GILSON GUELPH-"Y"-6hp.
About three years ago I met this guy who roams the back country in search of scrap iron, batteries, old furniture etc.. He buys just about anything, provided it is cheap...or free. I told him of my interest in old stationary engines and that I would give him $300.00 for any complete engine he would come across. So far, he was able to find two engines for me. The first one is my 2hp Chapman and the other one is my Ferro stationary engine. Last year he told me about a "fairly large engine", to use his words, that he had located, but the farmer who owned it would not sell it. For obvious reasons, the "scrap man" never tells me who owns the engine or where the engine is but on a regular basis I check with him to see if he has found an engine for me.
Winter is at our doorsteps here so I had pretty well given up on the idea of finding another one until next summer. Last Sunday, before calling it quits, I called the "Scrap Man" and I asked him if there were new developments in his attempt to get the "large engine" from the "Farmer". Mr. Scrap Man told me he had seen Mr. Farmer on a few occasions, that it was definitively not for sale and that he would not make anymore attempts to get Mr. Farmer's engine. Mr. Scrap Man told me that I could try to get the engine from Mr. Farmer myself if I wanted to. Unfortunately, Mr. Scrap Man did not have a phone number for Mr. Farmer, he seemed to recall that his first name started with an "R", but he was certain of his last name. He gave me Mr. Farmer's last name but he didn't know how it was spelled. You know these names that sound the same but are spelled in three or four different ways. When Mr. Scrap Man try to explain to me where to find Mr. Farmer, he was very vague as he had only been there once and trying to explain to me who did not know that area at all, I was left with very little hope to ever find Mr. Farmer and his engine. I had asked Mr. Scrap Man many times before what the brand name on this engine was but he did not know. I asked him the same question again and this time, to my great surprised, he told me that the last time he saw Mr. Farmer, Mr. Farmer told him that the engine was a "WILKENSON".
I hung the phone, got the "Engine Bible" out, look up Wilkenson and every other name that might sound a little like "Wilkenson". Guess what???...No such beast in the BYB/BRB :-(
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Sunday - Nov. 14/1999:
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I'm determined to find:
- a man whose first name starts with an "R".
- a man whose last name could be spelled in three or four different ways.
- a man who lives in a 50 miles by 50 miles area.
- and a Wilkenson engine that is not even listed in Wendel's book.
Monday - Nov. 15/1999:
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- I search the Internet and use a program called "Find a Person". - I enter "R" as the first name - I enter the 3 or 4 possible spellings for the last name. - I select "Province of Quebec". - I press enter and got a listing of over 100 names with addresses. - I make a list of 10 or 12 of them that I suspect could be living in the area the engine is supposed to be in.
Tuesday - Nov. 16/1999:
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I get my list I had made the previous night and I'm ready to call everyone on this list.
First call:
ME: Are you Mr. Farmer?
Mr. Farmer: Yes.
ME: Do you have a stationary gasoline engine?
Mr. Farmer: Yes but it is not for sale.
ME: What is it? Mr. Farmer: A Wilkenson Me: How big? Mr. Farmer: About 10 horsepower. ME: What color is it? Mr. Farmer: Black but it is not for sale. ME: I'll give you double the $$$ Mr. Scrap Man offered you. Mr. Farmer: I would have to have more than that. (At this point, I knew the engine WAS for sale but I still had no idea what it was). ME: Check the name on your engine's plate, write it down, and measure the diameter of the flywheels and I'll call you back tomorrow to see what you've found. Mr: Farmer: I'll do that.
Wednesday - Nov. 17/1999
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Me: Hi Mr. Farmer! What did you find?
Mr. Farmer: The flywheels are 35 inches in diameter, I cant find a nameplate on the engine but the name "Wilson" is on the side of the water. Me: Can I go see your engine on Saturday? Mr: Farmer: No, not on Saturday but if you come Friday its OK but the price for the engine is more than what you offered! Me: I'll ask to take Friday off work and I'll let you know tomorrow night. I hang up and grab the "Bible again". No horizontal "WILSON" engines listed in the book! :-(
Thursday: - Nov. 18/1999
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Me: Hi Mr. Farmer! I'll be at your place in the morning. Give me directions to find your farm.
Mr. Farmer: You should get here in about two hours. (He gives me the directions).
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The date is Friday Nov. 19/1999, I'd taken the day off work, I got up just before six in the morning. After I had breakfast I hooked up to my trailer and loaded the chains, planks and tools required to load an engine. Remember that this engine is suppose to be a ten horsepower, black WILSON engine. Better bring more than required, rather than being sorry when I get there. The sky is cloudy but the temperature is about 5 degrees above freezing point, which is nice around here at this time of the year. I left home at seven and the first half of the trip went well but the more I drove north, there was more and more snow. Oh well, I drove a little slower and eventually arrived at Mr. Farmer's farm. It was now past nine o'clock. Mr. Farmer greeted me, and told me he still had a few cows left to milk (by hand), and that he would show me the engine after he's done with his chores. Half an hour later he comes out of the barn and I follow him on foot to where the engine is. We walked a good distance from the barn to the road, we walked up the road for another while, then we headed towards some old buildings arose the road from Mr. Farmer's farm. There is about 3 inches of snow on the ground and the hill leading to the shed where the engine is is pretty steep. As I get closer to the shed I notice that this is a fair size building with walls on three sides and the front, facing south, has no wall. I saw that the shed was packed to the roof junk of all sorts. To make matters worst a little more, there is also plenty of junk on the ground in front of the open side of the shed. It was obvious that lots of works would be involved just to make a path to reach the shed, and much more work to get anything out of there.
We had finally got there. Mr. Farmer pointed out to me the general direction where the engine was in the shed. I had to work my way to the shed by stepping over all kinds of old machinery like plows, harrows, discs and all sorts of other junk just to get close to the shed. I finally got there unharmed. The first stuff I saw in the shed was a couple of "box stoves". To my left there was this old thrasher on steel wheels. To my right the was and old manure spreader, fully loaded with scrap iron. On top of all these, there were 3 to 4 feet thick of planks, 2x2, fence posts etc....
I peeped into all the little opennings I could find and suddenly, there it was, a stationary engine....but it was green, not black! ********************************************************
As I was telling you, I was having a real hard time checking out this engine underneath this pile of rubbish. From the little I could see, the engine was definitively green. After removing all the stuff that was on top of the engine, I was able to have a better view of the water hopper and the sheet metal crank guard. It could see the two rivets than once held the nameplate to the engine but that's gone now. On the brighter side, cast in big letters on both sides of the water hopper, was the name of the engine builder and the name of the town where it was built.
There was still lots of heavy stuff at the back, sides and front of the engine and since Mr. Farmer and I had not agreed on a price for the engine, I did not want to go to all the trouble of clearing a path to the shed and removing all the junk from around the engine and ending up putting everything back where it was just to have a better look at the engine. By then I knew what the engine was but it was impossible to tell the condition it was in.
So the negotiations started. I soon found out that Mr. Farmer was a though man to bargain with and the end he accepted three times the amount of $$$ that Mr. Scrap Man had offered him earlier for this engine.
It took us well over two hours to remove enough stuff to be able to pull the engine out of the shed onto the open field. The skids were rotten bad and by the time the engine was loaded onto my trailer, nothing much remained of the skids. The engine appeared to be complete, is in good shape and has no cracks or welds. There battery box and buzz coil is there. The only thing missing is the drip oiler. There is no crank but this engine probably did not come with one as there is a huge 20" clutch pulley on one end and the governor weights on the other end. The flywheels are 35" inches in diameter, the bore is 6" and the stroke is 12" . I'm estimating the horsepower at six. Well, the two hours trip back was uneventful and by 5 PM I arrived home, tired but happy :-)
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This engine, with its 10-inch stroke and 6-inch bore is according to a Company catalog, the largest 6 horsepower made and is equal or greater than most 8 hp. This model came either mounted on hardwood skids or on all-steel truck. Mine came with the hardwood skids. The speed is 300 RPM, the clutch pulley is 20" x 6", the flywheels are 35" in diameter and its weight is 1350 pounds.
Here is a picture of a similar, restored engine on a steel truck:
OK, so your all now know that my newest acquisition is a 6 hp GILSON built by the Gilson Mfg. Co. Ltd of Port Washington Wis. and also of Guelph Ontario. The Gilson in the picture did not have the word GUELPH cast in "raised letters" underneath the name Gilson, but mine has. It is the first one I see like that. Has anyone seen one?
Thanks for reading me!
Denis Rouleau in Quebec