Engines > Restoration of Model Engines

Mystery engine

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RayW:
This lovely little hot tube engine came my way today via eBay from a seller who lives only 10 miles away.

It appears to be very early, possible Circa 1900, but the previous owner has been unable to find any information about it despite many years of searching. Many of the steel parts are heavily corroded or worn. The gears show evidence of extensive wear, with the teeth on the crankshaft one being worn almost to points, and missing one tooth.
The previous owner has fitted a new piston, but, apart from that, he thinks that everything else is original.

Amongst the most interesting features, there is what appears to be an air inlet valve on top of the cylinder.The hot tube is fitted with a long, hex headed screw which, apparently, adjusts the timing.
The connecting rod is bellied in shape, tapering to each end, very like would be found on a steam engine.
The exhaust valve is operated by a flat, L shaped push rod driven by an eccentric pin inside the large gear.
I understand that the inside of the cylinder head is hemispherical.

If anyone can throw any light on the identity of this little engine, I would love to hear from them.

Jo:
It looks a bit like a slightly modified Schoenner Gas engine

Jo

Jasonb:
The flywheels and base doo look a lot like the schoenner engines but the gears on this make it a 4-stroke cycle rather than two, could have been heavily modified as everything from the cylinder back does not look like castings have been used.

RayW:
Yes Jo, I did consider that, but nothing on my engine seems to resemble the Schoenner one but I am pretty certain it must be pre -1900. The previous owner spent years trying to identify it but couldn't find anything.
I am convinced it must have been a kit as parts such as the base, body, valve chest and hot tube are all castings rather than home made.
What I would like to do is to replace as little as necessary to get it running, while still keeping the old patina and wear. The gears will almost certainly need replacing, but other than that, everything else appears to be functional, apart from a few valve springs that will need replacing.
The previous owner made a new piston as that was missing, but he did not fit any piston rings, so I may have to see how good compression is once it has all been stripped down and re-assembled.
 

RayW:
Just to clarify Jason, the base, body, valve chest, hot tube, flywheels and cylinder are all castings. The crank webs are heavily pitted, but they could also possibly be cast.

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