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A Very Old Engine - by Ted LeeThis story took place in 1960 or early 61 when I was about 15 years of age. About a year before, my Dad, in an effort to increase his income on the Anakie Gem Fields had bought a gem polishing factory and learned to polish sapphire. He realized the need for a lathe to true up the laps and was pointed in the direction of a deceased estate, a shed full of old junk. The lathe was old, a pedal powered Oregon timber framed machine which I soon learned to use. The purchase price for the lathe included cleaning out the shed and removal of all the junk, the deceased was a blacksmith so there was some treasures amongst that junk. All sorts of stuff like sulky springs, home made bolts, blacksmith fashioned tools the list could go on, an old engine ( I should say a very old engine.)
The Unidentifiable EngineThis engine had no makers name, plate or tag, no numbers nothing to give away it's secret as to where it was made, (Dad used to call it "The Coffee Grinder" because of its shape.) it could have come from USA, Europe or been made in Maryborough who knows. I have attempted to draw it from memory, so here's a description.An open crank, 4 stroke, horizontal, hit & miss governed, total loss lubricated, hopper cooled, valve in head engine of about 4 HP painted red. The original carby ( if it had one, it could have had a wick feed fuel system i.e. the inlet air being drawn through the fuel tank collecting the fumes off a felt wick ) was replaced with a T model Ford style one, the original fuel tank which should have been between the 3" x 2" timber bearers was missing. This engine had no spark plug, the ignition breaker points were inside the head and operated by a rod from the exhaust valve push-rod. Held in by 2 bolts was a casting, through which was an electrode insulated by mica washers, the breaker was spring loaded against the electrode and on the outside was a block spring loaded against a pin in the breaker shaft, the trip rod pushed the block away from the pin which when tripped rotated back against the pin causing the points to break thus sparking and igniting the fuel. Power was supplied from an open horse shoe magnet generator, which looked like an ordinary magneto but there were no breaker points. I could never figure out why but this generator was driven by a skew gear and was mounted at 45% to the axis of the timing gear. The inlet valve was lightly sprung ( as was common with early engines ) and operated by suction with a gurking sound during the induction stroke. The exhaust valve was operated by a push-rod and rocker. The exhaust cam was unusual ( see drawing ) there was about 1 inch tappet clearance, ( no adjustment deemed necessary ) the cam beginning to rise on the compression stroke were a rod tripped the ignition points then remained stationary during the power stroke to rise further on the exhaust stroke then dropped right back during the induction stroke. The push-rod was made from 1 x 3/8 inch steel bar about 15 inches long with a roller at one end, another rod of 3/8 square was attached to the larger one to trip the ignition points, the whole thing being reset by a long extension spring. It would have been impossible for this engine to over rev in case of governor failure because of the sheer weight of the push-rod. Lubrication of beg-end and main bearings was by screw down grease cups, the big-end one used to automatically screw itself in by the action of the combustion against the thread, as the grease was used up. The cylinder, piston and gudgeon bush was lubricated from an oil drip feed mounted on top of the water hopper. Just how old is it ?First, when was the "Spark Plug" invented or when did it become readily available to manufacturers? No help from Encyclopedia Britannica. If this engine was made before the spark plug then it would date before 1895 ( my guess) then again if the manufacturer was afraid to embrace new technology and stuck with his tried and proven, opted to wait until spark plugs and oil control were more reliable, then we could date it as far on as 1905. But again, if the engine was made by Walkers of Maryborough or Fowlers of Bundaburg for use on the Gympie Gold Fields, to drawings available on expired patents then we could date it up to 1915. So 1905 give or take 10 years or so would be my guestimation.Did it go ?At first glance just some more junk, but on taking a closer look, it was quite free, well oiled and had plenty of compression even though it could be anything up to 30 years since it was last run. My Dad used a piece of clear plastic hose to fill the carby with petrol then we heaved on the flywheels a few times and it fired, showering us all with chips of rust from the muffler, which was just 2 dished plates riveted together with spacers around the edges. My Dad wasn't a tradesman in anything but he was a pretty deft hand at blacksmithing and soon made a crank handle out of a piece of broken car spring ( see drawing ) with a piece of pipe and a long bolt through the shackle bush for the handle, this simply hooked into the keyway of the crank-shaft and worked a treat. So with a crank handle we were able to wind it up and it burst into life, bouncing all over the place as it wasn't bolted down to anything.Now some work for it to doSapphire Town 1958, population 10, when we moved there we caused a 60% population explosion overnight. Dad bought a miners hut on a "Homestead Lease" along with a "Puddling Plant" over on the high bank of "Retreat Creek", this is a machine that reduces 100 tons of dirt down to a kerosene can full of heavy material, identical to the ones used in South Africa 100 years ago, to extract diamonds. The well at the puddling plant had partly fallen in so water could only be pumped out at good times. The acquisition of the above mentioned engine meant that we could move the "deep well pump" to another well 40 or 50 yards away down toward a gully. There was enough old pipe amongst the above mentioned junk to run water up to the puddling plant ( Even if we had to patch holes in the pipe with strips of inner tube wound tightly around and wound over with wire). With the old engine mounted on planks at waist height and a gallon of petrol hanging on a star picket we had action and all the water we needed. The fitting of a tee and a tap near the pump and with a large rubber hose we were able to fill 44 gallon drums on the back of my 25 Buick, ( The story about the Buick and my learning to drive it at age 14 is written up in "The Buick News," Sept & Oct 99 issues Published by The Buick Car Club of Australia.) in dry times I supplied water to most of Sapphires population for a few bob a drum.Enter Big BusinessDad decided to lay water on to our house, which was about 400 yards away just out of sight of the well over a rise. He wrote to the Rockhampton branch of a firm known as The IBC, ( A manufacturing firm dedicated to supplying the needs of the man on the land.) ( See photo of steam engine in "Ted Lee's Engine Photos ") He outlined our needs and asked for advise, cost etc. They replied quickly saying that "they could supply a 1/4 mile of 1" black Poly pipe for x pounds. Dad wrote a cheque and a few days later the pipe and fittings were delivered to our local Post office by the mail truck. We laid the pipe, started the engine and got the most beautiful 25 foot high fountain of water that you have ever seen. The gland packing around the rusty rods at the top of the pump was no match for the head pressure in that pipe over that hill.Dad wrote to Rocky again, and within 2 days a brand new 1 inch centrifugal pump arrived, ( you don't get service like that these days ) Dad hadn't actually ordered the pump, just suggested that that was what we might need. Dad wrote again sending a small cheque and explaining that he couldn't possibly pay for it all in one go, could they arrange a time payment plan. The reply he got stunned him, the manager replied, "A time payment plan would cost you extra, don't worry I've paid the bill so you can pay me whatever whenever you can." Dad took about a year to pay it all and with the last payment he included a couple of small polished gems to show his appreciation. Now back to the pump, we mounted it up in line with the offside fly-wheel and drove it with a 2 inch flat belt, guess what !! That pump would not lift water out of the well let alone push it up to the house. What to do now ??? My Dad is one of those blokes who can go to bed with a problem and wake up in the morning with the answer. The next day he did something that I had never seen before or since, he coupled the inlet of the centrifugal pump to the outlet of the deep well pump, started the engine, she drove both pumps and without a moments hesitation water flowed onto Mum's garden and she grew pumpkins 12 inches in diameter. Did the engine ever give any troubleYou Bet !!! Occasionally she would not start, so we had to remove the points block and carefully scrape black carbon off the mica washers. My Dad warned me never to undo the mica washers in case they fell to pieces. After a while we noticed the fly-wheels wobbling more than usual then one day I was greasing up the big-end when I noticed a big crack in the crank-shaft. Dad took the shaft complete with wheels in to the Anakie garage man, he said "he could weld it but no guarantees" Dad said "OK". He carved a big chunk out of the shaft with the oxy cutter then filled the gap up with weld, rolling the wheels back and forth to get an idea how straight it was going, some feat!!! The engine ran for years after that. One day I had started it up to pump water to the house, an hour or so later the water stopped flowing, I walked to the top of the rise but could see no movement at the well, I jumped on my bike and raced down to see what was up. The carby had all but fallen off, the poor engine must have been really straining hard to get a whiff of petrol before it finally stopped.Where is the engine now ?Sadly when my Dad moved and sold up in about 1968, the new owners didn't place much value upon it and rolled it into the nearest washout, along with other well used equipment.A PleaI would love to build a 1/2 or 1/4 scale working model of the engine, if anyone out there recognizes the engine from my drawings and can help me name it, construct some history or has any information at all I would be very grateful.
Another magic story from Ted Lee. I hope the readers of Steam & Engine enjoy Ted's stories as much as I do. Thanks again Ted. If anyone can help Ted with his queries on this page, then feel free to Send Feedbackand I will pass your messages on.
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Last modified Sunday, 06-Aug-2006 12:16:08 BST |
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