Brayton Readymotor.

[Alyn Foundry]

For the few that might be interested a little history was made in NE Wales a couple of days ago. The first Brayton cycle engine to run on gaseous fuel for well over a century.

Yes, just a little over 30 seconds but a run nonetheless. I’m greatly indebted to Jason Ballamy for his incredible pattern making skills, In fact I think without the hefty 45Lb flywheel it wouldn’t ever have run! My two youngest sons, Mathew and Alan were also instrumental in the final push.

There’s a lot more “ tinkering “ needed because she’s running out of air quicker than she can make it. The balance is really quite tricky. I now know why George moved onto the horizontal under beam engine with separate air compressor.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j1etrkjX5M" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j1etrkjX5M</a>

   Graham.

[Admiral_dk]

Congratulations on a major accomplisment - hopefully it's only tweeks from now on 

Per

[Alyn Foundry]

Thanks Per.

A lot of time and even more patience….

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oKZSLgpDJI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oKZSLgpDJI</a>

This time we got nearly seven minutes before her ignition failed. Sadly she’s going to need additional cooling which, in my opinion will detract from the aesthetics somewhat.

   Graham.

[Admiral_dk]

Sorry to hear about the cooling problem - that is a bummer, and got me realizing that this would have happened to a lot of the early builders of IC Engines ...!
Here the experience with Steam wouldn't have helped them (much) ....

In the video, it does sound very eager to work - so I'm guessing that it do produce a fine amount of power for the time of original construction back then ....

Per     

[Alyn Foundry]

Hi Per.

Well, the gas we are using has over twice the calorific value of the old Town gas available at the time and It burns quite a lot slower too. Heating of the cylinder is inevitable. It’s such a shame to have to install a cooling system like a tank for instance.

At the time the Brayton Ready-Motor was the most powerful IC engine ever built. Its power to weight ratio made it suitable for many applications including a motor car, trolley bus, railcar and even a couple of submarines!! I have recently found an article written in 1875 that fully explains George’s amazing accomplishments. Here’s the link.

https://todayinsci.com/B/Brayton_George/BraytonGeorgeEngine2.htm

Our video shows that the engine is barely holding her own, just making enough air for the next cycle. I’m hoping that as the moving parts bed in that all important safety valve will be needed to curb her enthusiasm.

   Graham.

[Jasonb]

Graham would an option be to mount the engine on a base with some reasonable depth 4-6" and have a tank and small pump hidden within? That way you would only need some discrete pipework up from the base, into the cylinder(jacket) and back down again

[Alyn Foundry]

Hi Jason.

Thanks for your suggestion, definitely a feasible solution. I’m beginning to think that as I don’t do the rally circuits anymore it’s probably best to get the Brayton into a “ museum quality exhibit “ standard and pass it on to the Anson engine museum. Currently it’s unique, numero uno, etc etc. As far as I’m aware there are no other Brayton cycle engines here in the UK. At the museum it might just get run on very odd occasions to demonstrate the working principle.

I have to say that it’s been a very interesting experience and I’m grateful to you for the help you gave me over the last couple of years. The project is dedicated to my old friend Mike ( the bike ) Rodgers from Nantwich, Cheshire who passed away very suddenly twenty odd years ago. I hope he likes it as much as I do….

   Graham.

[Jasonb]

Should not need much more to get it to the quality of some of the other Anson exhibits 

[Alyn Foundry]

Should not need much more to get it to the quality of some of the other Anson exhibits 

Cheeky Monkey….

For me the greatest part of building a new model is the “ getting it going “ stage. After that I get bored and move on to the next challenge. I don’t have the patience for the niceties like you do Jason.   

   Graham.