350 HP Wetherill
(Page 2 of 3)
May / June 2005
By Bill Vossler
Smooth Ride
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The trucking end of the move went nicely, Bob says, and it was off-loaded on the SCPC grounds with cranes from Blattner Construction of Avon, Minn. Then came the big project: putting it together.
The previous owners had put new rings on the piston, and everything else was in good shape, Bob says, except for the missing crosshead wristpin, which they had made.
"Hard to say how long it took. I know my son and I made a trip darn near every night one summer to clean and prime it, and then on weekends, too." Others from the club helped, too. They used Bob and Peternell's 20-ton Lorain crane to put it together, piece by piece. "I think we started assembling it in spring, and we test ran it that fall." The next year it was hooked up to a Minneapolis steam traction engine, and a high-pressure steam hose was used to get the big machine running so it could be displayed.
The club raised funds for a foundation and building, and bought and plumbed in a Leffel boiler. They upgraded the steam piping to 4 inches to meet Minnesota industrial division specifications on steam piping, and now the engine can run to its heart's content, protected and secure in its permanent home.
Showing Off
The Wetherill is run every day of the SCPC Albany Pioneer Days Threshing Show, usually starting after the safety meeting, about 9 a.m., and runs until noon, when it is shut off, then started again and run until 5 p.m., says Kermit Nelson, who helps run it during the show.
He says it takes very little to get the engine started once steam pressure is up, although getting steam up can take six hours with the outside boiler, as it produces steam for three different engines in the building. The boiler is fueled with waste wood from the sawmill on the grounds, which is also run during the show. Once the steam is up, Kermit says, "Just turn the valve and steam pressure on the end of the cylinder pushes the piston one way or the other."
Kermit's duties include oiling the huge engine to ensure moving parts slide easily. "Parts of the machine are quite heavy, and made of different metals, so the oil helps separate them and keeps heat from bonding them together."
A tallow-type lubricant is mixed with the steam to lubricate the metal-to-metal areas inside the steam cylinder, Kermit says. The packing is lubricated too. "Originally they used leather, which didn't stand up too well, so eventually they found other materials and kept experimenting with things that would seal better."
Kermit says he began working with the Wetherill by chance. He became interested in steam because his father ran the last threshing rig north of Hawley, Minn., using steam in the early years before changing to a tractor. His interest drove him to earn a steam license at the Rollag, Minn., steam school, but he never used it very much.