It's not always easy to fire up a boiler at an outdoor engine show to run model steam engines. Although there are several ways of producing air to run them at engine shows, I wanted something that could be run constantly and wanted to use all vintage components. The kick start washer motor is a Briggs and Stratton WMB from the late 1930's. The compressor is a Stuart tire pump. My understanding is these were sold as an accessory for the Model A or Model T Fords, and could be directly driven off the power train for pumping up flat tires.
It works quite well, and will easily run any of my model steam engines without having to run the engine very fast. The engine runs for about six hours on one tank of fuel, and I can alternate between running this air compressor for operating steam engines, and operating my animated bucking "cowboy" that is always a crowd favorite at the outdoor shows. It's made to be able to stake the various components to the ground at outdoor shows, so I had to do a little adapting to run it on the cement floor. Now, if we only have some engine shows next year!
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