchased from companies like Syracuse Industrial Gas Co. of Syracuse and Vernon, NY, and Wisconsin Engine Co. of Corliss, WI.Pohl was also prepared to supply electrical generators and complete electric lighting outfits with their engines.
A later catalog, from about 1916, shows a rather different lineup.Now, the range began at 6 HP, with Standard Stationary engines available in 6, 8, 10, and 12 HP models. Standard Hopper Cooled Stationary engines were available in the same range, as well as 16 and 20 HP, and 25, 30, and 40 HP Standard Stationary tank cooled engines.The 16 and 20 HP engines noted above now had a different “upside down” governor than the other engines in the line, which used the same classic Pohl governor.Tank cooled engines were offered in 6, 8, 10, and 12 HP sizes, with or without the cart.These were also offered in the 16, 20, 25, 30, and 40 HP sizes noted above, and were now supplied with a belt driven centrifugal water pump.

Advance 16 to 40 HP.Note the Pohl cart and upside down governor.

Farmers Favorite hopper cooled engines of 6, 8, and 10 HP engines were available as semi portable or portable versions.These were a lower cost competition engine, with unfinished forged connecting rods, unfinished cranks, and lightweight frames.Catalog illustrations show these engines with crank guards with an oiler on the guard for the crankshaft, but no surviving smaller engines are known to have these guards.These were probably omitted on the Farmers Favorite engines as a cost cutting measure.These engines had ‘Farmers Favorite” cast into the hopper, but the tag usually reads “Advance” engines, or “Advance Type ‘S’”.An “Advance” decal was applied to the front of the hopper.Powell oilers were used on all engines throughout production.

Farmers Favorite Semi Portable engine.

The catalog also describes 2 ½ and 5 HP oil engines of the Hvid style discussed elsewhere. Heavy duty engines, of 35, 50, 60, and 75 HP were offered.It is noted that the engines from 40 to 75 HP were single cylinder single acting engines with a single flywheel, and either a center crank or a side crank arrangement.From 70 to 300 HP, the engines were twin cylinder, tandem, or twin tandem with double acting cylinders.The conflicts and overlap in the horsepower in the above lineups, and the general nature of the engines indicate that these were not built by Pohl at all, but were bought in on an as-needed basis.Manufacturers of these include Struthers-Wells Co. of Warren, PA, and Riverside Engine Co. of Oil City, PA.

Twin tandem engine offered by Pohl, made by Riverside Engine Co.

In latter days, Pohl stopped manufacturing the 3 and 4 HP engines of earlier years, since by 1912 the smaller engines were being mass-produced cheaply by other companies.To cover this range, they bought engines from some of these companies.A 4 HP vertical engine made by Peerless Engine Company of Lansing MI was offered for a time beginning around 1909.In 1912 they offered a variety of small engines, including 1 ½ HP and 2 ½ HP Holbrook and Armstrong, Gray Motor Company of Detroit, Sta-Rite, of Racine WI, and J. Thompson & Sons Mfg. Co., of Beloit, WI.The latter engines were tagged with Advance tags before they were shipped from the factory, and were purchased in very small quantities.Pohl was also the eastern distributor for Brownwall air and hopper cooled engines from 1 ½ to 3 ½ HP.Pohl solicited other companies for smaller engines, including Turner Manufacturing Company of Port Washington, WI, makers of Simplicity engines.These engines were not ordered, since it required buying a train carload of engines at once.Pohl shopped around for the cheapest small engines he could find.Most of the above engines were offered during the same time period.About 1913, they carried the engines of Nelson Brothers, of Saginaw, MI, in 1 ½ to 2 ½ HP sizes.They apparently settled on this design in the end.Existing engines carry the standard “Advance” tag.
All of the engines, be they made or purchased, were numbered consecutively.Engines were often sold before they were made. Engines were also taken in on trade including names such as Webster, Woodpecker, and old Advance engines.These were reconditioned and re-sold to anyone who wanted a used engine.

Pohl 2 ½ HP engine, made by Nelson Brothers

The following is a summary of known bore and stroke information for the various engine types manufactured by Pohl:
Bore & StrokeHPYear
6 X 1151901
5 X 951906
5 ½ X 951909
6 X 1161906
5 ½ X 961913
6 X 1181913
6 X 981913*
7 X 1281905-1907
7 X 1291908-1911 Dolphin gamecube emulator wii roms and emulators.
7 X 12101912
8 ½ X 14101902
8 ½ X 14151909-1910
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8 ½ X 14161913
9 ½ X 14131904
9 ½ X 14 201910
10 1/2 X 1625
11 ½ X 18301913
11 ½ X 20251913
16 ½ X 2080
*This was probably a speed change
This chart shows how the engines were re-rated as the years went on and the designs changed.The engines were usually overrated to begin with, but with a slight increase in RPM, more horsepower could be got from the same engine.This was common practice for engine manufacturers of the time.
Charles
Examination of a few existing engines reveals many design differences.For example, a 10 HP Portable engine, serial number 818, has flywheels normally used on the 8 HP engine.The flywheel design for the 6 HP engine also underwent a change between engines 1455 and 1657.This may be due to the latter engine being a competitive type S engine. The earlier one, with heavier flywheels, is a standard offering.Since production of these engines was never more than a couple of hundred copies a year, they were probably hand built and fitted for the most part.Although parts may be interchangeable, each engine had a character of its own, still seen to this day.
Engine 1657
Engine 1657, a 6 HP “Farmer’s Favorite” Type S semi-portable engine was built early in 1914, and spent its working life on a farm near Steuben, NY.It was sold at auction in the 1960’s for the princely sum of $20.00.It then went to Charlie Pierce, engine collector, of Deansboro, NY.Charlie passed away, and the engine was found its way to Gary Love, of Canandaigua, around 1990.In 2003, Gary traded the engine to a collector in Indiana.It made the trip out to Indiana, only to come right back a week later to Lockport, NY, through another trade with Wayne Grenning.It was immediately traded to Woody Sins, and brought back to New Hartford, New York, about 15 miles from where it was built, and 20 miles from where it spent its working life.Incidentally, this engine suffered a runaway during an engine show in 2006.The problem was quickly rectified.It also had the distinction of going back to its place of origin, when it was featured at the annual Customer Appreciation Day at Pohl’s Feedway in Vernon, September 21, 2006.The Feedway is situated across the parking lot from the site of the original Pohl factory.
Family Tragedy
As mentioned previously, George Pohl’s brother, Henry joined George after the move from Ava. He was working on a larger engine in the course of his employment at the factory, and was reaching between the spokes of the flywheel, when the engine fired, severely injuring him. He died as a result of his injuries.His son, Emerson, was in school at the time, and had to leave in order to support his family.He was employed at the Pohl factory as a machinist until it closed. This tragedy is a lesson for all who still work on these old marvels: always disable the ignition before reaching between the spokes of an engine.This is especially true with large hot tube fired engines.
Another tragedy is described in a letter to the company of an incident where “The man caught his jumper in the governor on my Advance engine and stripped the gears, both on the governor and the cam shaft”.This engine was a 4 HP engine, number 942, and was used for separating milk and pumping water.It is not recorded what happened to “the man”.
Echoes of the past
Bill Graves, of Florence, NY describes an engine he tried to buy from a man in Remsen.The man wouldn’t sell.Apparently, the engine ran away on him and startled him so that he wanted to leave it behind the barn and “let it rot!”Eventually, the man passed away and it was purchased by another collector.This is the 10 HP stationary engine that was at the Flywheels and pulleys show all those years ago.
David Sins, my father, used to tell a story of a machine shop in the North Country operated by a man named Plumber in Constableville, NY that ran with a Pohl engine.He said that they used a rain barrel full of water for a muffler.This would only be possible with a throttling engine like the Advance.
Mahlon York, of Clinton NY relates a tale from his childhood concerning a 3 HP Pohl oil engine.It was rescued when he was a teenager and the family had it bored out with new rings, and used it for a time.Eventually, it was traded for some iron that was needed, and tragically scrapped.This engine was reportedly easy to start by just flipping the engine back against compression, and cranking it through once or twice to start it.This is an amazing tale, indeed!
I had the distinct pleasure of talking to Robert Morris, a lifelong Vernon resident.At the time of the conversation, he was 98 years old.He told of the days when he used to draw milk to a milk plant next to the tracks in Vernon, behind the rail station, and across from the Pohl factory.He remembers seeing the engines outside the factory, lined up against the wall, and being test run prior to shipment.
The deed to the Sins family farm records a land transaction between George Pohl, and Achilles Henry Sins, the great, great grandfather of the author.In this case, George Pohl is the uncle of George D. Pohl.The parcel of land in question has yet to be located.