rstreift

55Fairlane,  Reading that you met "Mr. John Jensen", do you know if he is the John Jensen in this excerpt at https://www.jensensteamengines.com/museum.htm ?

Tom Jensen enjoyed life for 92 years, spending the last 61 years of his life working in his little Jeannette Steam Shop, inventing, creating, crafting and perfecting the highly specialized tooling and dies used in the manufacture of his Jensen Steam Engines. In 1992, President George Bush wrote to Mr. Jensen, thanking him for his "...unique contribution to America". Mrs. Jensen, who recently passed away, had this treasured letter on display for all to see. Tom left a legacy of not just his tooling and the all important blueprint drawings for each and every part, but also a son, Tom, Jr. and a grandson, John, both of whom are also Mechanical Engineers, to carry on this unique family tradition.

I talked to Brent Myers about 3 years ago when buying a single cylinder casting from Myers Engine Works.  Maybe the old scale models kits from Breisch, Keeley, and other will continue to survive for another generation.

- Reed

Thanks for looking at it.  - Reed

I like that color, maybe it is the two together. 
Seeing your recent oscillating engine build inspired me to pull out the kit of one I have on the shelf.  It is the same Murdock kit as being built in another thread.  I'm thinking a about that as the next engine, but it will need to wait for now.  Apparently my Dad got a replacement casting as there were two casting for the same part, one had some incomplete fill in some details.  Some things never change, eh? 

Assembly

There were several partial assembles done to check fit such as the piston and cylinder, the piston, cylinder head, and frame which was fitted to the bearings/shaft; then to the base.  Now the entire parts pile will somehow transform into a working engine.  At least that is the plan.
With all the parts assembled and oiled, I needed the belt for the governor.  The first belt was loose and I neglected to clean the pulleys, all it did was spin on the governor’s pulley.  After cleaning the pulleys and taking 2 inches out of the belt, I still needed to help it.  Humm, , , I remembered that I didn’t grease the gears.  A sparing amount of grease and the governor turned with the belt. 
I put the two Cretors engines on a period appropriate table.  The Singer sewing machine’s wood parts suffered decay and the head became a parts doner, but I had a piece of maple from a table that needed a home.  So, I stripped the treadle to metal and applied modern paint as well as refinished the maple top with polyurethane.
FinishedFront-1a.jpg, FinishedFrontRight-2.jpg, Cretors_#1_&_#6_OnSingerTable.jpg

The finished engine running URLs are below.

Cretors #1 Horizontal Long
https://youtube.com/shorts/ZKyI9bmDG9c?feature=share

Cretors #1 Horizontal Short
https://youtube.com/shorts/Oj75OGjkSXk?feature=share

Cretors #1 Horizontal Slow
https://youtube.com/shorts/Lh5SDH0V21s?feature=share

Nicely done, they make a great looking pair.  I might be inspired to do another oscillator.  - Reed