Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Walt,
That's the main issue with both Schoenner and Paradox engines. They were made to run on illuminating gas/town gas which was at one time piped into homes for lighting and other purposes. This gas is quite different from any of the modern fuels including propane and acetylene. So the engines require a custom mix of propane or methane and hydrogen. Some of the larger shows here in the US purchase truckloads of this mix for running their early flame ignition, slide valve engines like the ones shown around the Schoenner in the video. So if I want to run the engine I just take it to one of those shows. They could potentially fill an empty propane tank with the mix for me, but because it cannot me compressed much without affecting the mix, that tank would probably only last a couple hours at most. Would love to know if others have found mixtures that work.