A Question of Balance

	Tommy Turner's amazing 6 HP circa-1905 Kansas City Hay Press Lightning engine. Portable Lightning engines were unique in that the cart was an integral part of the engine structure.

The Amazing Lightning “Balanced” Engine from Kansas City Hay Press Co.

By Richard Backus

For mechanical engineers, the quest for the perfect-running engine has always been a holy grail of sorts. Even in the earliest days of the internal-combustion engine, engineers worked at designing engines that would do more than simply run. They would be models of perfection, perfectly balanced, delivering power in carefully orchestrated mechanical concert.

Horizontally opposed engines, which effectively cancel out primary engine imbalances, were among the earliest designs to address this basic quest, and manufacturers across the spectrum of engines adopted the design. To this day, the opposed engine is still the prime mover for a number of automotive manufacturers, chief among them are Porsche and Subaru.

But what if you were an engine designer at the dawning of the 20th century, searching for the answer to a smooth-running engine without the complexity of extra cylinders? Current technology applies weighted countershafts to cancel out inherent engine imbalances in single-cylinder and inline engines. For whatever reasons, early engine designers didn't go that direction, but they did pursue some interesting avenues of their own.

By 1900, the Kansas City Hay Press Co., Kansas City, Mo., was an established manufacturer of hay presses and other agricultural implements. The boom in engine building was on, and the company clearly decided it needed to move with the times and develop its own line of farm engines.

In 1901, E.H. Korsmeyer, working for Kansas City Hay Press, applied for a patent for “new and useful improvements in g..e there's barely a hint of movement.

Tommy says it runs easily, noting, “If you don't flood it, it starts on one pull.” The biggest problem, Tommy says, is the igniter design. Twisting the igniter on its base effects engine timing. To facilitate this, the igniter base is slotted where it bolts to the engine. Unfortunately, this means whenever the igniter is removed to clean the contacts, the engine also has to be re-timed when the igniter is re-installed. “I can imagine at the turn of the century that would have been a problem,” Tommy says.

Detail of the Lightning's incredible timing mechanism, governor and igniter.

As to the engine's unique two-piston design, Tommy speculates it's probably not as efficient as a “traditional” single-piston affair. Tommy notes the large bore of the 6 HP engine, which at 6-3/4 inches is more than 2 inches larger than similarly sized, contemporary engines. Plus, there's the question of extra friction generated from two pistons.

Whether its overall design represents simply gimmickry or engineering excellence – or perhaps a unique mixture of the two – there's no question the Kansas City Hay Press Lightning represented a novel solution in the pursuit of the perfect engine.

Contact engine enthusiast Tommy Turner at: 1174 Upton Road, Magnolia, KY 42748; lcjudge@scrtc.com