1928 Jaeger Trash Water Pump

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I acquired this in late July of 00 from the same man that I got my Jaeger and Novo. It all started very innocently, I just went over to his house to get some flat belt. We then took a stroll through his barns (again!) and we came across this. I'd looked in the place where this was before and just never saw it.

When I spied it sitting among a whole bunch of other stuff, I knew that it would be a great demonstration piece! I want to have things that my engines run, and this will be great!

This is a picture of the pump working for the first time after I rebuilt it. This was about 2-1/2 months after I got it, and a lot of late nights, all weekends to get it ready for it's first showing at the Grand Ledge Island Festival. It ran perfectly for three days straignt at the festival, pumping many, many bathtubfulls of water!

For more information on the restoration process, go to the Jaeger Pump Restoration Page (see link above). This page is currently under construction and new information will be added from time to time as the process continues.

The Jaeger tag for the entire pump unit: Size #:4YT Serial # F1075

A trash water pump is one that can pump water that has mud, grass and other debris in it. The pump is a diaphram type, with a 15 inch diameter. As the diaphram is lifted up, water is drawn in through a flapper valve. When the diaphram goes down, the flapper is forced shut and the water is forced out of the pump through a second valve that is located in the diaphram itself and it flows out the spout of the pump.

The engine is a 2-1/2H.P. Jaeger (Hercules). When I brought it home, something was frozen as I couldn't turn the flywheels. I didn't know if it was the engine or the pump that was frozen so I disconnected the piston rod to rule it out and the crank then turned - the piston was frozen in the bore - surprising because the exposed cylinder was very oily. After some attempts to get the piston to move by using a piece of oak and a sledge against the rod (unsuccessful), I pulled the head off, thinking that maybe the cylinder had gotten rusted. To my suprise, when I loosened the head, oil ran out! There was probably 1/8 cup of oil in the cylinder and no rust. So, I got another piece of oak that just fit the cylinder and used the sledge again. Success! The piston went back, moving easier with each rap from the sledge. Once all the way back, I put the bearing cap back on and was able to turn the crank and move the piston. The cylinder was very gummy with old oil so I opted to take the piston out and free up the rings. Good thing, they were very stuck in the grooves. After cleaning up the piston I decided to re-ring it before putting it back together. It needs a new head gasket too, so I'll call up good ol' Hit&Miss Enterprises and order parts on Monday.

Here's a picture of the pump, showing the rubber diaphram, looking in through the water spout. There are two holes in the diaphram and lots of age cracks so a new diaphram will be in order. Now I just need to figure out where to buy one!

Here's some pictures of the rescue and loading process.

This is where the engine was stored for the last who-knows- how-many-years! It's a box from a bread truck. There are probably five or six other engines in here...another day!

Loading it on the trailer. The fellow on the forklift, Tom, is who I bought it from, his son Jim is standing. Once we had it out of the truck and could look at it, I liked it even more. We also found that all pieces were there including the 12 (yes, twelve!) grease cups! We did discover a crack in the head that had been fixed some time or other.

Here's a couple pictures of it chained down and ready to go....

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