342 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



GAS ENGINES AND IRRIGATION 



"What do you think of that forty?" asked a 

 successful Colorado farmer of a visitor, pointing to 

 a purple field of waist-high alfalfa. 



"It's a beauty," was the answer. 



"Well, I got that land for almost nothing be- 

 cause it was above the ditch." 



"How did you do it?" asked the visitor. 



"One of Ben Schmidt's Chilled Cylinder Engines. 

 It's up there in that little shack, a 7}-2 horse-power. 

 When it's not pumping water I hire it out for all 

 sorts of jobs. Last winter it more than paid for 

 itself sawing wood and working for a contractor 

 in a ditch camp, mixing concrete." 



Think of the transformation that 7}/2 horse- 

 power engine worked. That pretty, gently sloping 

 40 acres was apparently just out of reach of the life- 

 giving water. An ideal piece of land for irrigation. 

 But for 20 years every one thought of it as "above 

 the ditch." 



Then the adjoining farmer got the big idea from 

 one of Ben Schmidt's catalogues. He consulted the 

 water company's engineer, bought in the land, and 

 made his arrangements for water. 



This is but one of the wonderful accomplish- 

 ments of that famous Chilled Cylinder Engine, 

 which is made by Ben Schmidt at Davenport, Iowa. 

 All over the country these engines are busy, doing 

 all kinds of work from serving as the motive power 

 for automobiles and ferryboats, to operating hay 

 presses and sawing outfits. 



The writer has noticed in his trips through the 

 west and middle west that it is the successful wide- 

 awake farmers who are using gasoline engines. 

 Curious to learn whether the engine was a sign of 

 prosperity or one of its causes, he asked many of 

 these gasoline users about it. Almost invariably it 

 was found that the farmer had been materially as- 

 sisted in his success by the engine. 



A short time ago, while visiting Davenport, the 

 writer remembered that here was built the Chilled 

 Cylinder Engine which had transformed that Colo- 

 rado 40 acres from buffalo grass to blooming al- 

 falfa. 



A visit to the factory was intensely interesting. 

 The engine proved to be well named. It comes 

 from the wonderful chilling process to which the 

 cylinders are subjected. 



The chilling process produces a dense, close 

 grain in the steel on the inside of the cylinder and 

 a more open porous grain toward the outer side. 

 This serves a double purpose. The inside is hard, 

 and,- with its perfect lubrication never wears, while 

 the porous nature of the outside assists in main- 

 taining an even temperature. 



Since Ben Schmidt invented this process there 

 have been many attempts on the part of other 

 engine manufacturers to secure the secret of the 

 process for it has revolutionized the industry. 



The process produces a cylinder that has caused 

 mechanical experts to wonder at its remarkable 

 efficiency. Every machinist working on those cyl 1 

 inders watches them as closely as though they were 

 making fine watch movements. They seemed to 

 be putting the full, vibrant enthusiasm of the great 

 establishment into every engine. And if enthusiasm 

 in the manufacture would run engines the Chilled 



Cylinder would need no other fuel. "A perfect 

 Chilled Cylinder makes a world-beating engine," 

 is the slogan of the shops. 



There is one step in the manufacture of the 

 Chilled Cylinder Engine that deserves comment. 

 That is the method of securing perfect compres- 

 sion. The expansion of metal by heat is one of the 

 greatest troubles of the engine manufacturer. The 

 usual boring process heats the steel so that when it 

 cools an uneven bore is the result. Extreme care 

 is taken by the machinists in the Schmidt shops to 

 secure a perfect bore, and to insure perfect compres- 

 sion four piston rings are used instead of three. 

 And every groove and oiling ring is machined ac- 

 curately to within one-thousandth part of an inch. 



One of the most interesting departments is the 

 testing shops. Here every single engine is put 

 under active working conditions for two or three 

 days. A battery of engines is working at full power 

 every day, and the miss of a single explosion results 

 in an investigation. 



Ben Schmidt stands back of every engine that 

 goes out with a five-year guarantee, even going so 

 far as to attach an additional guarantee by the 

 biggest bank in Iowa. A visit to this testing shop 

 shows that Ben Schmidt's guarantee must be earned 

 by every single engine on its own merits. 



The subject of fuel is one that has been bother- 

 ing engine manufacturers for a long time. It is well 

 known that there is more latent power in a gallon of 

 kerosene than in an equal measure of gasoline. 

 Comparative cheapness and its availibility in every 

 small country store make it the ideal fuel. 



While the writer was in Davenport a series of 

 exhaustive and interesting tests on a new kerosene 

 attachment were in progress. Mr. Schmidt had 

 been working on this attachment for years and the 

 results were wonderful. He had it^ready months be- 

 fore he announced it, for he wanted to make abso- 

 lutely certain it was the peer of all kerosene carbu- 

 retors before he permitted one to go out. The news 

 of his great success traveled fast, and now thou- 

 sands of the purchasers of his engines are attach- 

 ing them to their engines. 



Ben Schmidt is a great optimist. He believes 

 in everybody. This is shown by his business meth- 

 ods. Ben does not hesitate to send his engines on 

 trial to any American farmer, contractor or business 

 man. He is an exponent of the square deal, and says 

 he has always gotten a square deal from the other 

 fellow. That's why he sends his engines out on 

 trial before he sells them. He allows a prospective 

 purchaser to try an engine out on his own place 

 for 30 days. 



It was an interesting visit to this model factory. 

 I could not help thinking as I left that here was 

 started the work that made possible the reclamation 

 of the beautiful alfalfa forty in Colorado, and that 

 every day engines went out to add to the prosperity 

 of farmers in every section of the world. (Adver- 

 tisement.) 



Send $1.00 for 1 year's subscription to the IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE and hound copy of THE PRIMER OF IRRIGA- 

 TION. If you desire a copy of The Primer of Hy- 

 draulics add $2.50 to above price. 



