1928 Onan generator

[f350ca]

A friend of mine bought this generator in 1968 when building his cottage. Don't think he ever used it, lent it another friend who took it around to steam shows and what ever. His friend passed away about 10 years ago. Bill mentioned a while back that he should get it back so he spoke to the widow who said it was sitting in the shop. So off we go to get it, turns out this chap had a foundry where he cast bronze injectors for steam boilers. We ended up coming home with the generator and a bunch of copes and drags, casting sand, ceramic crucibles, etc. It was too wet to get back where the propane furnace was sitting so we have to go back for it one of these days.
Back to the generator. By the serial number it was built in 1928, produces 1500 watts 110 volt dc. Was set up to start automatically when you turned on a light or appliance in the hose then shut down when you turned it off.
It has one of the coolest engines I've ever seen. 4 cylinder water cooled overhead valve (in 1928) 2 inch bore and 2 1/2 inch stroke. It develops a staggering 3 hp at 1000 rpm. My lawn mower develops more power. Has a brass shrouded rad that sticks up on top. A thing of beauty.
It was seized from sitting, we filled the cylinders with diesel and let her sit for a week. Tapped the crank with a hammer and she broke loose. Gave her some more diesel to hopefully break the rings loose, and let her sit for another couple of weeks.
Today we tried to fire her up.
Hooked up 2 12 volt batteries, yes it wanted 24 v. Pugged a light into the socket and she started rolling over. Would only fire with the choke on so I pulled the carb apart. There are no adjustments at all. One fixed jet which was plugged solid. There had been some damage to the one part where the two halves bolt together, someone tried to file it back and made a mess. Brought it home milled the surface straight then made a spacer to fit. The Venturi tube was bent but I managed to straighten it up.
Sorry for the log ramble. Will get photos of the genset next time Im over there, for now here's the solid brass carb. I've seen really old cast iron ones and lots of aluminum, but never brass.





Greg

[Highpower]

Wow, that is interesting. After doing a little Google-Fu, I could not believe that there was a company still making repair kits for these carburetors.

Is that by chance a Kohler engine on the generator?

http://www.thecarburetorshop.com/IndustrialkitsK.htm

[f350ca]

This is the generator. Kohler made the engine as far as I can tell.

[EdK]

They just don't make them like that anymore. Looks to be solid as a tank.

Ed

[DaveH]

Very interesting,

and it supplies "a penetrating long range current" to days generators can't do that

Very nice.

DaveH

[Highpower]

What amazes me is how they came up with the auto start/stop system back in the 1920's!

My modern day portable genset (18 HP V-twin Honda) doesn't have that.

[stevec]

I had an old Onan generator, Not nearly as old as Greg's, It had a "demand load sytem", when any circuit was closed (completed) it would self start. You could leave stuff in the fridge and when the thermostat closed the geny would fire-up and run til the fridge shut off and wait for the next demand. Turn on light at night and wake everybody up. Great for the cottage!
Been a long time since I've had a cottage without electrical service so I had no Idea they were no longer available like that.

[f350ca]

Finally arranged some time to work on the generator again. Put the carb on and it fired right up. Came up to sped lit the bulb we had plugged in and ran smooth as glass. We're using the vacuum reservoir or what ever it is for a small fuel tank. It ran out of fuel now we can't get it to do more than an occasional sputter or at best run on one cylinder. I'd say it was dirt in the carb but I can see the fuel coming off the jet, pretty sure its ignition. The magnets on the mag are WEAK. Can barely see the spark it produces but why did it fire up initially.
Anyway pictures as promised.






Now I need to find an expert on magnetos. Any takers, this is the first 've ever had anything to do with one. Cleaned the points but didn't help, pretty sure I need to find somewhere that can re energize the magnet.

Greg

[doubleboost]

Hi
Greg
That is a very nice bit of kit
Well worth sorting out
John

[Highpower]

Greg,

This doesn't exactly apply to your application, but it has some good general information. You might want to check the air gap between the coil and the flywheel. A standard business card should get you in the ballpark for setting the gap.