Thought I would share some photos and comments on my restoration of an early 2 1/2 inch bore Mason steam car engine. Most posts in this section concern model engines, so something different here. I am not sure how many photos I can use in one post, so I will divide this into sections.
The Mason engine was first produced by the Mason Regulator Company in 1899 and was designed specifically for use in the earliest Stanley "buggy' cars. The Stanley brothers sold the rights to their car design to Locomobile the same year (but remained in charge of management), and then in 1903 bought the company back. There is a long and convoluted history involved, which is well-documented from various sources.
This particular Mason is a later (1900-1903) version with two pump brackets (the loops on top), whereas the earliest Masons had only a single bracket. It bears serial #1008, but because Mason made the same engine for multiple car makers at the time, it is impossible to determine for certain exactly which company it was made for, as Mason would produce the engines with whatever serial numbers the buyers wanted. Details regarding these serial numbers are largely lost to history.
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When I acquired the engine, it was partially disassembled, but was nearly 100% complete and original, including almost every last bolt and screw. The only major part missing was the main crankshaft driving sprocket (which drove the main drive chain and wheels). The engine had suffered a major failure of one cylinder head cap, with damage to the top of the cylinder. This type of damage was often caused by un-vaporized water getting into the cylinder while it was running. The engine produced about 3 1/2 HP at the nominal running pressure of 150 PSI, but was capable of almost 10 HP at the highest pressures of close to 500 PSI.
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This shows a page from the 1902 Mason catalog which (with all pages) illustrates all parts of the engine and includes part number and pricing information. This catalog is one of the few surviving resource documents that allow the certain identification of this engine as a Mason #1. For most other types of very early steam car engines, such documentation is very difficult or impossible to find.
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This image is taken from the Locomobile catalog of 1901, and shows one of several body styles produced that year. They all shared the same engine and basic chassis. I include this only to give a general impression of the appearance of the car that this engine powered - it could have been one of any number of makers and models, but they all looked pretty similar by todays standards. This smallest and most simple type of steam car, using this very small 2 1/2 inch bore engine, was produced by the principal car makers at the time only for a span of about 4 years, from 1899 to 1903. Subsequently, those makers either ceased operations, or developed and sold larger cars with larger engines.
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