Mystery early single cylinder engine ID wanted

[gavinnz]

I have a half share in this early engine but we have no idea what it was used for or what make it is.. the stroke is around 110mm.. 4.33 inches approx... it is water cooled and has a flywheel which is 378 across and 88 thick... it's inlet over exhaust...

Anyone have any idea as to what make it is??

I am dying to know!!

Regards

Gavin

New Zealand

[1937hd45]

May be a small boat engine. Is the crankcase cast aluminum or iron? Could you post a photo of the other side?

[gavinnz]

Hiya,

Thanks for that.

It's an Aluminum crankcase.

Picture of the front attached..

I have more if people need shots of details.

[gavinnz]

another shot of it from the side...

I can be contacted direct at gavinnz@xtra.co.nz also.

<img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Regards

Gavin

[Guest imported_PackardV8]

Look closely at the triangular frame it is mounted to. I'm guessing a tractor engine. The front wheels/axle probably attached to the triangular frame.

[Layden B]

On the hand crank end is what looks like a flat belt pulley, typically one would drive a fan. Not many fans on boat engines. Also the layout is unboatlike, usually boats have a straight line drive crankshaft thru clutch and gearbox to propeller shaft. For clearance reasons the flywheel is usually with the hand crank on opposite side of the engine from the output to the clutch. This engine seems to have power output from the flywheel end. What are the spots on the flywheel circumference?

[1937hd45]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">On the hand crank end is what looks like a flat belt pulley, typically one would drive a fan. Not many fans on boat engines. </div></div>

Couldn't see that underpan in the first photo, I'll retract my boat engine guess. I don't think that is a fan pulley, looks too much like a Model T Ford style front engne mounting cradle.

[Layden B]

Guess I didn't make myself clear. The end of the crankcase by the hand crank does look like a Model T Ford style engine mount and is likely that. As a fan pulley I was refering to what is down in the well of the aluminum crankcase casting, perhaps bronze or rusty iron in color with ribs on each edge?

[Aanderson44]

My guess is that this is some sort of industrial engine, given the large, flat flywheel, which would be perfect for a flat belt drive. It's fascinating that it appears to be an F-head design, which would indicate something more powerful than the usual run of "hit-and-miss" engines put out by John Deere and the like in the first 20-25 years of the 20th century for powering stationary agricultural machinery such as grain augers, small elevators, feed mills and corn shellers.

Fascinating find.

Art Anderson

[gavinnz]

Hiya guys,

Thanks for the ideas...

Their is no evidence that the outside of the flywheel drove any belts.

The spots on the flywheel are where it have recsessed bolts bolting the flywheel together.

It has a taper inside the flywheel... larger as it goes in... cone clutch???

Their is a small flat pully on the front by the crank handle that would have driven a small belt that must have driven a fan...

If it was an indrustrial engine I would have expected it to be free standing??

Around the flywheel on the crankcase something bolted to it.

I have attached a closer pictuire of the pully.. and you can see the "line" where the flywheel comes apart and a hole in the case.

Any more ideas guys??? <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Regards

Gavin

[Guest De Soto Frank]

The general appearance of this engine leads me to believe that it is an inboard boat engine.

It appears to have been water-cooled, as there are no fins on the cylinder, and there appears to be a pump connected to the tube exiting the bottom of the cylinder jacket in the front-view photo.

At the Maryland Marine Museum in Solomons, MD, they used to have an open shed housing a variety of Chesapeak Bay boats and early gas engines... water-cooled one-lungers were fairly common in small oyster and fishing boats... one popular make on the Bay was Palmer Brothers, of Cos Cob, Connecticut.

We have a four-cylinder Palmer engine from a 1920's Bay-Built fishing boat from Chrisfield, MD.

If this were not a marine engine, my second guess would be that it is power-unit from self-contained generating plant, such as a 32-volt farm plant; these were popular between about 1910 and WW-II...

Any names or tags on it ?

[Steve Braverman]

Does that water pump have a rubber impeller inside? If it does, then it's a raw water pump as still seen today on marine engines. It does look strange for a marine propulsion application though. It may have powered a generator or some other auxilary on a larger boat.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

When you operate the hand-crank: which direction does the engine turn (viewed from "crank-end") ?

If the engine spins counter-clockwise, that would further suggest marine application... again, our Palmer engine is a "left-hand" engine...

[Steamcar]

It wouldn't be an engine from a home power plant. Those do not have a flywheel as the generator acts as the flywheel.

Jim Showers