B Hick & Son 1851 Oscillating Engine

[Jo]

This model is based on an original oscillating Steam engine which was displayed under steam by Hick, Hargreave & Co at the Great Exhibition in 1851 where it powered a Ryder forging machine. They claim it was capable of producing 2nhp. It is fairly typical of the type of engines of those days as they were much lighter than the more common beam engines. They found favour in ships as they can, when fitted with valve gear, be run in either direction.



The castings being used to construct this model were originally available from Woking Precision Models. While Woking have long gone the castings are now available from Hemmingway: http://www.hemingwaykits.com/acatalog/Hick___Son_Ocsillation_Engine___G_K_King.html

For our engine I have acquired a set of Orphaned Castings:



But the observant of you may be as suspicious of these castings as I am..

1, That base plate looks to have come off an engine that got as far as being painted 

2, The metal the frames are made of are a totally different colour than the other castings. I might go as far as suggesting they may have been cast in someone's backyard.

3, The two pivot castings look original as does the partially machined Flywheel.

4, The set is not complete  and originally they should have been made in Cast Iron:



5, I don't have any drawings  But there is a partial set in Model Engineer so I will be working from those and drawing up what is missing.

As you know I like a challenge 

Jo

[Jo]

Following on from producing a suitable set of drawings I've been knocking out a couple of bits of the Hick 

The original drawing I have shows a crankshaft with slots in it but I am not convinced of the need so I have left them off. The crankshaft bearing pedestals in the original drawing show a very difficult to machine octagonal profile into which the bearings fit - this just strikes me as inventing unnecessary work on both the bearings and on the pedestals and the bearings are going no where as they need a flat at the bottom to clear bearing pedestal so I have bored them 8mm and adjusted the bearing to suit.

I have now started looking into the A frames. Other than the height which is 5mm over the rest of them is just on dimension, which tells me either someone has used an original casting as a pattern or someone took an aluminium casting from the original wooden one and is using that for casting purposes. I can live with or fill most of the A frame to make it usable but the slotted area has to go  So I have milled a strip and I intend on fitting it once I decide how to start milling the A frame 

Jo

[gbritnell]

Nice looking engine Jo. I really wasn't too taken by oscillating engines until I built the Maudslay but have since come to appreciate the artistic architecture on some of them.
gbritnell

[Jasonb]

The original drawing I have shows a crankshaft with slots in it but I am not convinced of the need so I have left them off.

Having a job envisioning what these slots look like or do, could you give a bit more detail. Unless you mean the shaft has reduced diameters where the bearings go to give axial location to the shaft.

[Jo]

Thank you George 

Some pics for JB: Crank and an example of that octagonal bearing hole. at .4mm deep the slots are not able to do much work.

Jo

[zeeprogrammer]

Looks an interesting engine.
I'll enjoy this. 

[Jasonb]

I see now the "slots" are Keyways. In that case I'd be tempted to reduce the width to 1/16" and cut to the usual 1/32" deep (half width) they will look more in keeping than grub screws. The large 5/16" diameter will give axial location.

Suppose you could always mill the bearing flanges to an octagonal shape and then not tell anyone else

[Jo]

I can't see any keyway showing on the crankweb on the crankshaft of the engine in the original engraving from which this engine was developed.

Jo

[Jo]

The A frames have to be held around the centre as the top and bottom ridges are not the same width. Thankfully the casting was not cast at a slant which meant both the top and the bottom could be milled and drilled with ease.

The flutes along the top of the A frames were tatty  so you will recall I milled some round bottomed slots into a piece of brass and now it was time to mill a slot into the top of the A frame into which it could fit and improve the looks  While on its side in the vice it was possible to mill the top of the bottom of the A frame to get the correct height for the main cylinder bearing.

The flutes were soft soldered into the slot and I am pleased to say, with some temporary screws holding things in place, everything actually fits   

Jo

[Craig DeShong]

Jo, you are braver than I.  I have always been hesitant to take on a project someone else (unknown) has started.  I have enough trouble working around the known errors I have made, let alone discovering and attempting to work around the errors of others.

[Johnmcc69]

 
 Nice work Jo!
 That is going to be a really nice model.

 John

[zeeprogrammer]

The flutes came out great. It wouldn't have occurred to me to do something like that so that was a nice bit of learning.

[bent]

I like the look of cast surfaces...but have to agree the final product look with the milled slots is a big improvement.  You have a good eye, Jo.

[Jo]

Thanks Guys 

I was hoping to get a bit more done this afternoon but then I realised that for some reason the drawings for the model show a square bearing for the cylinder pivot whereas the one on the original was circular... And of course that lead on to identifying more changes I want to do   

Jo

[scc]

NICE     Terry