During WWII Whitin Machine Works of Whitinsville, Massachusetts was commissioned by the U. S. Government to build auxiliary steam engines for the Liberty Ship program. These were used to power generators and forced draft blowers. By the end of the war Whitin had produced about 11,000 of these engines. They were produced 100% “in house.” All the pattern and casting work was done at Whitin. Only common hardware items came from other vendors.
This particular engine was set up to run a forced draft blower. It has no flywheel or governor: the blower wheel acted as a flywheel and, because of the horsepower characteristics of the attached centrifugal blower, it did not need a governor. Bore is 5″ with a 6″ stroke.
This engine was left over at the end of the war. It was purchased by a scrap dealer in the late 1970s and sat outdoors in his yard for many years before being purchased by Jim Paquette. He moved it under cover and stored it for many more years before restoring it.
