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Sintz marine gasoline engine
Document Type: Artifact
Geographic Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
ID Number: 1989_6
Keywords: Fisheries, Industries, Engines, 1989.6
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Description:
Sintz Gas Engine Co. two stroke marine engine 1893
Perhaps John Allen Jewett of Head Tide, Sheepscott River, read about the revolutionary new power plant introduced by Clark Sintz at the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. Jewett operated a freight scow on the river, and decided to power it with an engine instead of sail. He must have been prosperous. His new engine cost over $200, when skilled carpenters were making $2.00 a day. Jewett found out that a narrow gauge railroad was being built along the river and never installed his new engine.
Clark Sintz was America’s pioneer gasoline engine builder; this restored engine is one of the oldest in the United States. He developed the make-and-break ignition system (contact points inside the cylinder), and a mechanical fuel pump, all beautifully and carefully made.
This type of engine is too small to have powered the classic Maine lobsterboat. It was not until relatively inexpensive engines with more power started to be developed that lobsterboats like those we see today emerged.
The third photograph shows Genevive , a boat built on Beals Island in 1950 as an open boat with an Oldsmobile engine. This boat is on display at the Museum. Today's boats, built in fiberglass, are longer and wider versions powered with far more powerful diesel engines.
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