Boulton & Paul no 1 pump

My eldest son recently bought a Boulton &Paul pump no1 ,pump number 509. He did manage to run it after cleaning the valve faces and seats ( the valves were in good order). It did pump...although not as well as it should...but with quite a bit of water coming out of the stuffing box and wiper...and entering the pumps sump. So a major strip down was needed. This revealed disintegrating leather pump cups....together with rusty and broken pump cup supports and spacer. I turned new ones on the lathe...and made a steel press for the new leathers ( which were wet formed in the said press). Stripping the stuffing box revealed very dry and disintegrated stuffing. This was replaced with new graphited square section yarn of the correct size. The wiper assembly was also disintegrated ( hence the leakage in to the sump). I made a new wiper from delrin..and turned it so thin section graphite yarn would surround the pump rod. In my excitement to assemble and see if it would be successful, I forgot to take photos of it. When he next came round...we reassembled it to see if it would work. The pump leathers were soaked in neatsfoot oil to make them supple before assembly. He connected it to his lister engine..primed the pump...and was delighted to see it pump at full pressure as it should. He then re stripped it...cleaned and painted in red oxide...followed by black enamel. He is now making a trolley for it so it can be run at the local shows next year. He is very proud of it as we live in norfolk...and Boulton&Paul was a local company. To date, we still don't know if boulton&paul made the pump or just rebadged someone else's....as there a quite a few similar pumps out there made by other manufacturers...and very little information on boulton & paul pumps

Pics of restoration

Further pics

Further pics

Further pics

Further pics

I did try to upload a short video of the pump running...but can't upload it. Sorry

The only marks on the castings say patd Feb 15 1921 the other side says patd March 15 1921. The gear case just says self oiling. The pump cylinder says 2 1/2 x 3

Albo wrote:I did try to upload a short video of the pump running...but can't upload it. Sorry

Yup. Servimg does what it says on the tin. You would need to use youtube, daily motion or some such for video.
I occasionlly use streamable

Video link of unpainted ,but mechanically restored pump running. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9c4ZCVSnuMc?feature=share

Excellent. Engine sound lovely too.

I didn't have the special B&P oil proof paint on it originally did it? They experimented and it produced a special crackle effect which sadly gets removed quite often these days.

No...it had remains of smooth black paint. Interesting to hear they experimented with crackle paint for their pumps.

Yes, was meant to be a petrol/oil resistant paint but it just ended up crackled. Was used on some of their generating sets.