Old Half-Beam engine

[classicsteve]

My Grandfather made a half-beam engine way back when he lived in Norwich - probably early 1950s, and I have finally got a picture from my relatives in Canada.

It has an overhung crank and the governor in line with the beam. It is strange that the elaborate tail support and feed pump, seem to clash with the simple beam. Anyone have any observations about his one ? He made a lot of models and tended to keep them to himself - but he was a damned good engineer. I hope the picture does it justice, it probably hasn't been seen in public for 50 years - if ever - so thought you guys might like to see it.

uk.geocities.com/iron_museum/ImageStore/grasshopper.JPG

** UPDATE **
Well Geocities has gone - so I have a new link in case anyone is interested in grasshopper engines. I have subsequently been told that this model is based on a pumping engine to drain land in Norfolk, where my grandfather lived. Is it possible one of these engines survived long enough for my grandfather to have seen it (he was making models in the early 1930s) - I suppose so.

jteqzq.blu.livefilestore.com/y1ptuI5Jbu3kn-n2OT486XdHWwyH0c8yn2c7ea7BKZA0AjcS2jiyQw3ErBqZtXD2n1VooJ4fBO6aiKvdhW8wqwC2TwuH-0fbbC0/smallgrasshopper.JPG

[jgb7573]

That's a nice model, but I see what you mean about the beam. It's almost as if it was a temporary beam used to make sure all the alignment was spot on before making the 'proper' one. But I guess it's too late to ask your grandfather now!
Thanks for sharing this with us.

[classicsteve]

Oh, yes - 43 years too late to ask him now ! He took up model engineering in a big way some time after the First World War - he could have made it anytime from then onwards.

My mother thinks it was based on one of the pumping engines at Thorpe Hospital where my grandfather was the engineer. The pump on the engine is not a type I have noticed before - which makes me think it might have been based on a real engine. But the beam - well it is odd. Maybe he was experimenting with aluminium to see how well the engine worked - as one thing about these engines is heaving the weight of the beam on the upstroke, and drawing in on the pump too.

Still at least it is still in the family after 60 or more years.
Steve

[Tel]

Still at least it is still in the family after 60 or more years.

Nice engine Steve, you want to make sure it stays that way mate!

[classicsteve]

That flat beam may have looked odd - but I have just discovered there is one in Derby museum just the same. So this model may be true to the prototype - which is honestly what I would have expected, especially given the detail elsewhere.

www.derbyphotos.co.uk/areas_city/industmus/dbyimus4.htm