BROWNSTOWN — The sights and sounds of antique machinery, along with the odors of engine exhaust and oil, could be experienced nightly at the Jackson County Fair this past week.
Located near the Antique Building were many styles of hit-and-miss engines, along with other antique machines, farm tractors and a huge toy tractor collection.
Ross Rieckers, also known as “The Oliver Man,” had several of his antique engines on display and was conducting demonstrations all week except for Monday, which was rained out.
“These are antique gas engines. Some call them hit-and-miss engines, but basically, there are two different types,” he said. “Everybody lumps them together, like vice grips are all vice grips, even though they’re not.”
Rieckers, who lives near Tampico, said before there was electricity, anything that a person had to do that needed power had to be turned by hand, and then stationary gas engines came along.
“People could use those to run their washing machine, to grind feed or pump water,” he said. “All the things you can do now with an electric motor.”
Rieckers said the gas engines were pretty big in the early 1800s to probably about the 1920s. Then in the 1930s, they began to phase out when electricity came into play.
“I think in our county, they probably weren’t around as much everywhere,” he said. “Because I think our county was one of the first to get electricity compared to some other places.”
He collects antique engines and usually finds them in non-running condition and fixes them, and that’s pretty much how he bought all of the ones he has. He has found some abandoned in the woods and also buys them at auctions.
“When I was a kid, we’d go to auction and farm sales, but those days are pretty much gone,” Rieckers said. “I probably have about 25 or 30 engines and around 40 tractors, which is the theme of my YouTube Channel: @rosstheoliverman.”
He also is president of the Hoosier Heritage Oliver Collectors. The organization co-hosted its first event last year with a tractor drive in conjunction with Bishop Farms.
Jon Bishop and his brother, Robert Bishop, also were demonstrating a few of their antique engines at the fair.
Jon was running a Gemmer, an inverted engine with a pump on it, which was circulating water through a bucket for the purpose of demonstration. Back when it was being used for real, it would be pumping from a well, he said.
“This one is probably from around 1910, and we bought this at an auction about five years ago,” Jon said. “We have been collecting engines since around 1983, and not all are hit-and-miss, but a lot of them are.”
They are called hit-and-miss because they control the engine speed by cutting off the engine’s ignition system when it runs too fast, which is the miss. When the engine gets too slow, it allows it to pick up the speed again, or hit.
“We have a farm and machine shop about a mile south of Dudleytown, and we just collect these engines as a hobby,” he said. “We buy and sell them, but right now, we probably have about 70 or so.”
Robert is president of the Jackson County Antique Machinery Association, which has a mission to preserve the past, keep the antiques alive and teach the younger generation how everything used to work.
Eric Thompson of Brown County was demonstrating a 1910 braiding machine, which can braid many different materials.
“The braider is not really rare, but it’s unusual,” he said. “Right now, it’s braiding fishing line, and that’s how it was originally used in the factories.”
He also had a rare 1½ horsepower 1921 engine built by Cummins Engine Co. in Columbus on display.
A sign in front of the engine stated Cummins produced less than 725 of those engines for Sears catalog sales from 1920 to 1922. The engine Thompson had was one of 18 currently recorded 1½ horsepower engines in the registry.
Thompson also had a small motorized rail car on display, which replaced the hand-pumped cars, he said.
“This one is from around 1955, and when we were kids, they used these to inspect or repair the tracks,” he said.
Thompson said all of the people with the old machinery on display at the fair were members of the Jackson County Antique Machinery Association.
“I missed the annual Jackson County Antique Farm Machinery Show here in June because I was off riding one of these rail cars in the Rocky Mountains,” he said.
Antique engines and rail cars were not the only things on display behind the Antique Building. There were lots of tractors to see — some big and some small toy collectibles.
Two best friends from the younger generation had tractors on display and were more than happy to answer questions about them.
Owen Snyder, 12, of Seymour brought his red Massey Ferguson to the fair, and Matthew Rothert, 15, of Brownstown brought his John Deere green tractor.
Snyder said he is the third owner of the 1971 Massey Ferguson, and the people who originally owned it didn’t need it anymore.
“It was originally bought in 1971 by a family that used it as their main tractor for years, but they just ran out of uses for it, and it needed rebuilt,” he said. “The guy before me then bought it, went through everything and repainted it, and as he got older, he really couldn’t use it anymore, so he was selling it at the same time I was looking for a tractor.”
Snyder said he has a mower he uses with the tractor, and he takes it to various shows and would like to get a plow for it.
Rothert said one of the tractors he brought was a 1956 Model 60 John Deere, and 1956 was the last year those were produced.
“I used it mainly to pull trailers and wagons right after I restored it,” he said. “We then filled it with WD40, and that cleaned out the engine really well, and my dad is a mechanic, so I’m just learning as I go.”
Rothert said he really likes the tractor and uses it all of the time. He recently bought a disc to use with the tractor, too.
His YouTube channel is @rothertfamilyfarms854862, and Snyder’s YouTube channel is @ctfarms6471.
Even though the two friends have different tastes in tractor models, they both agree old tractors are their favorites.
“We just like to hear the power of the past,” Rothert said.