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'Life's a kick ... '
Rod Bates of Oakley, Kansas, truly believes, "Life is a kick" -- a kick-start engine. Bates displayed a portion of his engine collection at the Mini Sappa Antique Tractor Show in Oberlin, Kansas, on Saturday. Bates' smoke-belching dragon is powered by a 1937 Maytag Model 92 single-cylinder engine, one of the many gas-powered washing machine and industrial kick-start engines that make up his 20-year collection. The maroon-colored engine in front of Bates is a 1917-1919 1/2-horse, 2-cycle Elgin, used for general power and for Liberty washing machines sold by Sears. Bates' research indicates that the engine's original buzz coil mechanism was also used on military flame throwers. The little 2-cycle "Waterwitch" engine beside the Elgin was made by Sears for its washing machines, but, turned on its side, the engines were also used to power outboard motors for boats. Rod's two latest additions are very rare, the "Alpha De Laval" and the "E-2 Hummer." Others in Bates' collection are Lauson, Briggs & Stratton, Johnson Utilimotor and Johnson Iron Horse.
