Author Topic: Bamford Tulip Engine  (Read 3881 times)

Offline Jo

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Bamford Tulip Engine
« on: October 21, 2018, 08:32:45 AM »
Wandering round at the Midland Model Engineering show this year I found myself strangely attracted to a set of castings  :embarassed:

They were on the floor  on Adrian's stand. Negotiations started along the lines of "I can see you are interested"  :-X "there are no drawings"  :facepalm: "They are for a Bamton"  :headscratch: "I'll let you have them for £50 off if you do some drawings"  :noidea: Then Chipmaster wandered up and offered to help carry them back to the car so the deal was done.


The Castings: there are two fairly standard flywheels, an uncored out base (= very heavy), the hopper, a head (that seems to be off something else) and a stick of bearing caps. It would seem that the vendor had attempted to give some of them a pre-aged look but it was not well done as it comes off on your hands  :disappointed:

Luckily JB decided to go to the show and talked me into showing him the castings before I left and he identified that there had been an article in the Stationary Magazine that I had acquired with Surus' four cylinder Wall engine castings a month or so ago. Having dug out this book I found the two page article that shows the castings and the finished engine. It does not look very much like a Bamford Tulip Engine... in fact I have my suspicions that it has been scaled up from an Alyn Foundry RLE  :-X

So I need two sets of drawings:

1, To give to Adrian so he can sell his castings
2, A set of drawings for a proper Bamford.


When am I going to get those done  :thinking: after all I am retired so I have no time  :Doh:

Jo
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Offline Jasonb

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2018, 10:17:31 AM »
Having had a better look at the photo of your castings it would appear that the crankcase/base casting is not the same as the ones in the article photo that you have posted, it does look like the one in the progress shots though so some further investigation may be needed.

Would it be possible to post a photo looking into the hopper's bore from the head end, I would be interested to see how wide the contact area for the liner is. It may be you will have to bore out oversize so that the liner contacts the edge of the hopper and use a waisted liner to regain the water circulation. All good fun.

Why do two sets of drawings you may as well do the full Bamford set rather than just upscale the RLE ones to give Adrian which seemed to be your intention. Better to have a set of drawings for a proven running engine than ones that may work with the castings.

It will be interesting to see the photos of Adrian's full size example as that would be the one to take your details from.

« Last Edit: October 21, 2018, 10:22:06 AM by Jasonb »

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2018, 10:29:12 AM »
Might have just been cheaper to buy a full size and rebuild that, you get a whole lot more castings for your money :LittleDevil:

https://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-us/auction-catalogues/cheffinsov/catalogue-id-cheffi1-10039/lot-f18a52a7-b495-4f2e-aa28-a5ef00fcb8b7

Offline Jo

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2018, 11:04:08 AM »
I have a full sized stationary engine in the Tractor shed I don't want any more  :hellno:

A couple of hopper views: front and back. 72mm OD & 40 mm ID.

The scaled up RLE drawings are going to Adrian as they are known to work :-X I will make a more interesting version which I have no doubt someone will rib me about getting it running  :ShakeHead:

Jo
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Offline michaelr

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2018, 11:34:35 AM »
This Tulip Engine was on display at our local rally.


Mike.


Offline Alyn Foundry

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2018, 11:40:34 AM »
Thank you both.

The Bamford " Tulip " top is a truly iconic British agricultural stationary engine. The water hoppers shape gave it it's nickname. This style didn't run for very long as the shape made moulding more difficult, as demand increased for their engines Bamford chose a simpler shape, similar to my R.L.E.

Coming late into the market, Circa 1920, it seems strange that an " open crank " design was chosen and the use of Low tension ignition too! The first were fitted with Webster Tri polar oscillator magneto's. As time progressed later engines were fitted with the Wico EK high tension " impulse " magneto. I've also seen transitional models with a cast Iron blanking cover for the ignition port to convert from low to high tension ignition.

I'm really glad to see it's been made from " proper " metal, it'll make a nice addition to your collection Jo.

Cheers Graham.

Offline Alyn Foundry

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2018, 11:45:24 AM »
This Tulip Engine was on display at our local rally.


Mike.

Hi Mike.

That's nice, a Bamford badge'd Millars Pumps engine. Was it driving a Millars water/sludge pump?

Cheers Graham.

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2018, 01:35:22 PM »
Jo, how far in does the smaller 40mm dia extend in from the head end until it opens up into the hopper?

Looks like  a corn beef or spam tin will do nicely for the fuel tank, better than that fishy stuff ;)

It may be made from proper metal but you will need some of the stuff that comes in a pair of tubes to make it into a proper Bamford :mischief:
« Last Edit: October 21, 2018, 01:38:49 PM by Jasonb »

Offline Jo

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2018, 01:50:36 PM »
Jo, how far in does the smaller 40mm dia extend in from the head end until it opens up into the hopper?

45mm.

It will only be a Bamford lookalike I have spotted a major issue with the hopper casting  :facepalm:

The original valve arrangement looks do-able  :)

Jo
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Offline michaelr

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2018, 01:52:19 PM »
This Tulip Engine was on display at our local rally.


Mike.

Hi Mike.

That's nice, a Bamford badge'd Millars Pumps engine. Was it driving a Millars water/sludge pump?

Cheers Graham.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
Hi Graham,
I should have taken a picture of what the Millars was driving, I think it was a water pump but not sure.

Mike.

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2018, 04:41:01 PM »

It will only be a Bamford lookalike I have spotted a major issue with the hopper casting  :facepalm:

Well don't keep it to yourself :headscratch:

45mm will be plenty to play with when addingg the side inlet

Online Roger B

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2018, 04:58:44 PM »
That side inlet seems to add quite a lot of complication  :headscratch: Did it bring any real benefits over parallel inlet and exhaust?
Best regards

Roger

Offline Jo

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #12 on: October 31, 2018, 05:24:09 PM »
I've been sent some more pics of the original model  :)

It looks very much like a scaled up RLE but I am not sure about that carb  :noidea:

Jo
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Offline Jasonb

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #13 on: October 31, 2018, 06:46:52 PM »
Shame the original model bears little resemblance to an original engine. The only thing Bamford about it is the shape of the hopper :(

Offline Jo

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #14 on: October 31, 2018, 06:49:33 PM »
I've suggested that the set of castings should be marketed as a "Tulip engine" not a Bamford  ::)

Jo
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Offline Alyn Foundry

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #15 on: November 01, 2018, 01:56:33 PM »
Hello All.

I think it could be considered a hybrid, a marriage of early and late. My first open crank, the aspirations of a young collector was a 2 HP Hit and Miss Bamford of the late 1920's. Once restored and moved on for a reasonable profit many more engines followed. This was the way I financed my Lister collection.

I've attached a picture of the more conventional Bamford layout, detachable cylinder head, 2 valve. The
" caged valve " system that had been used on the early " headless " engines was great for de coking but if left for long periods of time became seized solid!

Cheers Graham.

Offline Jasonb

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Re: Bamford Tulip Engine
« Reply #16 on: December 19, 2019, 06:18:40 PM »
Best hurry up and get this Tulip hopper engine made then you can do one of these to go with it.

https://modelengineeringwebsite.com/Bamford_grinding_mill_2.html

Nice little item for any of our members that could be scaled up to suite many hit & miss engines if you have one looking for something to make it do.

 

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