I came across this burner for sale with the description "Kero Burner for larger Hot Bulb Engine. Complete and operational." I have no idea what a hot bulb engine is but I thought others here might find it interesting.
somewhere between a diesel and a petrol engine. A hot rod went in through the cylinder to ignite the fuel air mix. I guess it's an oil engine with not enough compression to make ignition through the diesel principle. I guess it was necessary to keep the bulb hot - or maybe not after running long enough.
Don't know what a hot bulb engine is!? We can't have that. A hot bulb engine is an engine that run on heavy oils like crude oil, diesel or even paraffin (engine kerosene). Since it use a lower compression than a diesel engine, it need some help to ignite the fuel that's being sprayed into the combustion chamber. This is done by having an extra little chamber that's connected with the actual combustion chamber. This extra chamber is in fact the hot bulb! The idea is that this part not is being cooled by the coolant like the rest of the head must be. You can often see the hot bulb as a little cast iron sphere above the head. Once the engine is running, it keep itself hot enough to ignite the fuel, but when starting the engine you need to heat this bulb for a while, and that's where the blow lamp comes in! I'm sure you've heard the typical sound of a low revving hot bulb engine. Old fishing boats used them, and in England they often was used on the narrow boats. Incidentally the engines often were Swedish on those boats. Sweden was a very large manufacturer of these engines back in those days (we speak mainly about the first half of the former century). If you want to see a stationary hot bulb engine you can check this YouTube clip I uploaded a couple of years ago. I use the correct blow lamp - a Primus 615 - that the engine was specifically designed to use. The hot bulb is hidden by a cast iron cover, so you can't see it. But it is of course inside the hole where the blow lamp flame is directed.
Well, there you go Christer! I could have googled it but that wouldn't have been as interesting as your reply, I'm sure. I'm in my late 50's Christer and I can't say I have ever come across the name 'hot bulb engine', let alone be able to identify the sound of one. Perhaps they weren't used all that much in Australia. I never had a lot to do with diesel engines but from memory the older ones used to have a glow plug. When starting the engine from cold you would turn the key to activate the glow plug and once the light went out you then proceeded to turn the key further to start the engine. Your fantastic description of the hot bulb engine reminded me of the old diesels.
The later hot bulb engines had an adjustable injector, meaning that you could adjust the spray so parts, or all, of the spray pattern went past the hot bulb and directly into the combustion chamber as the engine ran hotter under load. Those were often called semi-diesels. Perhaps you've heard that name? They are practically the same as the "pure" hot bulb engines, and have just the same characteristic sound. I have one of those in my old wooden boat. You can see a clip here. You can see the adjustable injector on the very top. The hotbulb is situated directly below it, and you direct the blow lamp on a plug that goes into the bulb. This plug decrease the time needed for preheting.
No, I haven't even heard of the term semi-diesel. I may have come across them and not known what they are or bothered to notice. As a youngster the only engines I was interested in were the Australian muscle car engines. I watched that short video, I would have liked to see more of the boat.
It's a small "Julle", a traditional west coast boat. The rods are lowered and tackled with four or six lines when trolling for mackerel. Yes, Australian muscle cars are cool. Not very common here, but I have seen the odd ones on the car meets I attend. Those are for old US-car, which are abundant in Sweden, but Holdens are accepted since they more or less are the same. I once saw a compressor charged Monaro at a meet. It sounded nice. Don't know how old it was, but probably around -70.
Nice old 'thumper' there Christer, is it a Bolinder ? My main interest is stationary engines, which lead me to lamp collecting so I am quite familiar with hot bulbs engines and starting lamps. I have an early 'hot tube' ignition engine which works in a similar principle, but this time the blowlamp is heating a stainless steel tube screwed into the cylinder head. I am looking for a particular lamp for this engine. Its a B A Hjorth Vesuvius, for a Petter Handyman oil engine. They do turn up but I have missed the last couple that went for sale... Anyone have such a thing on a shelf ? Cheers David
David, the stationary engine is a Beijer. A very large manufacturer, though not as big as Bolinder. The one in the boat is a Seffle. I have a similar story. It was the engines that "forced" me to get a blow lamp, which in its turn lead me into lamps and stoves. I have seen that type of long necked blow lamp with the stove type burner now and then. They are pretty rare, though, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for you. The one you show here seems to have a single jet burner? There was also a model with two jets and a more oval shaped vapouriser. Does your engine have an open crank? I really like the look of those.
It's a lovely looking boat Christer. You don't see anything like them around where I live, more the shame. I'm a Holden man Christer. One of my first cars was 1968 HT Monaro. The monaro is no longer produced. From memory the last production Monaros' sold in Australia were exported and re-badged in the UK as Vauxhall. They were a wicked car.
The older Monaros look just like a car should. The GM genes is clearly there, and that's a good thing. I'm a GM man myself, but prefer US-fullsize. A muscle car is of course also on the list, but since I also use the cars as everyday drivers during the warm half of the year, a fullsize is more convenient. Yeah, I think the Vauxhall version of Monaro was "tested" by the muppets of Top Gear not long a go. Seemed to be a pretty potent car still.
I saw one of their shows recently and they were driving V8 utes from Australia. (I can't remember if they were Holden or Ford utes - I lean towards them being Holden.) They were most impressed by the power of them.
I've driven a friends Vauxhall badged monaro, sadly only manoeuvring it around the car park at work. I have had a ride in the passenger seat a long time ago and it was something to behold. It wasn't supercharged though, just the straight forward 6.0 litre V8. They sound amazing. I wonder if it's possible to make a Ford Focus sound like that? 8)
Hi Christer, Yes it is an open crank, around 1913, I will try to upload a photo later. Never heard of a Beijer or Seffle, will look them up Yes, Petters used single and double burner lamps and also short and long stem versions. I have a few vertical engine starting lamps and also one of the double burner oval shaped models you mention, mine has a short stem. It would be for a larger, later engine, more likely a vertical engine. The single long stem blowlamp is correct for my model of Petter. I am sure one will come along eventually, but the more eyes that are peeled the better Regards David
Speaking of hot bulbs and Australia, by coincidence, a pair of narrow boats: KANGAROO & AUSTRALIA: Some of the earliest engines fitted to narrow boats in the 1920's were semi-diesel Bolinders. These were hot bulb engines pre-heated with a blow lamp, then when the correct temperature was reached, kick started by means of an extendable sprung loaded foot peg in the flywheel. The Bolinder as fitted to KANGAROO had a hit and miss device actuating the fuel injector which gives it a characteristic off beat sound at low throttle settings. Opening the throttle (giving it some oil) produces a more regular beat. These early Bolinders had no reverse gearbox, and as Christer demonstrated in his video, the engine was allowed to almost stop when a lever actuating the injector manually fired the engine in the opposite direction and thereby obtaining a reverse rotation of the propeller. This can be seen and heard when the boats enter a lock when the steerer bends down to operate said injector via levers from his steering position. Getting it wrong could end up with quite a bang as the boats hit the far end! Here's a RUBB, and the pre-heat & oiling round. This one (as many big engines were) is air start:
My son tells me the new 6.2 litre Holden Club Sports are wicked. I didn't ask him why Holden didn't drop their 7 litre donk in.
This one is to start a hornsby engine, I have a 5hp hornsby hot bulb and this blow lamp is for the hornsby engines.
Hi there, I Have one of these lamps in my collection. They made various lengths (this being the longest). I have a collection of starting lamps for hot bulb engines. I find their designs really ‘quirky’. I recently acquired this (the largest) blow lamp for starting a Hornsby engine. This being the largest of a range of blow lamps produced for this purpose. Britain produced a huge range of engines which were used for powering belt driven factories, as well as many smaller engines, the likes of which were exported around the globe.
Blimey!!! If that's the pre-heater then i don't want to see the engine??? Thanks for sharing, and a warm welcome, Ellis! Never heard or seen one of these
Good grief! There’s a whole new world pressurised gubbins I never knew existed! Welcome from the Scottish Highlands, let’s be seeing an engine!
Every day is a school day, I'd never heard of Hot Bulb Engine's until I read this. Thanks for sharing, a very informative thread.
Boy! That's some serious pre-heating. The hot bulb engine must be a tad on the large side. Cheers Pete
Hi Pete, Ruston and Hornsby produced some massive engines. The principle of the ‘hot bulb’ was an ingenious idea for its day. The principle for modern Diesel engines is exactly the same; the only difference being that we now use electricity passing through a glow plug. Much less effort. I also have a tiny little spirit heater which was produced by Auto Union (now Audi) for heating the carburettor. My favourite starting lamp, however, is this Clayton and Lambert, which was manufactured for Harley Davidson prior to The United States joining WW2. Harley Davidson knew that their motorcycle would not start in the extreme European winters, due to the engine head seizing; so they commissioned a lamp to be manufactured which would fit in the leather saddle bag of their motorcycle. The train of thought being that, should they need to advance further West (toward Russia), they needed to ensure that their motorcycles would start.
