Crew with Municipal Engine Co. Gas Cement Mixer - c. 1914

Somewhere in the Portland area, a crew pauses from their concrete work to have their picture taken. Their main equipment is an early version of a gas-powered cement mixer. The brand of "Municipal Engine Company" is partially visible on the chassis of the mixer. Little information is available for them, but I did find an online reference to two of their quarter-yard cement mixers being owned by the St. Louis & Hannibal Short Line in 1917. This mixer appears to be about that size. The gas engine, hidden inside the sheet metal enclosure on the left, was almost certainly a "hit and miss" engine, an early flywheel type design that maintained a steady speed by turning off the firing of the cylinder when the speed became too great. This mechanism resulted in a distinctive "POP whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh POP" sound, as the engine fired and then coasted until it needed to fire again to maintain its average speed. -- This photo is restored and printed by Old Oregon.