Hit and Miss Motor

[xjwmx]

I discovered a new, to me, kind of motor. You've probably heard it in old movies. I always thought it was just an old-fashioned motor that ran badly.

It was called a Hit and Miss motor. The motor speed is determined only by the time between explosions. The explosions are all the same strength. You'll hear a pop which is the explosion, then putt putt putt... which is just mechanical noise. While a flywheel keeps the crank turning, between explosions a control rod prevents compression, prevents fuel from entering, and turns off a buzzer spark (a continuous spark rather than a timed one).


Some examples:

basically how it works:
http://www.boydhouse.com/hitandmiss/gov/index.html

a lawn mower:

Kick start washing machine:

watch the speed control at the end:

start page:
http://www.old-engine.com/magneto.htm

 

[gggGary]

We live by the Badger steam and gas club they have an anual show which attracts 10s of thousands of people, thousands of tractors steam engines and hit n miss engines. at a typical show there will be 100's of hit and miss engines, many of them running, doing misc farm chores. We go every year, love to see how engineers at the dawn of the gas engine age designed solutions and solved problems. My very first gas engine was a kick start maytag motor.

 

[hamamatsu]

When I was a kid growing up in the 1950s, a buddy of mine and myself tried to fit an old Maytag washing machine motor to a home made mini bike frame. We never could figure out why it wouldn't run above an idle. It wasn't until years later that we realized it was a hit and miss motor and it only had one speed.....which was ultra slow.

We were 12 and 13 years old... dumb and dumber

Here is a larger hit and miss motor I found this summer while riding:

 

[MrBillohnooo]

Like you, Hamamatsu, only in the very early 70's a cousin and I put a Maytag twin in a go-kart. It ran, but was slow...then we came across a very wrecked 400 Husqvarna....It ran unreal fast after we got mounts made for it (out of wood), and got it all hooked up....we used the compression release for brakes(another really bad idea).....The wooden mounts self destructed when my cousin was being chased by the local small town cops...he was brought home by the chief of police with the go kart in the trunk of his car....the go kart left with the cops...
We put the Maytag back in the washing machine. My cousin still has it running today in southeast Missouri.
Those are some really cool little engines. I also remember the "putt putt cars" as we called em they used on the railroads.

Memories

 

[pyroman]

I recently recieved a 1928 (I think) Maytag washing machine with a single cylinder 2 stroke kick start motor. The motor is free and I plan to get it running, some day, too many projects. It is amazing that the cast aluminum tub wasnt melted down during the war, WW2. I also have a running twin Maytag, that is really cool. I need to learn to post pics here, if You have never seen one, they are cool. They both have a big magneto, aircraft type, that will shoot a blue spark about an inch, it will bite ya!

 

[pyroman]

Just looked at the washing machine video, that machine is almost identical to mine. An older Friend told Me that the gear driven wringer on that machine is where the term ,"to get Your tit in the wringer" came from.

 

[Barb]

Hi Guys,

We also have a local stationary (and traction) engine show every year. I love those engines--they hold a fascination that a modern engine is totally lacking. I used to use a Maytag wringer every day or so to do my laundry, but it was powered by an electric motor---if I could find one with a gas engine, I'd snap it up in a second!

I don't know why antique engines have such attraction, but they do---just like circus machinery and old motorcycles (and early aircraft, like from the Wright Flyer to --ehhh-- maybe the F4B-4. Personally, I believe it is character.

Just like an XS engine is fascinating, and a Ford Focus engine.......isn't.

 

[gordonscott]

Hi Barb, long time Back to post... I live in Orange, Ma and we also have a large engine show every year too, lots of these hit and miss engines, very cool to see them in action. The Maytag motor was popular to use in all types of projects. Check this out... http://www.maytagclub.com/page-34.htm and this is a great find from an old magazine artical... http://www.vintageprojects.com/mini-bike/Power-Bike-plans.pdf p.s. Maytag mini bike

 

[xjwmx]

It's interesting to see the principle this motor works on. The sound they make is very familiar, a sound that usually carries comical connotations I think, but I always thought it was just a poorly running regular motor The washing machine is only firing about once a second; the piston must slide real freely. I'd like to take one apart to get some practical details down, especially the nuts and bolts of the part that actuates a firing cycle or passive cycles.

 

[hamamatsu]

Some of the old hit and miss engines didn't carry oil in the crankcase, the oil was fed to the bearings and moving parts from an exterior container via gravity and felt pads. They were much like the first motorcycle engines.

 

[xjwmx]

if I could find one with a gas engine, I'd snap it up in a second!

You can get a Model 92 motor on ebay and there's a guy in Kansas who'll give you the washer for free.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=maytag+92&_sacat=See-All-Categories


http://www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81907

 

[Barb]

Oh, Man---I *SO* didn't need to see that! I need another project like I need a third foot.....I have only recently gotten my 1927 "Electrified by Westinghouse" sewing machine to operate reliably....and I've been sort of low-key looking for a wringer washer, but jeez, I've got an engine for my '77"D" half built, and a '79 in pieces, and, and,......oh, yeah. I found a vintage 1925 wood/electric cook stove that I lust after.

So many projects, so little time and money......

I'll rationalize it by saying it is too far away from NW Washington....yeah, that's it.....

 

[littlebill31]

I grew up on a dairy farm and one of the hired hands was, well, from the hills. His wife had an old washing machine with a hit or miss. There was a metal ball attached to a rope or something and she would throw it out a little ways and the machine pulled it back. This went on for the duration of the washing. My father told me it was to keep drag on the engine so it wouldn't stall. Only time I've ever seen that.

 

[xjwmx]

Throwing the ball on a rope is wild. It has to be some kind of rigging the owners thought up after it started wearing out. But it looks like they'd have instead put something on to rub against some wheel to provide the same kind of resistance as the ball and rope.

 

[littlebill31]

I only saw it once or twice from our truck when I was young. My father wouldn't let my brother and me go to their house. They were heavy drinkers. But it was a neat idea I guess.

 

[Ghetto]

Used to see these engines at car shows all the time. Very cool.

 

[gggGary]

There was a metal ball attached to a rope or something and she would throw it out a little ways and the machine pulled it back. This went on for the duration of the washing.

HER problem HIS fix.
If he had done the laundry ONE day it would have had a much better fix

 

[pumps]

I have worked on appliances as a side gig from the department for about 18 years and my first job was at a Maytag dealer. The old man taught me a lot. We used to get called to work on old wringer washers but they were all electric. We would rebuild them though for customers. A lot of the parts were still available back in the early 90s. I still have a t handled maytag splined socket wrench used for taking out certain tub splined headed bolts. I saw it at a garage sale in a pile of other old tools and knew right away what it was. I've got it around here somewhere still. The hit and miss motors are interesting. I'll look for them now that I know what I'm looking at!

 

[pyroman]

here is the 1928 Maytag hit and miss machine given to Me by a Friend a couple months ago. It was running when he put it in the barn, "in the 50's". second pic is a twin cylinder Maytag washer motor. it runs perfectly!

 

[xjwmx]

When you get tired of it, Barb would like to have it...hint...hint....