small project.

went to see a friend today who has a life time of nick nacks - in his one shed i found a small engine with a generator connected, he says if i go around tomorrow i can have it its a small item but very compact, he says it was used in the war to charge the batteries on the planes in the field, as soon as i have it home i will show some pics, i know its not got a big fly wheel but it looks like an interesting item. just dont know how i will find out any info on it.

Sounds like a nice challenge. Get some pics up as soon as you can mate, I'd be interested to see if it's one I recognise.

Ianhw77k wrote:Sounds like a nice challenge. Get some pics up as soon as you can mate, I'd be interested to see if it's one I recognise.

thanks for the reply ian, lets hope someone can recognise it as i have no idea how it works.

Ianhw77k wrote:Sounds like a nice challenge. Get some pics up as soon as you can mate, I'd be interested to see if it's one I recognise.

seconded, I have been on the lookout for an engine of death for a while, just like the idea of owning an engine that was party to the destruction of our foe

blackvanman wrote:
seconded, I have been on the lookout for an engine of death for a while, just like the idea of owning an engine that was party to the destruction of our foe

I've never heard of a discription like that before

Stu.

Steve it will be interesting to see a pic or 2 of the gen set as a lot of WW2 stuff was from the States or made under licence.
Here's what you need to read before you can post a pic, it may seem long winded but once you've done it for the first time it's easy after that so it might take you a few attempts.
If all else fails you could send the pics to me and I'll post them for you.

http://www.stationaryengineforum.net/t2492-step-by-step-photo-upload

Stu.

just got the little fella. looks in great shape as well oiled up.

more pics

Well I don't know what it is but it looks to be very interesting and should make a good project. Looks to be all complete so it shouldn't take you long to sort it have you checked to see if it has a spark yet? and maybe you need to strip and clean the carb just to be on the safe side.

Stu.

Something tells me it is American. Possibly a Briggs and Stratton maybe not.
Could it be one of those Tiny Tim charging units?

I like it as well. I'm very much into small engines at the moment, as I would like to do some rallies on my own next year & only have the boot of my old Beemer or the inside of my caravan to put engines in, so this sort of thing interests me greatly.

My little JAP model 3 serves pretty much the same purpose as this little unit, only my JAP is missing the generator side of things.

As far as this engine goes, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what it is. I had a quick Google to see if I could find E.P. & Co. Ltd. but my short search didn't find anything (I expect you've already done a bit more thorough searching).

At a guess I would also say it looks like a Briggs & Stratton engine, they were quite keen on suction feed fuel systems before the war. It could also be an ONAN or a Kohler engine. Of course it could be none of these.

I'm guessing, from the pictures, it's a side-valve 4-stroke? What's your plans? Are you just going to put some fuel in, check for a spark, maybe clean the carb & see if it'll run??? (maybe not in that order though).

Keep us posted, I for one am very interested.

Thanks for the replys and the information, i had a quick look at it and took the spark plug out its a wiered little plug one i have never seen before, i hope to have a play with it at the weekend, its a 4 stroke engine, the chap said he used to play with it yrs ago and run a light,

I suppose the colour could tell you something. If it's still in it's original colour that is. It looks to me a bit more "Olive Drab" than "Khaki", which makes me think American.

Just a thought.

nutgone wrote:I suppose the colour could tell you something. If it's still in it's original colour that is. It looks to me a bit more "Olive Drab" than "Khaki", which makes me think American.

Just a thought.

i would think it is original but i am a bit colour blind so not to sure on the shade,

stationary stu wrote:

blackvanman wrote:
seconded, I have been on the lookout for an engine of death for a while, just like the idea of owning an engine that was party to the destruction of our foe

I've never heard of a discription like that before

Stu.

I thought it was very carefully worded (for me)

I like it; "Engine of Death".

Between us, my brother (Ianhw77k) & I have got 4 "Engines of Death"

& if you count the time I cut my finger on a Wolseley WD2 & it went septic We almost had another! (OK, maybe a septic finger is over-doing the "Engine of Death" thing a little, but it could've been nasty )

Now, one of my war time engines, which saw active service, is actually a German one, so does this still count? I'm afraid I don't know the German for "Engine of Death".

- Maschine des Todes

engine of death - cool name

it would appear to be british, it would also seem there was about 3 manufactures of the same set, probably due to the war effort etc, one suggestion I have found is that EP & Co ltd may have been: Electrical Power Engineering Co Ltd, although close not sure myself but they did manufacture electric motors and dynamo's during the war.

although 12v has been said in a few places with confusion as to why they seem to put out 40v, this is probably because they were used to charge batteries for radios onboard aicraft which ran at 36v.

and another thought, the WD part on the plate, I think that may be War Department

nutgone wrote:I like it; "Engine of Death".

Between us, my brother (Ianhw77k) & I have got 4 "Engines of Death"

& if you count the time I cut my finger on a Wolseley WD2 & it went septic We almost had another! (OK, maybe a septic finger is over-doing the "Engine of Death" thing a little, but it could've been nasty )

Pussy lol

nutgone wrote:Now, one of my war time engines, which saw active service, is actually a German one, so does this still count? I'm afraid I don't know the German for "Engine of Death".

HISSSSSSSSSSSSS!

interesting i wonder if there was a cowling over the head to channel cool air over it ??

hob wrote:interesting i wonder if there was a cowling over the head to channel cool air over it ??

there still is the thins that are realy prominent are actualy the rectifier.

blackvanman wrote:

hob wrote:interesting i wonder if there was a cowling over the head to channel cool air over it ??

there still is the thins that are realy prominent are actualy the rectifier.

I wondered if there was some cowling missing from that rectifier, it looks a bit too "open to the elements" to me.

Well done on your research BTW. It was common for the main maker's name on generating sets to be the generator manufacturer, so you're probably right with E.P. & Co. being Electric Power Engineering, it seems the engine manufacturer was of little significance with many of these sets around this time. I was just saying the same to Ian earlier this afternoon, how often these things end up being named after the genny manufacturer, which doesn't help us find out who made the engine.

It's a bit like Tarpen, I still don't know who made the engine on my "Type 40" set, some say it's a JAP, & it could well be, especially as JAP were happy for other manufacturers to use their engines without having to actually write "J.A.P." anywhere on it! They also got away with buying French Bernard engines & just re-badging them as Tarpens.

BTW, I'm not saying it's a JAP engine, or for that matter a Tarpen set (I think if it were either we would know about it) I was just using them as an example. It could well still be an American designed unit, & could still be an American made engine. You never know with this war-time stuff, so much was made under license.

blackvanman wrote:
although 12v has been said in a few places with confusion as to why they seem to put out 40v, this is probably because they were used to charge batteries for radios onboard aicraft which ran at 36v.

It always used to fox me why so many sets were rated at 30v (or thereabouts), of course it's to charge 24v batteries! (I know that now!)

I suppose you need to think about it in divisions of 12v. The charging voltage for a 12v battery system is between 13.5v & 15v (roughly), so 24v systems, being made of 2 12v batteries in series would need 27v to 30v, so a 36v radio battery would need 40.5v to 45v.

It all makes sense now, but back when I was a teenager I thought "What use is a 30v charging set to me?" Little did I realise just how much use I could put it to & what I could run off it as an exhibit.

looking for full confirmation, but so far it may be an enfield engine

As in Enfield who made the flat twin 2 stroke naval auxiliary power units???

Not to be confused with Royal Enfield, the motorcycle manufacturer. (Although I think Enfield did also make bikes back in the veteran days).

Very interesting Blackvanman.