Warren Gelhaar, from Coolana, and Lionel Burchman, from Forest Hill, resurrected this engine in October 2001. The engine belongs to Glen Boughen. His family used it to chaff hay. It lay abandoned in Glen’s font garden for more than 40 years.
The flywheels No. DA 228 are not the original. The original wheels No DA 315 are still on the family farm used as a weight on a plough. The wheels were changed because the crank broke when Glen was a lad.
The piston, magneto, points and bearings were all seized. Warren and Lionel took several weeks of tinkering to bring all the parts back to working order. A new fuel tank and magneto cap were made. The oil drip feed is missing from the piston barrel. (Glen used it for target practice for his slingshot).
100’s of these engines were produced during WW2. This one was called “lightning” it was used in a cement mixer. These engines were given different names for the different applications they were used for. There were 68 other names.
These motors were made under five different names. Buzzacot, Southern, Fuller and Johnson, Roseberry, and Comet.
They were mainly used for pumping water from deep bores and, depending upon the pump, could gather water from a great depth. (this one has a small pump fitted for demonstration purposes)
An air-cooled engine and were very economical, a 3-litre tank could last all day
This is a home made hot air engine, based on the Heinrici design The Heinrici brothers of Zwickau, Germany used to manufacture this type of engine about the turn of the century. These engines were hopelessly inefficient, but were extremely reliable, quiet and required little maintenance. Always a crowd favourite on Club Engine Running Days
Built and owned by George Zvirgzdins
They were used for a number of light-duty tasks such as fans, pumps and petrol air gas blowers. A far more efficient, improved design, with tandem pistons in a single cylinder, was produced later but succumbed to the rise of the electric motor.
This engine was made from scrap materials to hand merely for fun and to prove the principle. The improved version is currently on the drawing board and will be operational in about six months’ time
This engine was manufactured by Bradford Gas Engine Cp Ltd at Shiply, Yorkshire, UK. Not a commonly found engine.
The engine was redesigned in 1928, and this engine lasted for 26 years. It was one of the first engines to have an enclosed crankcase. This engine was also made for other companies.
Serial no: 11 988 and placed at the end of the crankshaft.
Water cooled from a hopper, Power approx 2 HP
The bore of 7″ stroke of 4″
Magneto Ignition Wico type ‘EK’ No E79633. Made by Wiko Electric Company, Perivale Middlesex, England
Engine designed to start on petrol and then to run on kerosene.
This engine was manufactured by J.A.Prestwich & Co Ltd London N17 England Serial no is 0-94604-1. The number on the block 16465 F.. Date of manufacture 1950
This little thing was purchased at an auction sale in Bundaberg on Nov 29 1997.
The engine runs well and would have been used to drive equipment in workshops etc. To gauge the size of this motor, see photo (page: Southern cross “hirt and miss”) It is in front of Wayne Jensen (blue shirt)
John Probably got the ‘bug’ for hit-and-miss engines after seeing them at the calliope Historical Village. The ‘bug’ led him to this two-inch pump unit that had spent its working life at Terrors creek pumping about 110 gallons an hour 300ft up a hill to the Dairy at Dayborough.
The property that the dairy was located on was sold in the mid-seventies, And John’s father ended up with about 200 acres of it. The original owner’s son inherited the portion of land where the creamery and a couple of sheds were located.
Information filtered down to John that most of the machinery from the original property was still located inside the creamery, and John was unable to resist contacting the new owner. A meeting was arranged just after Christmas day 1995.
As it happens, the new owner was “A bit into old engines” and had intended to get the old pump working again, but being a busy fellow, he had never quite found the time. A bit of negotiation followed, and the result was that John swapped an old marine engine for the pump unit and whatever parts there were, some bits off a Chapman Pup boat engine and two milk crates of additional parts were thrown in.
Later investigation revealed that most of the engine was there, giving the impression that the engine had been dismantled for general maintenance and had never found its way back together. There was no magneto and no valves for the pump, but there was a new set of guides.
Upon reflection, John feels the original property owner got the better deal.
John stored his newly acquired goodies in his Father-in-law’s shed, where they became “invisible” melding amongst everything else that was stored there until Christmas 1996, when John retrieved his prize and brought it to Gladstone. After a bit of effort, the engine was freed up and rebuilt. New pump valves were made and eventually, the unit was pumping again.
With the aid of John’s son Tim the colour scheme of grey for the engine, green for the pump and yellow for the side rods was chosen. John admits that these are not Southern Cross Colours ‘But it looks quite good”. The other variation is a standard petrol carburettor, replacing the old Kerosene one.
John runs it on display days on super with 25% Kerosene
Knowing the history of these engines is always a bonus and adds interest to any stationary engine I suspect if you have a photograph of the Dairy at Dayboro in its heyday, John would not say no to a copy.
