[SEL] An Interesting Discovery

[Tod Engine]

I was over at the Tod Engine museum site yesterday working on our new "toy", the Allis Chalmers front end loader. At some point I walked over to the LP bedplate and something caught my eye on the inside of the casting in the conn rod sump pit.  It appears that a moulder at the William Tod plant had scribed his initials, "W.E." in the mold before the casting was poured and his initials were cast into the bedplate.   Seeing that really made me think about something that I don't normally think about, and that is the many people who labored long and hard to turn a pile of pig iron and scrap into a magnificent piece of steam machinery.

I wonder who M.E. was?  He obviously was a moulder.  Did he speak english?  How many engines did he help build?  Did he live up the hill and walk over the Market Street bridge to work everyday? Or did he take the trolley?  It was 1913 so his house probably had no electricity and no phone.  One thing is for sure I'll bet that he had no idea that those initials would grace the last Tod rolling mill engines in existence and still be around 92 years later. 

Thanks M.E. for building us a good engine!

Rick Rowlands
Executive Director
Tod Engine Heritage Park
William Tod 34" x 68" x 60" Cross Compound Steam Engine
Youngstown, OH
http://www.todengine.org/
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