Hey,
At a new friends house here in MN and he showed me a picture of this MOW speeder and asked me what it is. And secondly how it s powered. I think it is just an early speeder. The guy is working on a signal battery box not shown. So I think his just a speeder taking him to ad fro. But how is it powered? looks like it has a gas tank to me. What is the hand wheel on the side? brake?
Definitely a speeder. Hard to say for sure from that picture what the power is, but more than likely a gasoline engine. If it’s an early one it would be a hit-and-miss engine. The hand wheel is likely the flywheel and the knob might be to aid in starting. Brakes, if there are any, would be just a lever to apply friction. Same thing for movement control; a lever to tighten a belt driving an axle.
Hmmmm… Built just like the Spitfire fighter. The pilot sits on top of the gas tank.
I was thinking that the wheel was the flywheel, too. Set the points and fuel, spin the flywheel, and away she goes, and you’d better be aboard when she does. That contraption would give any OSHA inspector the fits. Of course, it was built back when one was expected to have the sense to keep hands and feet out of moving parts. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Thanks guys. Flywheel with handle to aid in starting makes sense.
Daktah John said:
Definitely a speeder. Hard to say for sure from that picture what the power is, but more than likely a gasoline engine. If it’s an early one it would be a hit-and-miss engine.
When I first looked at the picture I thought …there’s an old hit and miss engine. So I’m gonna tend to agree with you John
If you look over the rear tire it looks like a brake lever now that I am looking closer
I agree that thing looks like a danger to ride. It looks like there is a padded possibly springy bench for the rider. Was the bench straddled or ridden side saddle? There is a shorter bench on the right that has the same mounts.
Your guess is as good as mine on the speeder but I think you may have just found the model for the generic bachmann guy that comes with many locos. All he needs is a moustache and the Bachmann figure a watch.
Devon Sinsley said:
If you look over the rear tire it looks like a brake lever now that I am looking closer
I saw that too. It could be the brake, or the Go lever to tension the belt. EBT has a bunch of hit-and-miss powered speeders of the same vintage. They are definitely a panic to ride on! This is the “Spider”
Looks fun to me. Ned to get two of these on parallel tracks and race them.
In Buckley, WA, across the street from my wife’s niece’s home, are the remains of just such a set of parallel tracks, used for hand car races. They ran about a half a mile, starting on a 2% rise and finishing on a dead flat for the last 100 yards. They haven’t run the race in forty or fifty years because they could no longer attract any one foolish enough to try. It was part of a Pioneer Days celebration.
Ouch that would hurt. My arms ache thinking about that.
That’s what I was thinking. Ouch.
