Hit and Miss Ice Cream Churn

H & M and Ice cream Churn

Can some one tell me if the ice cream churns hooked to the hit & miss engines were made for those engines or is it a conversion of some sort. If a conversion, please explain how as I would like to set one up. I have the engine already! -- Alvin

All the ones I’ve seen were White Mountain Freezers adapted for H&M. They have to be geared real slow or run off the cam gear to slow them down. They also have to have a slip clutch or a breakable wooden pin in the drive somewhere or else when the ice cream freezes it'll tear up something. I don't know the RPM but its slow. -- Steve

Thanks for the info! I'm hoping someone will tell me in detail how to do all the gearing down and hookup etc.! It will be July before I can get to a show an possibly see a setup such as I am asking about. -- Alvin

Step by step? well lets see, First, a throttle governed engine is a much better power source than a hit and miss for running a freezer, the sudden acceleration (when the engine hits) has a tendency to cause shock loads and broken parts. Not to say you can't do it, but be aware of what’s going on. To build you need a pallet or skid of some sort, a hand crank freezer and a countershaft, plus some sort of reduction set up, v belt & pulleys or chain & sprockets are simplest. I recommend using a countershaft even if you are mounting it with the engine on a cart for 3 reasons, (1) it allows a second reduction, (2) it allows you to make a light drive for the freezer and still use the gas engine's original drive pulley. and (3) if you insist on using a hit and miss engine, adding a heavy flywheel to the countershaft will help even out the power. Putting a shear coupling on the countershaft is cheap insurance too. When you mount the freezer to the skid, use long hook bolts or a dual ring clamp type set up so that the freezer can be removed, put a large diameter pulley or sprocket where the crank used to be mounted, securing it with a shear pin is a good idea (and cheaper than a new gear head.) Now, mount the countershaft to the base, so that a small diameter pulley or sprocket aligns up with the one on the freezer. If you use v belts a tensioner with a light spring will allow the belt to slip as the ice cream sets up. A quick disconnect, provision, something like a garden tractor clutch is a REAL good idea. -- Allen

I just completed a hit n miss chicken rotisserie capable of 50 chickens. I know it's not an ice cream freezer but it's geared about the same. .I have a 5 HP hit n miss Economy running it. It starts with a 3.25 inch pulley on the 220 RPM engine to a 10.5" pulley on a jack-shaft with a 2" pulley running with it on the same shaft, then going from the 2" pulley to a 12" pulley on another jack-shaft, to a 2.5" chain drive gear, then to the 4 rotisserie spools with 5" gears. That gives me about 5.5 R.P.M. on the chicken ... oooooooo... that's good chicken! I also would have to agree that a throttler would be more suited for the ice cream maker as when the ice cream stiffens there's quite a heavy load on the little ice cream maker gears. It should have the more constant power of the throttler, not the slap and spank of a hit and miss. I'm sure the ice cream will taste wonderful however you decide to build it. -- Mark

Thanks to all who have responded to my inquiry about ice cream churn setup. Now I will have to look for a throttle governed engine if I plan to do this as that is the consensus of the respondents. I may just hook my hit & miss to something else

Instead of ice cream, why not do a peanut roaster? Besides, I haven't seen fresh peanuts at near as many shows as ice cream. -- Alvin

Interesting how we all think alike, but a hit and miss only misses when its not under load and should work like they did before throttle governed engines were around, but they are smoother running. -- Dan

Along these lines, It seems like most of the ice cream setups I have seen were powered by John Deere hit and miss engines. I have not seen one started up from the beginning, but would imagine they don't start out under load, thus it would make a more interesting display as they change from the intermittent firing, to the regular firing as the ice cream starts to firm up. Just a thought. -- Ken

Hate to rain on your parade, but if you plan on selling ice cream at a show, please check with your insurance carrier for liability. -- Norb

There is a nice picture of a ice cream freezer being run with a John Deere engine shown in the gallery. -- Bill

There is a ice cream maker at: www.roughandtumble.org/ click photo albums, click John Deere Day, click Duel Hit & Miss Ice Cream maker. There are two White Mountain 20 qts., and a White Mountain 10 qt. The two twenties are run by a three hp, and the ten is run by a 1 1/2 hp. Old throw-out clutches make it easy to check the ice cream without stopping the engines. -- Larry

I have used a 1.5 HP Fuller and Johnson hit and miss to make ice cream for the last 6-7 years. I have had no problem with this governing system. There is little resistance when you start mixing. As the freeze begins the engine comes under load and fires more often, smoothing the power pulses. I have found that 1.5 to 2.0 HP engines have just enough power to turn till the freeze hardens up, at which point the engine dies and the ice cream is ready to serve. My whole setup is made from a T.L. Smith cement mixer. It has 120 tooth bull gear and drives off a 15 tooth countershaft gear, giving me 8 to 1 reduction. An idler gear is used to reverse the rotation. Speed of the engine is about 250 rpm so I am turning the freezer at 30 rpm. The faster it is turned the less ice crystal buildup in the finished product. I would not go over 60 rpm, except when the freeze starts. Then speeding up to 120 rpm is supposed to beat more air in the mix and make it smoother. A clutch setup and engine speed control would be nice, though I use neither. All this is done with a 5 gallon White Mountain freezer. -- Steve

The above photo is from Mel Smith of Clarksville, TN: “This was my winter project. I completely restored the 1 1/2 hp John Deere engine, constructed the cart, and as a final project the engine runs the 20 qt. Country Freezer ice cream machine.”

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