My main hobby is vintage stationary engines . Been into them from age of 13 ish and now im 26 but had a gap where sold up to learn to drive and then women came along etc . Now back into full swing of the hobby and the misses often moans at me about them . On other hand she enjoys going to rallys . Here are a few pictures Lister A type 3hp driving a Bamford catle cake breaker Same lister A but with a trickle cooler milk display . Used for cooling milk on the farms before went into the storage tank . new project Lister D type Fowler 1Pa engine restoration nearlly complete , just need to get the magneto rebuilt .and flywheel painting . International M 3hp , this one is and american engine imported many years ago thats it for now untill dig some more photos out . matt
The stationary engine hobby is what got me started into pressure lamps . At rallys used to use campingaz laterns but was useless and then i got shown the light ... now im hooked . so one hobby leads to another A few lamps sat on engines on the patio . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKslPJgoybY and a video of lister A and catle cake breaker running . matt
how do we keep bumping into each other think i need to pull finger out and get the fowler done ... You sold the fowler yet ? matt
Absolutely. I'm one of them, but I'm mainly in to hot bulb engines. This is a main reason I started with this pressure apparatus thing. Some large blow lamps were a must to the hot bulb engines.
Matt; You been to the Ashover Festival of Light? Lots of your type of engines there , and last year a good few lampies It't up Derbyshire way took me a whole day to get there from Weymouth last year , but will definitely be going this year again, it is great fun. Steve
Be nice to get a few pictures up of those hot bulb engines . I mainly do local shows at the moment due to transit towing a caravan is not the fastest transport . so i stay in wilts / somerset and Dorset area . but soon enough i will be travelling further when get another van sorted . matt
I've got a Lister D - the X246B of the stationary engine world:- I've never had it running but I'm hoping to get it sorted for next summer. Trouble is, I haven't a clue about it, although there are some good vids on YouTube showing how to get them fettled. I've also got a Lister pump to go with it. We'll see...
I have only a blowlamp (vertical, very noisy!) for heating a htobulb for to start Lanzbuldog tractor...
I'm not at my own computer, so I can't get any pics of them. But I have a couple of clips on Youtube. Here's a stationary engine called Beijer, pre heated with an old Primus lamp. It's in HD, so if you got the bandwidth choose the best resolution. And here's a poorer clip from the hotbulb I got in my old wooden boat. It's a Seffle. I have a couple of other stationary engines, but they run on paraffin and petrol. The Listers are nice! One of the Brits I work with intend to bring one with him from England to actually use in his work at the plant here. He has already purchased the engine. He is on one of the many labs, and this guy is involved with something called "fuel emulsions", which I think is a way to get useable fuel out as a by product from bitumen in asphalt making. The Lister diesel was meant to act as a full scale tester in this pilot plant since they aren't so picky about being run on only pure diesel. If he gets it here, I guess I will need to spend a lot of time at his lab...
I always enjoy seeing these things running at shows, I think there is something quite therapeutic about watching and listening to them... By the way why do some of them "pop" every few strokes? I've thought about getting hold of one but I'm just not sure whether I want to take on something that major, it must be a real labour of love restoring one. My real dream has always been to own a steam engine but being a realist that is way beyond the amount of commitment I would be willing to give to any one hobby.
Quite a lot of the earlier engines are what is called hit & miss, when they get to governed speed the exhaust valve is held open, the engine then free wheels till speed drops, exhaust is released engine then draws fuel on the next downstroke and engine runs firing till governor trips etc . Graham::
On some, others have the governor actuating the injector pump and when a predetermined rpm is reached they 'miss' a stroke or two such as the single cylinder Bolinder engines fitted to narrow boats in the 1920's. They make a very characteristic sound. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw4fw_pkioM
Ah Bolinder, mechanical porn. I have a penchant for Kelvin K-Type Semi-Diesels and Gardner L3-Types...... Alec.
I know that our Bolinder not were uncommon in your narrow boats, but also the Seffle seen above that I have in my boat was used over there. I´ve been sent some clips with Seffle in Britain via the "old engine club" here, and they are always in narrow boats. The hit and miss regulator was the first regulating method on the hotbulbs, but centrifugal regulators soon took over. It's no exact date, but engines from the thirties can have both, but later the centrifugal regulator became the most common. I prefer the calm, regular thumping of that one much more than the hit and miss. But old petrol engines with the valve controlled hit and miss described by Graham is cool, even if they generally are very small. Not very common in Sweden, but more so in USA.
So those the ones that go off like a bird scarer every few beats? PS. Haddenham Steam Rally always has a good selection of these engines... http://www.haddenhamsteamrally.co.uk/
One of my relatives has a collection of those old engines and one of them was used to power a crusher in a local quarry. I shall try to obtain photographs of his collection, Jeff.
Instead of stationary engines I collect the ones on wheels 1924 Trojan good Pommie stuff .Have owned this one for about 40 years now . Bob ,
