On 05 Oct 2015 15:39:10 -0300, Mike Spencer
wrote:


"Jim Wilkins" writes:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...

On 05 Oct 2015 02:36:11 -0300, Mike Spencer
wrote:

Ed Huntress writes:

OOohh...you have an Acadia? You mean one of the old make-and-break
engines? That must be fun.

Yeah, it is! It's a 10 HP. They were made in Bridgewater, about 13
miles from me and I was in the plant in the early 70s when they were
still making them.
[snip]
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/acadia/index.html

Those old beasties are pretty cool to watch running. They had lots
of folks bring their running engines to the old Vista, CA Gas and
Steam Engine Museum during the Fair days. Ditto the Pottsville
shindigs in Merlin, OR up here. Everyone called them "hit & miss"
engines.
[snip]

I timed a large one idling at a show. It would fire two or three
times, then coast for 45 seconds.

When I was a kid, I would often hear one running at some neighboring
farm -- a crew of guys cutting 4' cordwood into stove-length bolts.
The engine would idle, firing every 4 to 6 or so cycles.

sssp...sssp...sssp...foont.FOONT...sssp...sssp...s ssp...sssp

When wood was shoved into the saw, the engine would lug down a bit, it
woulld fire on every stroke. Then, as the saw cut through, the speed
would pick up and it would go back to idle but the sawblade would
ring.

sssp...foont.FOONT.FOONT.FOONT.FOONT.FOONT..foont ..BRRANNNGGGoinnnng...sssp

One of those mystical magical sounds from childhood. I can hear it
every time I look at the Acadia. (I also am reminded of the guy I met
years later who had fallen into such a saw. At the beach you could
see that he had a single ragged scar from near his ear down to one
ankle. Amazingly, all of his body parts were still attached and still
worked.)

The Gods were smiling on him.