oilfield engine information source

[RHudson]

Do any of you fellows know a source for oilfield engine information? I'm not sure if this is some sort of secret society or what, but information seems to be guarded. i can find more information on a hit and miss made in 1928 with 20 minutes of net search than i can a Bovaird made in 1948 with a month of searching and asking. doesn't make sense. There has to be a source of written information available out there somewhere. I’ve tried the net page that begins with oil, and ends with engine.com. Thanks fellows.

[Chuck Martin]

http://www.oilfieldengine.com/ is a good start.
A lot of the guys here on this site play with oil field engines. I have a Bessemer and a Reid, along with a pile of hit and miss and throttlers.
Post a couple of pictures of what you have, and post questions as to what you need. You'll be suprised as to the responses you'll get.

[Andrew Mackey]

You can try the OFES site as well - (Oil Field Engine Society)
Andrew

[Doug Waggonner]

Well, guys I think thats what he was trying to say. I too am into the oilfield engines. From my experence alot of these compinies changed hands, sold out, ect. And some are still in bussiness today. Take Superior for example, They built a BUNCH of engines but today there is VERY little info on the company. Bovaird was also a big company but not much info these days. As for info on the engines, its out there alot of it is not on the web though. I've learned alot about Superiors and Reids from the pumpers that actually worked these engines in the field. I was lucky enough to get my 35hp Superior from the 2nd owner that worked the engine up untill 1992. He has been a huge source of info and saved me alot of time.

[Chuck Martin]

I apoligize, I didn't pay attention to the last line of your post.

Here is another site that has some excellent manuals. You have to regester
to get the manuals, there is no cost, they had problems with people downloading the manuals and selling them on ebay.

http://www.internalfire.com/index.php

The best place for info on the big oilfield engines are the guys that used to run the leases, or have restored and run them. Above all, be carefull, these things can leave a mark!

[RHudson]

Well, I convinced,,, it’s a secret society. i keep a binder on each engine i collect. containing negotations for price, maps to pickup, all information gathered, sketches i made to make parts, time and money spent on engine. for most engines its a one inch binder per engine. if i take the information from all four oilfield engines it would not amount to twenty pages, nothing on two of them. its not a very welcoming experience.

[Greg Downard]

There isn't much information available for the oilfield engines due to larger companies usually purchased them. Most Oil companies purchased several at a time. Were as farmers and the average Joe ran down to the local supply store and purchased one at a time and hauled them home themselves. Of course the farmer would get manuals and papers for each one he bought. Oil companies didn't care too much about all those manuals and papers because they bought so many of them just alike.

Today we have to depend more on the older fellows who worked on them and have the manuals inbedded in their brains from experience. Those older guys usually threw away manuals because they knew the oil field engines like their women.

Try OFES www.oilfieldengine.com and sooner or later someone will help you out if they can. They really are great guys and have great advise. It is not a secret soceity. It's just there are not as many of these engines or as much information around as there is for the smaller farm use engines and they are just recently becoming available for restoration.

[Chuck Martin]

You are partially correct, it’s an elite society, not a secret society.
You have to remember, you are dealing with technology that at the time
the operators were more than happy to replace it with an electric motor,
or modern gas engine.
Most of the maintenance records and operator manuals were dumped long ago.
50 years ago these guys had no idea some hobbyist would have them set up on a trailer and hauling them to shows.
These things are heavy, my 25 hp Reid is about 10,000 lbs set up to run.
Not to many old engine enthusiasts can handle this kind of toy.
Also ask your local motor head at the next car show what the hot tube length has to do with ignition timing, and see what kind of looks you get.
Just don’t get too upset when your neighbor asks you about your “steam engine”.

[Peter]

I had a Bessemer and found an origional owners manual and a catalog no problem. One excellent source for contacts and advise is to attend the show in sistersville wv. that is an all oil filed engine show. Unfortunatley, it sounds like you may have to venture forth in the real world, if you desire a big stack or paper on each engine. You can try and establish friendships with some of the WV lease holders. I recommend visits or at least telephone calls to some local historical societies where the factories were located. In some cases these local hisorical socities will research and copy histories and company litterature for an hours fee plus per page copy rate. Its better to go in person. All this running around might turn up more and more engines too.

[Arnie Fero]

You need to visit the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, PA and the Coolspring Power Museum in Coolspring, PA. Both have extensive libraries including info on most of the oilfield engines.
http://www.drakewell.org/
http://www.coolspringpowermuseum.org/

Some things to keep in mind also is to find and talk to collectors that live in the area that your engine was built. Even though they may not own one they will prollie have had conversations with people who have, and you can get some great info from them. Like said in some of your follow up posts OFES is great! and a pic is worth a thousand words to! Also be sure to check out the links on OFES for http://www.tremel.net/
Bill has manuals and history for some engines!

Also try getting ahold of the historical society where your engine was built. For example Butlerm Pa H. Society sent me about 20 pages of sale ads, pics of buildings, and pics of inside the foundry where the Ball's were made. Just another way to get info.

I have a few personal sources that are more than happy to help answer questions, I know one has a Bovaird. They have helped me out with my Ball engines. E-mail me and I will pass on the info to you if you would like.

Good luck Josh M.

[Walt Roys]

I just spent 3 weeks working on a 25 hp Bessimer. and got it to run on propane. What a kick, it was really fun. When that hughe thing fired off for the first time, it like to scared me to death. I found a guy in Ohio who makes parts for those old things,(including hot tubes,chimeys, and tube burners) and another guy who has a bunch of info on a cd which i printed off an gave to the owner of the engine for Christmas. I learned a lot. If you want the mens names e-mail me and I'll be happy to send you their names and addresses and phone #s. I'll be glad to share any info I picked up. My e-mail is "waroys@communitynet.org".

[Walt Roys]

I just spent 3 weeks working on a 25 hp Bessimer. and got it to run on propane. What a kick, it was really fun. When that hughe thing fired off for the first time, it like to scared me to death. I found a guy in Ohio who makes parts for those old things,(including hot tubes,chimeys, and tube burners) and another guy who has a bunch of info on a cd which I printed off an gave to the owner of the engine for Christmas. I learned a lot. If you want the mens names e-mail me and I'll be happy to send you their names and addresses and phone #s. I'll be glad to share any info I picked up. My e-mail is "waroys@communitynet.org".