Hit-and-miss engines - early source of power
ELSA KERSCHNER/TIMES NEWS Roger Heckman makes adjustments to a 1917 New Holland engine, one of many he was exhibiting.
Roger Heckman said that before rural America was electrified in the mid-1930s every farm had the hit-and-miss engines that were on exhibit.
They powered pumps, corn grinders and shellers and in the house they made clothes washing easier. If there was a job, an engine could be adapted to the use.
They were scrapped during World War II when the military told farmers the equipment could be used to make shells. It was a guilt trip that found many of the engines turned into scrap.
There were hundreds of manufacturers and they all produced a line of gas engines. One was used to power a merry-go-round.
