Hello gentleman. My first post. Today I have a item which I think is railroad related. Approximately 6.6 inches long. Found in a dump where the S.A.&A.P. dumped at.
Hi. And welcome to TB. That looks very similar to a intake or exhaust valve. That hole in the stem is throwing me off a bit.
Based on the operation dates of your railroad, I doubt this is a diesel locomotive part. I agree with Tom though, seems like a valve. We would recognize the shape today as being from an engine cylinder. I suspect it's automotive, or maybe from a stationary engine. I am no expert on steam locomotives, but maybe it came from some steam locomotive appliance. Poppet valves were generally unpopular in running gear, but with the multitude of valves and pipes on a steam locomotive, there is surely an exception somewhere. Without some kind of marking or serial number though, I suspect doing any kind of definitive research on this component will be very difficult.
It's from a Model T or Model T type vehicle. Seems like the hole is reserved for only the really old ones.
It's just a hit or miss game honestly. There are items that are definite railroad items in the dump. The problem is, they are mixed in with non-railroad items.
Retainer pins were used in less sophisticated engines for several decades. Anyone else remember a Briggs & Stratton competitor named Tecumseh?
I remember Tecumseh, many people who had "Mini-Bikes" back in the '60's/'70's held to the belief that Tecumseh motors were superior to the Briggs & Stratton. This might have been due to the fact that the typical B&S motor in those mini-bikes were rated at 5hp while the comparable Tecumseh was a 7.5hp motor. Both of them were essentially bulletproof so long as you kept oil in the crankcase and didn't shock-cool them so as to crack the head.
I was thinking along those lines too. I saw some Model T valves on a Model T car group website, but they didn't have the pin hole, so I doubted myself. The large number of defunct early car manufacturers and the short production runs of many cars will make it pretty difficult to pinpoint exactly where this came from.
Most of the things in there are from circa 1890-1930. I mean, it's only around 200 feet out of the old city limits. Additionally, it's in the poverty flats and around 1,200 feet from the official city dump, which has been operating for over a hundred years. I can EXPONENTIALLY agree that it was used and abused. It is very slimmed down in the middle section.
