Tea Time with Melody Q

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Coolspring October 2014 Part 3

Not Chicago. (giggling) In this case, Windy City was a village near Kane, PA where oil was drilled. This building was an "air lease." The engines inside created compressed air to operate steam engines to pump oil wells. The building was relocated to Coolspring along with one of the compressor engines, auxiliary equipment, and a steam engine. The exhibit was created to preserve oil field history.

65hp Blaisdell Compressor Engine

This is the Blaisdell engine. It's really big. Everyone knows when it is running because the "hit" emits a loud bang from the exhaust pit that can be heard across the grounds. Can you see the engine is running in this picture?

The Blaisdell Machinery Company was located near Bradford, PA. It's still there, kind of. Now Blaisdell makes Zippo lighters. Speaking of light, I love how this building is lit.

Isn't that cool? They're called gas flares.

This is the workbench with tools and parts for maintaining the engine and other equipment.

Some other angles of the engine.

Not as big as the Snow, but still huge to me. This is a 65hp engine; Xyra's favorite, the Hornsby-Akaroyd is 35hp; the Snow is 600hp. That's mega, super huge!

Melody and Kaya also posted pictures from this exhibit. It's located next to the Power Technology Building on the Annex end, so very easy for us to visit.

I hope you are enjoying my trip. One more day to go. Hope to see you again soon.

Note: We were given permission to go behind the ropes to take our pictures. All pictures close to the engine were taken while it was not running. Never touch a running engine; stay back and stay safe by just watching it run. Also you shouldn't touch or climb on any machinery (running or not) without asking the person in charge.

Exhibit Details

To learn more about The Windy City: when you click the exhibit link, scroll down to Windy City and click TOUR. There are 9 pages of information and pictures to give you more detail than Lanie did. There were a few tragedies at the plant early on, these are described and might be a bit disturbing to some. Please skip those brief passages.

Best wishes,

#CoolspringPowerMuseum
#WindyCityExhibit
#Blaisdell65hpengine

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Coolspring October 2014 Part 2

Coolspring Power Museum

October 2014 Fall Expo

Hahahaha! I get the blog for a fourth day! Love it! When I was looking at the pictures there was one engine that I got to do a photo shoot with and I want to spotlight it in a stand alone post. :-D

As I mentioned yesterday, I walked up to town. On the way, my first stop was the Gift Shop.

Gift Shop

In the Coolspring Power Museum Gift Shop I got to meet some very nice ladies. They are friendly and happy to help. There is an area with free information about the museum and a few other nearby attractions. I made sure to take the 2015 schedule.

Another area is set aside for books and information and stationery about engines and Coolspring.

You can find tee shirts, sweat shirts, hats, and other great items. I found a cute puppy wearing it's own Coolspring tee. Isn't he cute? And "soooo FLUFFY!" (giggling)

Need a mug? Get one here; there are several styles from which to choose. Near the register you can get cookies. They are homemade.

We have one of these little engines. Can you see it in front of the photograph? It kind of blends in a bit.

One of the great things about the gift shop is that the prophets go back into the museum. They helped finance the nice bathrooms and showers as well as the Snow project and so many other things.

General Store

The Coolspring General Store is awesome! Reminds me of the stores run by the Olesons and Godseys. (Have you seen Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons?)

Except this one has porch swings so you can sit and visit. I've seen a few people so comfy they end up dozing off.

Inside the shelves are lined with goods, groceries, souvenirs, books, antiques, and...

CANDY!

Lots of nice sweets to choose from. Of course, I wanted gummy bears...

And Swedish fish.

What would you pick?

Jeep

After paying, Xyra and I headed back to the museum grounds. It was a nice day, made better when we happened upon "the jeep." Melody and Kaya had told me so much about it I had to check it out myself.

Love it!

Hvids

We left the jeep and headed back to the Power Tech Annex where the Hvids were being worked on or running.

It's really quite interesting to listen to the engines run; each has a slightly different sound. Xyra told me that she doesn't miss the radio while visiting here because the engines create a symphony all their own.

This is a 20 hp (horsepower) St. Mary's engine.

Can you imagine a team (horses or oxen) hooked up to pull that to where it was needed to do its work? That's why it is on a cart, so it can be moved.

Tomorrow you'll see the photo shoot with The Windy City. That is a cool engine. I think it's my favorite.

Best wishes,

#CoolspringPowerMuseum
#CoolspringGeneralStore

Monday, February 2, 2015

Coolspring October 2014 Part 1

Coolspring Power Museum

October 2014 Fall Expo

THAT'S IT! I'm taking over the blog for three days! It's February and I'm tired of waiting to post about my trip to the Coolspring Power Museum. (sighs) Oh, well. Better late than never. Please forgive my outburst.

Road Trip

We headed out early in the morning and drove at least 4 hours to the Brookville exit off I-80. Soon we arrived at the museum grounds.

Setting up camp was fun.

This is my area.

Xyra took me to see the Hornsby-Akaroyd in the Power Tech building. This is really cool.

Then we headed to the Power Tech Annex and the Hvids.

A lot running that day.

My trip was shorter than Kaya's we could only go out for three days, but I made the most of each day. Even went to town - it's a nice walk from the museum to the General Store. I'll tell you more about it in the next post.

Have you ever had to wait to do something you really wanted to do?

Best wishes,

#CoolspringPowerMuseum

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Mini Pet Adventure #6

Kitten Bowl II

While we enjoy football, we don't need to watch all the pregame stuff. Yes, we'll miss some of the great commercials; however, this is more important. Helping kittens find homes. Oh, the cuteness!