Vintage Lawnmowers, Stationary Engines, and olde Mechanical Tech

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Drago

Drago

Legendary Member
Ask, and ye shall receive...

592319


592320

I think this one is from 1968.
 
I had forgotten about the air governor, very common back then.
 

Badger_Boom

Über Member
Location
York
My dad had a dalliance with stationary engines in the early 80s. They were all Listers: a couple D Types, a Junior, and some bonkers single cylinder diesel that we transported from my grandfather’s market garden near Edinburgh to Yorkshire in the back of our Fiesta (with my mother, brother, me and our luggage!).
 

byegad

Legendary Member
Location
NE England
I have my late Dad's Suffolk Colt in the shed, which is in need of restoration. Although I suspect a hard decision will need to be made as to whether common sense overrides the emotional link, particularly as second hand values are soft.
There is also the attraction of simply plugging in my current electric mower and cutting the lawn, rather than storing then checking fuel, priming the carburettor and pulling the starter cord and all being well followed by ignition. Both will give me stripes, but one at a much easier cost.
Plug in? How quaint.
The gardener uses a rechargeable mower to keep the grounds trim. Of course the deer park looks after itself and we have a few acres under hay for winter fodder.
 
The thing is, when I was repairing these things they were still being used, the county council I worked for tended to hang on to old gear, and some of it was very clever.

Wish I had pictures, the overloader was one, it was used to load wagons with salt, screw, buckets, and conveyor reversed tractor into salt pile and it loaded the gritter in front of it, over the top of the tractor.

But to see old stuff restored often better in the small events, at the local Heritage railway often we have a small event, and being small one can chat to the people who have done the work, this 596008 is an example, they seemed such a good idea, they could get the trailer into the same space as a horse and cart, and had an automatic coupling no winding up the handle, so big question was why did they stop being used?

It seems due to new laws which required brakes on all wheels, the front wheel was not braked. Most were scrapped, and then people restored them, but because no longer have original log book, they can't be taken on the public road, so have to be moved on low loaders, so rarely seen.

The engine was very small 596009 so maximum speed rather low, around 20 MPH I think, but in the days where branch lines went everywhere these were ample to take goods from rail head to final destination.

It seems laws have caused so much change, but I can't remember a single bike with only one wheel braked.

Villiers engines were really well made, but then came the Briggs and Stratton engine, designed to be throw away, aluminium bores, and aluminium bearings by time one bit had worn out, rest was also worn out, so when you stripped one everything needed changing. And they were so cheap you could not repair one for less than a new engine cost.

We have had the same with bikes of course, my mountain bike was bought for me by my late mother, so I have kept it, but to repair it when things go wrong costs more than whole bike cost, so although when a wheel went on the bike my son gave me I bought a new one at around £60 when it goes on a £75 bike it gets silly.
 

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
I think I stumbled on lawn mower heaven yesterday where all the old mowers go when there time is up. There must be a few hundred of the things, old and newish. This is only one pile.
596173
 

Tail End Charlie

Well, write it down boy ......
I bought a Hayterette a while ago, it'll be perfect for the job I have in mind (rough mowing long grass in a paddock). It was a non runner, so got it cheap.
I still haven't got it running, there's a good spark, timing is not adjustable and petrol seems to be getting through. There didn't seem to be much compression (tested by the hi tech way of putting my finger over the spark plug hole). So I took the head off and the exhaust valve gives a little jump on the compression stroke, hence no compression. Will have to dismantle further, but I'm blowed if I can find the 7/16 UNF bolt I need (and which I bought specially earlier in the year).
 
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