Models
Model |
Horsepower |
Years |
# Produced |
|---|
Antique Engine Database
J. Thompson & Sons Mfg. Co.
By 1904 the Thompson-Lewis engines were available in sizes from 4 to 50 horsepower. In addition to a full line of stationary and portable models, Lewis engines were also available as direct-connected generating outfits. Early conventional mixer found on later engines. The vaporizer consisted of a constant level tank which carried approximately one quart of gasoline. a passage from the vaporizer led directly into the intake valve chamber. On top of the scoping pipe nearly to the surface of the fuel, a richer airfuel mixture could be obtained. Conversely by raising the telescope away from the fuel, the mixtur could be leaned as desiredd. This was sum and substance for the Lewis vaporizer – nothing more than a cast iron chamber with a sliding pipe on its top. High velocity intake air traveling over the surface of the fuel picked up a portion of its vapors, adn no needle valves of any kind were required. Despite its simplicity, or beacuse of it, this early vaporizer design was for the most part unsatisfactory.
history
Plows, harrows, cultivators, and planters were the stock in trade for the Thompson people during the 1890s. The company had its beginnings many years before, and steadily grew into a very successful operatione. During the late 1890s, Thompson & Sons secured the services of George W. Lewis to help them develop a series of gas engines. Lewis had formerly been associated with the engine building conern of Charles Brunner of Peru, Illinois. His work at Peru resulted in many salient features of the Brunner engines. Through negotiations now clouded by time, Lewis managed to bade much of his design at the Thompson factory on patents that had been secured at and assigned to Brunner’s shops. Those patents were 451,620 and 451,621 of 1891. Both patents voered portions of a peculiar vaporizing device.
links
Content contributed by:
