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rmz
| | Posted on Monday, June 02, 2003 - 10:30 pm: | 
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Hello everyone, wonderfull site you have. I am very new to this so please bear with me. A friend of mine purchsed this engine from auction a couple of days ago. Besides the plate I.D. we have no clue about this engine, any help would be greatly appreciated. I.D. plate as follows...The C.H.Blomstrom Marine Gasoline Engine MFG.AT Detroit MICHIGAN #763
Thanks.......Matt Z |
rmz
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 12:01 am: |
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I do have pics by the way, they wont let me load for some reason. |
andrew
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 08:47 am: |
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rmz,
Pics must to be under 50Kb in file size.
You can also check the instructions in the "formatting" section on the left. If you still have trouble, send me an email and let me know what happens when you try to post.
Regards,
Andrew |
Ernie
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 06:29 pm: |
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Here are the pics for Matt.
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Ernie
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 03, 2003 - 06:34 pm: |
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Take a look at the pic below. It has some similarities to the engine above. Mainly the transfer port and place in the casting for a throttle as well as the main bearings. Additionally the general proportions of them are similar. Maybe mine is a later version of Matt's engine.
What do you all think?
Thanks
Ernie
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Scott Peters
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 08:11 am: |
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rmz:
Here is a little bit more about the maker of your new (old) engine:
C. H. Blomstrom Motor Company
C. H. Blomstrom Motor Co. was incorporated in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan on October 26, 1904.
During a State of Michigan canvass of boat builders conducted in 1905, the C. H. Blomstrom Motor Co. claimed to have built 200 boats that year with a value of $12,000. C. H. Blomstrom was manager of the firm. The company manufactured automobiles as well as boats, but they made a specialty of gasoline launches. The firm went out of business in 1908.
Trade Name Model No. of cylinders Bore Stroke R.P.M. H.P. Weight Years Produced Notes
Blomstrom 600 ¾ 1904-1908
Blomstrom 600 1-1/2 1904-1908
Sources:
Michigan State Archives, RG 61-11, Abstracts of Reports of Corporations, Lot 3, Vol. 3 (1899-1904). p. 75.
Michigan State Archives, RG 61-11, Abstracts of Reports of Corporations, Lot 3, Vol. 4 (1903-1909). p. 95.
Michigan Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics. Twenty-third Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics (Lansing, MI: Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics, 1906.) pp. 373, 375.
Penton Publishing Co. The American Boating Directory--1906 (Cleveland, OH: Penton Publishing Co., 1906.) p. 9.
Homfeld, Max F. 753 Manufacturers of Inboard Marine Engines (St. Michaels, MD: Max F. Homfeld, 1991.) p. 2.
Catalog, The C. H. Blomstrom Motor Company, 1905. Library of Michigan, Rare Book Collection. |
richarddurgee
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 10:40 am: |
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This is a September 1903 ad . By the looks of the motor it probably had been designed some years earlier !
This is from Wendel's book !
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Richard Day
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 11:15 am: |
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Another footnote to history. Back about 1970 my wife and I visited Tombstone, AZ. They should have let it die!! At the upper end of the main drag across the street from the Wyatt Erpe, or whatever they called it saloon lying along side a building was a wreck of a "Queen" automobile. It was not much more than the chassis and the tag was just barely readable. I wonder if its still there? |
rmz
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 01:14 pm: |
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Erine, thank you so much for posting the pics for me! also thanks to Scott and both Richards, i will pass this information along to my friend. All of you have been a great help, This is somthing i have kinsidered getting into for a long time. Ive been building scratch built models of old boats for years. One other question for you guys, I am going to assume that this is somthing of rare value, i dont seem to find any other info but what you guys have provided me with and how hard is it going to be to find parts for?
Thanks Everybody!
Matt Z |
Scott Peters
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2003 - 01:23 pm: |
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Hi Matt,
Found this info in their catalogue over the lunch hour (maybe one for your model-building skills full scale, especially as the provide the lines???) I also found out they employed 69 people in 1904 (68 males, 1 female) for what it's worth.
[1905 catalog]
[title page]
The C. H. Blomstrom Motor Company
Builders of Gasoline Launches
Marine Gasoline Engines
Solid and Reversing Propeller Wheels
Office and Works:
River Street and Clark Avenue
Detroit, Mich.
p. 3
�[re prospective buyers]�they know the Blomstrom Motor Company are the originators of the $100.00 launch, all complete, ready to be put in the water.
p. 4
We make a specialty of a 15-1/2-foot and a 17-1/2-foot launch, 4-foot beam, with either 3/4 or 1-1/2 horse-power engine installed. Water test them with engines running. Our 15-1/2 foot launch is so simple that any boy or girl of eight or nine years and older can handle them with perfect ease, and we have large numbers of them in the hands of children getting a full day�s pleasure and sport out of our launches.
Terms are strictly cash for all launches. 25% paid when order is given, balance before shipment is made.
p. 5
Specification of 15-1/2-Foot Carvel Built Launch for $100.00
Length: 15 feet 6 inches
Beam: 48 inches
Length of decks 2 feet
Frame, including keel, stem stern-post and coaming, white oak, frame timbers steam bent all fastened to ribs and frame with tinned or galvanized nails, coaming steam bent; canvas decks; ribs of frame timbers ½ X 1-inch clear white oak, spaced 6 inches apart; interior finish three (3) coats best liquid paint; outside finish three (3) coats white lead; covering board and coaming natural finish and varnished; carrying capacity six to ten people. Approximate speed, with our ¾ horse power, five miles per hour. Actual horse-power I 3-10. Revolution of motor 600 per minute. Diameter of propeller 10 inches.
Extra for crating $2.00
Extra for cartage $2.00
Extra for side seat arrangement as shown in Cut No. 6, $3.50
Reversible propeller wheel $15.00 extra
Approximate speed 1-1/2 horse power, 6 to 10 miles per hour. We have customers who send us records of speed 10 miles per hour on lake runs. Shipping weight of launch, equipped with our ¾-horse power, 450 pounds. Same launch equipped with our 1-1/2 horse power, 500 pounds.
p. 27
We show here our 17-1/2 feet long, 4 feet 4 inch beam fantail round stern hull, full side view and also interior view. We install a horse and a half power special Blomstrom Engine with reverse propeller and all attachments ready to put in the water, with keel, dead-wood, stern post, gunwales and frame-work made of clear white oak, planking 9-16 inch clear pine or cypress. Ribs ½ X 1 inch, full size clear white oak, steam bent all in one piece, spaced 6 inches apart running from gunwale to gunwale. Planking and ribs fastened with galvanized or tinned nails, coaming is extra deep steam bent, with either canvas covered or natural wood finished decks, with elevated floor, curved locker seats running all around paneled in oak, natural wood finish. Forward deck is 3 feet long, rear deck is 4 feet long, complete with iron steering wheel, with galvanized tank of sufficient size for day�s run or over, located under forward deck, galvanized supply tank from pipe to engine through center under flooring, making the most up-to-date and desirable outfit of the kind that has ever been produced. Perfectly sea-worthy, east to handle, making it portable, but little trouble to haul them from Northern to Southern waters or vice versa with the season�s change, if the owners wish to ship them by freight at the lowest possible freight rates. Nothing like it ever produced before at the exceedingly low price we are offering, $200.00 ready to use.
pp. 47-49
Lines of the hull illustrated, also patent[?] drawings.
pp. 50-53
Interior photos of 2-storey plant |
Scott P
Visitor
| | Posted on Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 10:06 am: |
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Carl H. Blomstrom worked at the Lake Shore Engine Works in Marquette, Michigan prior to departing for Detroit to start his own firm. The Lake Shore Engine Works made the engine for the first motorized lifeboat in the United States for the United States Life-Saving Service, testing it at Marquette on Lake Superior. There are probably more than a few similarities in the Lake Shore and early Blomstrom engines, I would presume. |
William Schaller
Senior Member
Username: billschaller
Post Number: 470
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - 11:28 pm: |
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Tough to see the motor in this boat.
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