Frick 50 - 65 hp Portable Steam Engine

This engine was a late bloomer in the age of steam. I have not been able to pin down the exact dates of manufacture but it was among the last portable steam engines that Frick Manufacturing produced. It is not listed in a 1907 Frick catalog that is available online. In his Encyclopedia of American Steam Traction Engines, Jack Norbeck credits a 1925 Frick catalog for an illustration of this portable engine. That’s as close as I have been able to determine when production began.

Production appears to have continued long after Frick abandoned traction engines. An article in the Nov. / Dec. 2003  issue of Farm Collector magazine states that traction engine production ended in 1936 but portable engines like the 50 -65 hp. Continued to be built until 1938. Other sources say that portable engine production ended in 1932 or simply,during the 1930’s. 

Frick described it as a 50-65 brake horsepower, improved center crank engine mounted on a slab burning return flue boiler that produced 150 psi working pressure steam. The fire box was a cylinder that was 24 inches in diameter that extended the length of the boiler. At the opposite end flue gases entered a smoke box that connected to 2 inch return flue pipes that carried the hot flue gas back through the water jacket again before exiting up the stack. This resulted in a much more efficient heat transfer and higher pressure steam to power the engine. 

The boiler design that it was an improvement on, is often referred to as a “Cornish” type boiler, a design that would span the age of steam. It dates back at least to 1812 when one of the original Steam Punks, Richard Trevithick, no less, installed one at the Dolcoath Mine. If you didn’t sleep through your history classes, you might remember that Trevithick is better known for having built the first successful working steam locomotive. The early boilers lacked the return flues and had only the single horizontal tube that was slightly larger than half the diameter  of the water jacket that surrounded it. They were easy to build and maintain but limited in pressure and steam production.

The design of this engine was perfect for sawmill work in remote locations and that’s the reason that production continued, long after the internal combustion engine replaced steam for most other applications. Even after internal combustion engines could have easily replaced it, it’s hard to beat free fuel, and every sawmill produced that in abundance. 

In the years that Frick was manufacturing steam products they built around 4,500  traction engines. Portable engines cost a lot less and outsold traction engines almost three to one. Around 13,000 portable engines were built before production ended in 1938. 

These engines remained on the job for many years after Frick stopped building them. In fact, the one shown here occasionally still powers a sawmill. It is part of the collection that the Cumming Antique Power Association maintains and they have been known to fire it up to run their demonstration sawmill during the annual show. Of course it’s much easier to back a tractor into the belt than fire up a steam engine and keep it running all day, so don’t be surprised if that’s what you see. You can find more information about the 2019 show by visiting: www.capa-ga.com .

Sources:

www.farmcollector.com/steam-traction/frick-catalog-cuts 

https://archive.org/details/historyoftheFrickcompany 

https://oelectrical.com 

Encyclopedia of American Steam Traction Engines by Jack Norbeck