[SEL] Unusual engine

[Rob Skinner]

On Aug 11, 2008, at 10:31 AM, Johnson, Greg wrote:

> Hi Jerry,
>
> I think this engine is a Hardy and Padmore made in the UK.  The date  
> is probably not far off.  I had an engine very much like this but  
> with a straight spoke flywheel.  Mine was hot tube and natural or  
> town gas.  The carburetor looks to be home made along with gas tank  
> support.  The valve mechanism with chain driven camshaft is  
> identical to what mine had.  The governor was a small inertia pick  
> blade operating the gas valve (missing on this engine).  My enigne  
> had an overhung crankshaft so the base was very different. The  
> engine is shown in "The A to Z of British Engines" book.
>
> Greg Johnson

Hey Greg,
There are several pictures of H&P engines in the Big Green Book.  None  
are none exactly like Jerry's engine, but four different engines are  
instantly recognizable as having similar characteristics.  Knight  
writes that "Engine production began around the 1892 period with a two- 
stroke engine built under the J. Southall patent (J. Southall had also  
been experimenting with a form of four-cycle engine from around  
1885)."  He goes on to write that the engines were known as "Ideal."