The Little Engine - Grant County, OK
Posted by: 
The Snowdog
N 36° 52.145 W 097° 37.765
14S E 622160 N 4081226
The tale of The Little Engine is found on this granite marker in Czecho-Slovak Cemetery - in Grant County, Oklahoma.
Waymark Code: WM18344
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 05/20/2023
Views: 0
Never underestimate the ingenuity of teen-aged farm boys. This marker relates the tale of a remarkable device and even provides a photo.
THE LITTLE ENGINE
In 1917 Joe Skrdla Jr. & Frank Skrdla Sr., two farm boys at age 16 and 17, accomplished their goal by hand building this small gas engine. The engine was copied from Dad and Mother's new 1916 Model T Ford. We started with a spool from a horse drawn orchard disk polished by hand using a broom handle and emery paper. We mounted intake and exhaust valves on the cylinder. They were drain pet cocks used to check the oil on the Model T, operated by a quarter inch rod bent and twisted to operate the valves. In time, the carburetor was the needle valve of a perfection coal oil stove. The electricity came from a wall telephone generator put through a Model T coil. We used half gallon tyrup cans for gas and water coolant. The piston rings & piston were made from a cast tubing greased down with files and sand paper on a homemade lathe that was cranked by hand. The rings were dressed down on a flat grindstone to fit the piston groove. The timing gear, the 16th tooth gear and flywheel came off of a dolly type washing machine. The 32nd tooth gear was made of heavy guage metal cut in a circle rivited together. We cut the teeth to fit the 16th gear. The crank shaft was a half inch rod heated in a small bellows forge, bent, shaped, and hammered out in a vise. The main bearing holder was two adjusting clamps off a Katy Did sod plow. The tubing bearings were mounted to it. There are three items that rusted away over the years - the carburator, gas tank, and telephone generator and had to be substituted. The Little Engine still runs today, on June 28, 1995.
County: Grant
Record Address::
Grant CountyOK USA
Rate the Site: 
Date Erected: 5/28/1995
Sponsor (Who put it there): Skrdla Family
Web site if available: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:1 - Must visit the site in person.
2 - New Photo required.
3 - Give some new insight to the marker/site.
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