I’m 71 yrs old and back in the 50’s and 60’s when I was a kid my great grandfather lived in an oil and gas company house on Oil Ridge Tyler County WV. His job was to keep the massive meaning HUGE hit and miss engine running he also oiled the belts that ran several pumping stations off of the flywheel of the hit and miss engine. The main belt ran a pulley that ran other belts that went to the pumps. It was a pretty amazing thing to see for a little kid, the engine could be heard for miles. In the late 60’s the operation was converted to electric motors for the field pumps and my great Gran Pap had to move into town and lived with my grandmother. He had some amazing stories about the old hit and Miss engine. Those days in the USA were amazing.

I'm not an engineer, nor a mechanic, but I found this fascinating. The way you have explained everything and the detail you went into was absolutely brilliant! Thank you so much. 😃

Towing 5k+ with a jacked up Suzuki. That's some balls.

The part that got the tears from laughing flowing for me was when he said "if you've got one of these at home.......it is possible to blow one of these up by doing an air start" Priceless.

5 minutes in, the display and description adds tremendous value to the learning curve ! Thanks mate ! 😊 Cheers from New Zealand

Look I’m just happy to see somebody younger. That actually has learned how to do all this correctly. It’s very impressive to an old man. It makes me smile. !! keep doing what you’re doing because you have knowledge very few people in the planet will have??!!!

Thanks for the long detailed closeup of the engine running. And thanks for explaining all the components. Very educational.

That was the first time I had heard a good explanation of a hot tube and timing. Nice instruction! Loved the CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) visual aids. It was cool (hot?) to see how the length makes a difference. It was almost like a diesel pre-chamber. Thanks.

As an old ships engineer I must say your explanations are excellent. I did not had any knowledge of this kind of two stroke gas engines, how to time them or hot pipes. In an other video I learned about hit and mis engines, magnetos and how to re-magnetize them. You do this better than every teacher I had. One remark, the rod between crosshead and the piston we called the piston rod. You probably already knew this (sorry).

Surely there is a better method of turning rod without chewing up the rid with a monkey wrench??? WTH, damn, even a piece of thick cloth would be better than nothing??? Regards from South Africa

As an older man with a steam boiler background, this was 38 minutes well spent!!!

Thanks- great explanation with simple but accurate pieces. I wish all the specialists doung stuff on you tube were as clear as you.

i like how you warn us. then proceed to do what you told us not to do. 😅 luckily no harm done.

Thanks for the once over on that giant 2 stroke. I understood much of what you explained only because im somewhat familiar with 2 stroke engines. The hot tube is something like a glow plug on a diesel engine I'm guessing but you lost me a bit on the sizing of it, I'm going to go back and watch again to see if i missed something. I love old engines and appreciate the time you took explaining this one. Pretty cool how you timed this engine and i would really like to see that governor in action and see exactly how that comes into play. Thanks again

Simple engines can still be a pain to get going, good job overcoming the problems.

i appreciate the effort put into the diagram, felt like watching Watch Wes Work for a second there

The longer the hot tube, the more advanced the timing. That tube seems to be too long and ignition is starting well before TDC. It also makes it very unforgiving to start. I'd go back to that 6" now that you have it running and see how it behaves.

EXCELLENT! THANK YOU for the detailed explanation of the parts of this engine and how it (engine) and they function. MOST UKposts engine channels omit this 👎 Your very detailed explanation is VERY helpful to those of us who are not experts. PLEASE do more videos in this manner. 👍👍👍

I learned stuff I couldn't have imagined I needed to know. 🙂 Thanks and keep on chuggin'.

You have done a great job again, I am sure your friend will appreciate the work you put into getting the engine running, it would be nice to see her again after you finish the fine tuning, to see how easy a start you can achieve, and if you give your buddy a crash course in air starting.

God those big old two strokes sound sooooo lovely. Thanks for sharing her with us

Great video! Thank you for posting! I worked for Cooper-Bessemer (Cooper Energy Services) in the 70's - 80's. Never saw anything about the Bessemer engines, even though I spent time in the Grove City 'Bessemer' plant.

LOL....I was waiting for a misfire and it sending you flying through the garage when you were trying to kick start it.....wise choice using that air bump start.....great job getting it running

Great tutorial/instructional video on the explanation of how those engines work. Taking the head off, Taking the valve off and showing the intake and exhaust ports. Gives one a much better understanding of the engine internals. Thank you for this video.

Excellent job getting that beast running. Great explanation on how it all works was awesome too. Thanks for the video!😀👍

It's work mentioning that the exhaust port has to open first or the flame will burn backwards and cause major problems!

Loves the diagram Looking at the connecting rod someone did not look at the original paint and adjusted it. I always look for clues like that

i did have some idea how a 2 stroke gas/petrol engine worked, but you cleared some details right up. great job. sub +1

I thought I understood 2 stroke engines..... NOW I do....... well done great video

Always great to see you getting these going!!

I'm 62 years old and lived on a farm as a kid but, never delt with such machinery as this. We did have an old tractor,( brand escapes me), with steel spiked wheels that a wide belt ran from the side of the engine area to a large cutting wheel/table combo behind it that we used to clear our land of trees and cut them into logs. So, I never experienced these combustion engines like this but I sure as hell am amused and love watching these videos! You got a new viewer for as long as you do your work on them. Thanks for letting me learn about how things work from the past.

Love the cardboard and tape explanation of two-stroke operation!!! Subscribed!

BEEN GOING TO TRACTOR SHOWS FOR 60 YRS AND NEVER KNEW HOW ONE OF THESE THINGS WORK,,,,,UNTILL NOW,,,,THANKYOU !!!!!

Lot of skill and knowledge you have on these old engines. Very interesting vid and great to watch.

I have loved old steam and hit and miss engines since my childhood. Thanks for clarifying with detail on how they work. Fascinating how they produced power from this in 1899. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for all the info and unique machine.

Thanks so much for this video. Terrific explanation of how this thing works. A bit of pucker factor starting the old girl!

This is absolutely fascinating - really informative.

you did a great job explaining how this works. I like visuals

I stumbled across one of these in a shed in western PA, Butler area about 40 years ago as a kid riding horses. the whole setup was there, even the belt from the engine to the main beam of the pump jack. It will had plenty of compression, it would hold me standing on the flywheel of about the same size as this one. Only difference is where this has a crosshead guide, the one I saw was directly connected to the piston that you could see the back of. Most of the valve gear and governor control was missing. I'd love to wander back into the woods some day and see if it's still in there. It's obviously big enough that someone would have to make concerted effort to get it out because it was way up a valley with minimal access. Thanks for the explanation of the hot tube ignition, I never understood how those worked... basically a diesel engine with a glow plug. I do wonder however if the type of gas would also have an effect on timing as it should be easier to light natural gas than propane since it's lighter. Now whether that means it needs more or less ignition, I don't know... theoretically running propane, you should only need 1/3 the fuel you'd use on natural gas to get the same thermal energy per ignition... So depending on where that engine came from, and what it was being fed, that may have played a role and explained its odd timing. Cool video!

All the oil sight glasses seem to be short of oil, especially the one adding oil to the intake port.

thanks for the patience in explaining the working on the pieces you are dealing with australian fan

Excellent presentation. Thank you!

Amazing, truly a thing of beauty...thank you for sharing this great machine ❤❤❤

Thanks, a beautiful machine and the noise when running is very satisfying, I must be turning into one of those guys at the country fairs.

I love these engines! Thanks for a great tutorial…

Well, I'm 62, and my first tractor was a model H "Poppin John" which was ancient when I was 20. It could be used to back into a 6 or 8" drive belt and become a stationary engine to drive a cane mill. Even though it was tiny tractor, it had incredible torque.

Not bad! I'm quite impressed with your lvl of engineering. Stay awesome my friend! We need everyone of your type we have. God bless!

That was fun to see how this big engine works and to see it up and running. I did notice though that the fly ball governor was not hooked up.

I found this very educational. Thanks for sharing.

I love how you use a pipe wrench on the piston rod and jam nut, i should bring my stuff into you to get worked on and destroyed.

I'm from just south of where that was made. I learned a lot thank you! You sir have a new subscriber

I can see parallels with later car engines but the primitive technology is amazing.

I learned a lot from this video, time well spent. Thanks

Thanks for the video, fun stuff! It looks to me like the counter rocking of the trailer was one of the reasons it was so hard to get it going. It was losing a LOT of momentum moving that trailer which would have gone into piston movement otherwise. Just an engineer's quick observation. Great video!

15:00 A lot of small family fortunes were made with simple pumping setups like that. Half a dozen or more boreholes, with pumps driven by jerk-lines from a central power house, all off of a single-cylinder15 or 20hp engine. A good bit of money in the outlay, but after a couple of years it's paid for and then you start banking profits for as long as you can keep the oil flowing. Good times.

I wonder if part of the issue might be that propane is less easy to ignite than natural gas which has a lot of methane in it.

shame about the pipe wrench attack, but great work getting it going, she seemed reluctant at first!

Love the Suzuki, those things were awesome, bare bones, light and small but great 4wd and a lot of fun.

Brilliant video and great knowledge

That answered any questions I had about them engines. Thanks and I'm a new subscriber now.

Very cool channel 🏁 stuff you don't see every day. Boy engines sure come along way 😂

Also. That thing is awesome. You’re a great tech, man. Looks great working!

I'm just glad I don't have to start one of these every morning.

Merci pour les explications, toujours très agréable à regarder, vos vidéos.

The small one I was Building was a 6 stroke - fired on both ends the piston has 2 plugs or ignition sites. Runs on Propane and air. has a large wheel and a smaller wide wheel. Somewhat like this but different. Complex timing. Nice explanation. Called a "Merry"

Very cool restoration work!!!

I love your on-the-cylinder diagram

I think I know now why they call it an industrial revolution. Back then it was a real battle getting things going. 😎 Great video, thanks.

Looks like the trailer movement is making the engine run uneven. Anyway, it was good to learn about the timing issue with the hot tube. I guess it is not just the length but also the temperature that affects the ignition point. There are many variables to get right as you demonstrated, the gas pressure and the strength of the inlet valve spring. I assume that each engine needed to be adjusted to suit the conditions at each oil well, back in the day. I wonder if any of the old boys that kept them running are still around? I imagine the magneto was added to take some of the timing guesswork out of the equation. I suppose the hot bulb ignition needed a constantly running blowlamp? The air start was pretty dicey but better than seeing you run the risk of getting mangled in the flywheel. Good interesting video.

Was looking forward to the ring a ding ding ding ding.

Great job! Learned a lot!

Casting the cylinder would have been tricky big ports and intricate lines what a beautiful engine ❤

Very interesting. I've never seen an engine like this. John from MI

Great channel my friend. Very informative. Cheers from Birmingham, England

Nice demonstration

Thank you for that knowledge.

My old Johnson two stroke from 1920 had a poppet valve that I lapped in pretty often but it worked very well

When you were on top with the engine running, it's sounds like that slide block is dragging pretty bad (i.e. insufficient lubrication) and I noticed some of your oilers are empty. Would probably be a plan to get some water in it to keep from making hot spots, which will also affect your ignition timing, and pull the torch off of it after it starts, so you can get a more accurate fuel mix. It seemed like it was awfully hard to turn by hand (also related to the slider). Pretty nice old engine though. Good catch on the port timing.😉

Good video! A museum has similar engines they run once a a year. Their engines are larger I think. The museum is at Gossel , Kansas. The only thing i'd make was a comment on the flat belt pulley , maybe a photo if I could find one.

Interesting video. Thanks. That head did look heavy.

Never knew anything like that was made in Grove City, it's only about 20 minutes from me. I love going to the local steam engine show every year and talking to the people that have these old engines. Steam tractors are my favorite but all these old engines are interesting to me. If I had a place to store one I'd own one. Retired now maybe I'll find a small hit and miss to tinker with.

Great job. Thank you 😊

Maybe an air/fuel sensor could help initially? Another idea would be to use the spark ignition just to see how it runs that way.

Nice to know a 2 stroke's reliability is in it's DNA! 🤣

Looks like the exhaust release ramp on the piston clears the exhaust port first allowing the expanded exhaust gases to start exiting and scavenge the cylinder before the inlet port opens for the transfer port. To have to remove the spring from the inlet valve, either air is being drawn into the induction chamber past the piston rod or exhaust gases drawn past the rings. Probably

Totally awesome. Thank you !!

Nice job Chase, missed seeing you at Kylespring.

Love the diagram. Smile. A teacher ))) great job 👍

Golley, I didn't know Ridgid made rusty pipe wrenches. OOoooppps, I believe that is a workman that doesn't care for his tools..... LOL I was ready to go buy one but maybe I'll wait. Thanks for the intro.

Nice job getting it running. and awesome videography. This was both educational and entertaining. regard D. G. Winnipeg Manitoba Canada

Near here in south western Ontario, we have places that have sour gas wells that produce a mixture of oil, gas and water. They use pump Jack's and a more modern type of the same engines that run day and night, off the gas from the well. Thanks for a quite informative video. One thing I'm a bit puzzled about is when you took the head off there were obviously, by the rust, water jacket passages around the cylinder. At first I thought the red valve, you subsequently used for the air start, was for the water jacket supply. At no time, other than your "diagram", did you mention a cooling system. Presumably there must be a cooling tank that would be connected to the jacket and feed cooled water by a thermal syphon system. I'm familiar with old petrol engines that had a cast tank surrounding a vertical cylinder which needed to be topped up constantly or, as my father did on our farm in Zambia, connect a 45 gallon drum next to the engine and it would replenish, via a ball valve, enabling the engine to run all day or until the fuel ran out. Regards from Canada's banana belt. 🤞🇨🇦🍌🥋🕊🇺🇦🕊🇺🇸👍

Awesome work!

great video.. from Tyler County, WV and was around a lot of these but was too young then to understand them..come on down to the Oil n Gas Festival in Sistersville

That trailer moving around, will actually significantly reduce the efficiency

one thing I noticed, is that the way the propane is introduced into the intake valve via the multiple ring of holes directly under the sealing flange of the valve........the pressure of the supplied propane is actually helping to lift the valve open. The hot tube concept is eerily similar to the pre-combustion chambers that were common on diesels for some decades.

This was really informative I just bought a Bessemer from a guy in Lakeville Ohio Tuesday it is rough and missing the serial tag and governor as near as I can tell it is a 20 hp

I would have to say the port timing is fixed. It is the intake and exhaust openings to the top of the head. You adjusted piston depth.? Super cool info on hot tubes and timing 😸

Great explanation! I recently got a 25 and have been wondering how it works. The valve is missing so I was going to make one out of 1/2" brass but after watching this it might be better to make one a little lighter.

My grandpa Roy janes owned an old Bessemer engine almost identical to this one. It is now at the scottville engine club on display there. It always ran that I could remember but his was black. I always remember the plaque on the side my grandpa made that said “big ole bess”