Question from a non farmer.

This doesn't have to do with politics.lol I have seen many items on photo ads for hit & miss engines. WHAT WERE THEY USED FOR?????
Did they actually hit and misfire? if so why?? Kindly inform this ignorant mortal about such things. What the machine sounds like is me (at age 77) driving a nail into a board. Hit (my finger) Miss (the nail).Not a joke either. ouch.lol
Regards, Lou

Hey lou, visit the stationary engine forum on this site.

Back in the day, they were used to run anything from washing machines to small corn shellers and feed grinders, etc.
They were called that because of the way they sounded when running. Here is an example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5X0bIh2Up8&feature=related

The one we had was used on my mother's washing machine.

Lou, The governor would enable the spark, so the engine would wind up until the upper speed was met, then turn it off until the lower speed was met.

Thus hit and miss.

They only "hit" (fired the spark plug) when the speed had slowed down and they needed to speed up again. That is, the spark was controlled by a governor, so only fired when it needed to, not on every revolution. The hit and miss thing was only obvious when at idle- when under load, they generally "hit" on every revolution.

Lou, the hit n miss was really just that. It is basically a four stroke engine. They have a linkage to the governor, which set the speed of operation. When the set rpm's drop below the set speed, the governor flyweights retract, and cause the linkage to close the exhaust valve, causing the engine to do an intake of air and fuel, and fire on the compression stroke. The fly weights expand with the newer speed, and hold the exhaust valve open until the rpms drop below the governor setting, when the process is repeated and the engine does another power stroke. Depending on the load, they may make several revolutions before they fire again. Therefore the 'Plunk, miss, miss miss, miss, PLUNK, miss, miss, miss' sound when they are running. They were used to power everything from water pumps to elevators and washing machines, corn shellers and grinders. Some really large ones powered cotton gins and oil pipeline pumps, and many are still in use today.

I'm not to familiar with them either, but doesn't the large flywheel have something to do with its power.

Gentlemen, Thank you for the information and the video. Still wouldn't want it, I guess I'm used to a smooth running engine, not a miss and a thump.Pretty ingeniuos though,just never seen one in operation and couldn't figure out the uses for such an engine. Thanks again for ALL the replies,
Regards, LOU

At the turn of the 1800s to 1900s, single cylinder gasoline and gasious fueled engines became popular for stationary work. These engines were 5 to 10 times larger than a similarly sized small engine of today. they were crude, and the intake systems often had a wick or atmospheric (weak spring) operated fuel mixing system. these worked at good engine speeds (less than 750 in most cases) but there was insufficient control and mixing at idle speeds, or to run at partial power even at full speed. The ignition systems, and valve systems were used to prevent overspeeding. The ignition was prevented from sparking when the speed was as set. this resulted in a misfire for that stroke set. (some 2stroke, some 4 stroke). as the speed slowed due to friction, or load being applied, the spark was allowed to fire and power was produced. In a similar way the exhaust valve was held open (or intake remained shut in some) to adjust power/speed output to meet demand. The fuel was cheap, and the dramatic pollution of unburned fuel was only tears in the operators eyes, not a global issue. A flyball governor was used in most cases to maintain the speed as set by the operator, by blocking breaker point or ignitor electrodes from operation, or blocking valve activity by moving the pushrod away from the rocker (or similar dysfunction) . The term Balls Out, (commonly used today to describe high level output), is based on the idea of the flyball governor opening the throttle, or allowing every firing stroke, on these old engines when its governor "balls" were swinging in wide open position (way beck to steam based stationary plants. Jim

(quoted from post at 01:39:52 11/07/12) Lou, the hit n miss was really just that. It is basically a four stroke engine. They have a linkage to the governor, which set the speed of operation. When the set rpm's drop below the set speed, the governor flyweights retract, and cause the linkage to close the exhaust valve, causing the engine to do an intake of air and fuel, and fire on the compression stroke. The fly weights expand with the newer speed, and hold the exhaust valve open until the rpms drop below the governor setting, when the process is repeated and the engine does another power stroke. Depending on the load, they may make several revolutions before they fire again. Therefore the 'Plunk, miss, miss miss, miss, PLUNK, miss, miss, miss' sound when they are running. They were used to power everything from water pumps to elevators and washing machines, corn shellers and grinders. Some really large ones powered cotton gins and oil pipeline pumps, and many are still in use today.

Click to expand...

I never took the time to actually walk over and look at them,.... but I think some of the really big H&M engines were even used on some of the older oil wells around here.

Now days I think about all the big pumps run off electric motors or natural gas engines.

Hey lou, visit the stationary engine forum on this site.

My father in law has several of the things. One is a small unit used to propel some kind of boat.

When I was a kid, the local well driller had a machine with a real large hit-n-miss engine. No muffler and when it miss-fired on an open valve it would have a real loud explosion.

It seemed to make several revolutions between actually firing the cylinder, always kind of thought that the whole well machine would just fall apart from the irregular motion!

They did not control the spark but held a valve open to control firing.

like those old engines, i believe the family farm still has one somewhere, hiding in a barn but i cant have it im about 5th in line behind my cousins [ who own it] that wants that thing, funny, grandpa stopped using it when electricity came onto the place in the 1940's my uncle would not use it, the cousins never knew how it worked, but they want it, lol

also remember not all of those old engines were hit and miss, some of them ran like any small engine, just at a slow rpm, visit a fair size tractor show and you'll be pretty sure to find a nest of them sitting there quietly ticking over, the hit and miss ones will be obvious from the hit every time ones just by listening to the exhaust on them

The purpose of the large flywheel is to store power between power strokes and smooth out engine operation. It can not create any power on its own. Joe

No miss fire or incomplete combustion. The engine keeps whirling but air/fuel mixture and spark only occur when rpms drop.
No throttle blade in carb, runs wide open when a power stroke is required.
Much less nuisance than another method to turn a shaft to operate a small load. Day or night, cold or warm, drought or flood. Cheaper than keeping a horse too.

These were popular small fishing boat engines up to the 1980's in eastern Canada. Sit there and spin and chug when tending nets or traps, then had little effort turning a propellor, so real smooth and efficent criusing home.

We had one they used on the milking machine before I was born. I think it was made by IH. It was sold when the farm was sold. I think the person that bought it still has it. Some were used for sawing wood. The Amish may still be using them as long as they don't have rubber tired wheels. Hal

I see your back from the eye injury?? How u make out from
It?

Could have been a lot worse. The retina is intact. The floating trash inside the eye blocking vision is blood and clots. The good news is that the internal bleed stopped on it's own.
The eye should eventually flush the debris out in a couple of months.
Right now it's like looking through a fish bowl filled with black pepper and swimming leaches.
Thanks for asking . Hopefully more people reach for the safety glasses .

I was at an antique car and old engine show several years ago and one of the larger engines was mounted on a pallet which was in the bed of a 2500 chev. pickup with heavyer then stock rear springs.When the engine was running and it "hit" that truck sat down hard on the springs.

The exhaust valve was held open.My Dad would bring home the small ones.Shutting off the spark would dump gas in to a hot muffler.Ive worked on them, all used a valve interuppter.