This engine was made in 1898 by the Joseph Reid Gas Engine company of Oil City, Pennsylvania. It is a 750 cubic inch, two cycle engine producing a nominal 15 horsepower at 165 rpm. It has an 8" bore and a 15" stroke, has two 60" flywheels and weighs more that 4000 lbs. This engine powers everything in my shop except my welder and my lights, and I use it for almost all of my work. It runs the shop very smoothly, and it has plenty of power.

This engine was originally intended to burn natural gas for fuel. I burned propane when I first had the engine, but as fuel prices shot up, I decided to try gasoline for better economy. After trying several carburetors with less than satisfactory results, I ended up designing and making my own. I came up with a two jet venturi type controlled by a butterfly, with the butterfly in the venturi. This combination uses only .70 gallons of gasoline an hour, compared to 2 to 5 gallons of propane which it used to use. For an automobile to burn only .70 gallons of gas an hour, it would have to get 95 miles per gallon traveling 65 miles an hour.

I also heat the shop with this engine. I made two cooling systems for it—one is a radiator and tank outside the building, and the other is a series of cast iron radiators placed inside the shop. When the weather cools in the fall, I simply open the valves to the inside system and close those to the outside. It is very affective, and it lets me get more use out of the fuel I am burning.


Here's a good look at some of the plumbing this engine required.



This is the carburetor that I made. It connects to the engine's gas regulating links, enabling me to burn propane or gasoline without altering the configuration. This is imporant, because I start the engine on propane and switch over to gasoline once it warms up. Under heavy load with this carburetor, the Reid falls off just 8% from idle shop speed.