Paraffinalia No 19
2002
Hello All!
Editor's note:
Just as I was ready to send this newsletter out, I pressed the wrong button
and lost the whole thing without trace. So it's reconstructed from memory.
If you've sent something in and it hasn't appeared, please send it again,
and it can go into the next one!
Technical Tips: Philip Gray-Taylor sent in this request for
help in sorting out the problem with the governor on his 1967 Sachs Stamo
76, close coupled to an Eisemann 1KVA alternator that doesn't govern its
speed. It is fitted with the "grobregler" which is a bunch of steel balls
(10) that throw out as the engine speeds up and force ball holder #3 along
bush #4 against spring #5. Backing plate # 1 is fixed. This movement is
theoretically transferred to the carb. The governor is in the crankcase
so before the crankcase is stripped again it would be nice to know 
what to look for. The balls are loose in the holder, the ball holder moves
freely but with the engine running and the speed varied by hand there
is no movement on the governor. The Sachs is a stand-by to my 3 KVA generator
that I use at work, and one positive spin off from the Sachs breaking down
is that it's forced me to turn a pile of parts that once was a 1970's
Honda 1,5KVA generator back to it's former self. John Menasce has had some difficulty obtaining carburettor spares for his Villiers Mk 25 HS. He has discovered that it has the same 24T-2 carburettor as the Vaaljapie (Grey Fergie) tractor. (and the Petter A range. P G-T). The problem is that the carburettor is not broken down under Villiers in the Zenith master parts catalogue, but it is completely broken down under the Ferguson tractor section. Carburettor Services in Johannesburg still have some Zenith spares. Tel 011 838 1172.
Steam
& Vintage Show Nottingham Road: John & David Menasce
drove down from Johannesburg to attend this show on 21st and 22nd September,
and sent in this report: There were about 20 stationary engines
on display puttering an puffing
under the trees at the bottom of the field. Two displays came down from
Johannesburg [Gerald Buitendag's Type A and Fairmont 2-stroke] There were
a fair number of Nationals, some Listers, 2 Villiers, Wisconsins, a Bernard
fire pump and a Waterloo. See Right: The one
full-size steam exhibit at the show was SAM Hewett's John Fowler Steam Roller.
There were a good number of tractors too; two Lanz, some Olivers, some
pre-1950 McCormick Deerings and a varied collection of Vaaljapies (Grey
Fergies) and John Deere horizontals. For the wives and girlfriends there
was a very good display of vintage sewing machines from the earliest chain
stitch machines up to about 1950's domestic and industrial models and
a display of working minatures that us wrinklies may remember our sisters
playing with as children . The model steam enthusiasts
also did their part and showed some magnificent working scale models
of traction engines and locos. Weather was glorious on Saturday
and fair to poor with rain on the Sunday.
under the trees at the bottom of the field. Two displays came down from
Johannesburg [Gerald Buitendag's Type A and Fairmont 2-stroke] There were
a fair number of Nationals, some Listers, 2 Villiers, Wisconsins, a Bernard
fire pump and a Waterloo. See Right: The one
full-size steam exhibit at the show was SAM Hewett's John Fowler Steam Roller.
There were a good number of tractors too; two Lanz, some Olivers, some
pre-1950 McCormick Deerings and a varied collection of Vaaljapies (Grey
Fergies) and John Deere horizontals. For the wives and girlfriends there
was a very good display of vintage sewing machines from the earliest chain
stitch machines up to about 1950's domestic and industrial models and
a display of working minatures that us wrinklies may remember our sisters
playing with as children . The model steam enthusiasts
also did their part and showed some magnificent working scale models
of traction engines and locos. Weather was glorious on Saturday
and fair to poor with rain on the Sunday.Eston Agricultural Show: 30 - 31 August 2002: Peter Boast attended this Natal show and sent in this report: The VCR (Vintage Classics Restorers), fresh from thier award winning stand at the Royal Agricultural Show, got together to put on a small display of Vintage Tractors, Engines and related equipment. The show started off with a pleasant road run from Whitty Boast's to the Eston show grounds on the Friday morning with about 10 tractors. The VCR display consisted of a 23 Tractors and 13 Stationary Engines, plus pumps mealie shellers etc. Those with an observant eye would have noticed the tractors were displayed in first standard, and then row crop version for the major manufacturers Case, John Deere and Farmall. Of interest were two Farmall F20s, one newly restored by young Tim Gillit and the other in as-found condition, which Tim has still to tackle, and a daunting task for any would-be restorer! Good to see the youngsters involved. Another unique aspect of this display was the matching tractors and skid-units: Case DEX and Case SE, Farmall W4 and McCormick U4, Farmall 600 and McCormick UC, John Deere 60 and John Deere W.
The Stationary engines covered a broad band of manufacturers and years, from John Deere Waterloo Boy (1916) ? to more modern Villiers and BSA and the ever trusty Lister D. Engines of interest which I had not seen before were the Villiers Two Stoke Model WX 11 Hopper Cooled with fuel tank attached around the hopper and the Fairbanks Morse 7½ HP open crank with matching Fairbanks Morse 3½ x 4 Piston Pump. There was also a Wolseley driving a Hardie three cylinder inverted open crank pump. All in all, a very pleasant time was had by all, in a very relaxed environment.
Mamre Spring Festival: Bea Heymann organised this fund-raiser in aid of the restoration of the Old Mill in this historic Moravian Mission Station, on the Cape West-coast. See Right: The thatch hasn't been repaired, and the mud-brick walls are literally washing away with every rain. The show was timed to correspond with the Darling Flower Show, and visitors stopped in on the way there, or back. We were an added attraction to a craft market, and found ourselves a shady place next to the mill itself. Inside the old water-mill building is a large single cylinder Deutz horizontal engine, but outside, there is a single cylinder two-stroke engine, looking like a fairbanks Morse YH, the only clue to its make being the brass plate with 'Made in Austria' on it. We have been asked to restore it on their behalf. As a result of Bea's efforts (and we only had a small part to play), R10 000 was raised towards the restoration.
Robertson Show:
Another successful show, with some of us managing to make the Friday as
well as the Saturday. Johan Stemmet was the organiser of
the whole 'Veteran Section' so he didn't have much time to play with the
large and varied display of his own toys. He even had a Kendex Washing machine,
with a Briggs & Stratton WMB engine, with a decal stating: Vervaardig
in Kanada. Didn't know they spoke Afrikaans over there! It was a Ruston
HR show all right, with his 3X HR, my 2Y HR on the Electric Light Machine,
and his little 1X HR. All these ran for extended periods. We were pleased
to have Ronnie & Marie Florence with us for the first
time, with their immaculately restored ABC Hansen Farmers Favourite 
from Denmark See Right: The show was the first
public appearance of the Fordson N Roadless, which Johan Stemmet
acquired recently from Mark Stanford. See Right: This rare tractor had been lying here
on the farm for many years and I told Mark that Johan was a Ford man and
had many other examples, and it goes without saying that he didn't have
a Roadless in his collection, but he did have parts like the special mudguards,
one of which was missing. Asked what he wanted for it, Mark said Johan just
had to find me a collectable engine! So there's a Petter Fielding
EH Mk 1A 27HP @ 650 RPM Serial No 3760 on the way to me! During the show
we were all treated royally by the organisers, early risers (at the show
by 
8 with 150km on the clock already) were treated to slap-up breakfast, and
on Saturday lunch, all exhibitors of engines, cars, bakkies or trucks were
invited to lunch, where certificates were handed out for attendance! We
all hope for contacts at shows from people who have something to pass on,
and I was lucky enough to talk to Sam Sedien, who was there
exhibiting horses. He said he had an old anvil, and did I want it? I was
there the next week to collect it, and was pleased to see that it had the
most unusual shape with two flutes all the way up the front. See Right: It is dated 1796. I'd be pleased if anybody
could explain the purpose of the flutes. The 'horn' is also much smaller
than we are used to.
from Denmark See Right: The show was the first
public appearance of the Fordson N Roadless, which Johan Stemmet
acquired recently from Mark Stanford. See Right: This rare tractor had been lying here
on the farm for many years and I told Mark that Johan was a Ford man and
had many other examples, and it goes without saying that he didn't have
a Roadless in his collection, but he did have parts like the special mudguards,
one of which was missing. Asked what he wanted for it, Mark said Johan just
had to find me a collectable engine! So there's a Petter Fielding
EH Mk 1A 27HP @ 650 RPM Serial No 3760 on the way to me! During the show
we were all treated royally by the organisers, early risers (at the show
by
8 with 150km on the clock already) were treated to slap-up breakfast, and
on Saturday lunch, all exhibitors of engines, cars, bakkies or trucks were
invited to lunch, where certificates were handed out for attendance! We
all hope for contacts at shows from people who have something to pass on,
and I was lucky enough to talk to Sam Sedien, who was there
exhibiting horses. He said he had an old anvil, and did I want it? I was
there the next week to collect it, and was pleased to see that it had the
most unusual shape with two flutes all the way up the front. See Right: It is dated 1796. I'd be pleased if anybody
could explain the purpose of the flutes. The 'horn' is also much smaller
than we are used to.
Villiersdorp Show: Two weeks after Robertson was this relaxed show, where the organisers had us under trees, much more exposed to passing people than last year. We were pleased to have Gordon Riley there, who has been searching for over a year for something to restore, and in the week before the show he phoned excitedly from a scrap-yard, where he'd found a 1937 International LAA See Right: as well as an early Briggs & Stratton A or B with cast iron air covers, and a Petter AVO with the tiny semi-circular petrol tank. Talk about beginners luck! We put his LAA down next to Daniel Burger's LB and were able to compare the 'pigs'! We even got a sign of life out of the LA, belted up to my Southern Cross YD. Daniel's LB gets the unofficial prize for the engine running first and shutting down last! Model Engineering was well represented, with Mike & Mary Thurgood and their varied collection of miniature hot air engines, and Ronnie & Marie Florence, who'd brought not only the FF mentioned above, but some of his freelance steam engines, one of which was connected to his vertical superheated firetube
boiler. Oom Flip Viljoen decided to take it easier this
year (two years ago, he brought 17 engines to this, his local show!) with
two engines each with a pump, on a demo trailer, and also oom Bennie
Theron's Petter Fielding DH, 16 HP @ 300 RPM, Serial No 90019.
Peter (Boast's) Petters puttered away most of the day,
although he still has difficulty with the magneto on the small one. Eniel
Viljoen who was organising the Tractor and Engine sections laid
on a lunch at a nominal rate, for whoever was in the party, including a
golf cap! As a token of appreciation, the Cape Vintage Engine & Machinery
Society was awarded the Trophy for the outsider(s) who had contributed most
to the show! See Right: (The little engine in the middle has to be restored before
handing the trophy back next year!)South African News: Kobus Groenewald from Stilbaai phoned to say he's found a real live Marendaz engine (remember the request in Stationary Engine Magazine, from " well known motor historian and author Michael Worthington-Williams " in issue 169, March 1988? Philip Gray-Taylor also put in a request for info in Paraffinalia 14, along with a short history of Capt Marendaz and his firm. Kobus says he's restored enough tractors for a while, so it's time he did an engine or two! If he does it to the standard that we've come to expect from his tractors, then we'll have to pull our socks up! He found it in Loxton in the Karoo, and the locals say they were popular there. This one appears to be the only one to have escaped the scrapman. Its plate reads Marendaz, Type MB1 7HP at 700 RPM Serial No 6236 Made in Meyerton, Transvaal.
Hermann Geldenhuys writes to say that he's collected a Blackstone Stamford Mill from the farm Vioolskloof, in Teslersdal, in the Caledon area. See Right: He still has to determine the age of the machine, but local James Small's grandfather used it as far back as James can remember. Hermann reckons the mill weighs no less than half a tonne. Its 24" French burr stones look in good condition. He says the shafts are seized solid, as are the fast and loose pulleys, so he's considering cutting the shaft and making a new one oversize. He has found the number 157761 twice on the mill, and wonders whether that would be a serial number. Blackstone historian Michael Key (see below under UK news) says that although he is keen to help with dating and information on Blackstone products, unfortunately the information on the mills has been lost.
New-Way brass plate found: Some years ago, Philip Gray-Taylor got hold of a New-Way engine. Unfortunately several parts were missing, including the magneto, and the brass plate. We discovered that the magneto gear was the
same as the one used on the Fairbanks Morse ZC, so we were able to make
a bracket for a magneto off a 'spares' engine. But the plate was a
problem. Philip borrowed (and returned!) a plate from Pierré
du Toit in Ceres, and tried to cast a copy, but the original was
too indistinct. Recently, Derick Kleynhans visited
well-known brass-plate collector, Johnny Verreynne, and
between them, they came across a New-Way plate, which Johnny had promised
Philip years ago, but couldn't find. Asked where it came from, Johnny
said a friend of his, knowing he collected plates, gave it to him, and
Johnny had asked him why he hadn't brought the whole engine?, and told
him to go back and collect it. The engine had gone by the time he returned.
Well, you've guessed! The scraps of paint left on the plate match Philip's
engine exactly! Reads like a Just-So Story :-) The engine number is 10540.
Can anybody date it?John Menasce from Johannesburg has sent this in: I had lunch yesterday with a business colleague in an old flour mill in Kroondal just outside Rustenburg, North West Province. The original Kroondal "alt meule" was working from the turn of the century up until 1996 [for 50 years it was operated by the same miller!] and now it has been converted to a restaurant /coffee shop, with all the original line shafting and flour sifting machinery intact. It has been replaced by a new modern mill behind the original building. One sits at pine tables nestled between the milling machinery with all the ambiance of the old mill still present, built in the traditional German way, in a huge timber frame barn of Oregon pine and clad in the South African way with galvanised iron sheeting. Makes a fascinating stop-over, and the restaurant trade preserves this piece of history. Food is excellent too with home made German bread and other local products being offered. The whole mill was powered by line shafting connected to a Ruston Proctor 8 BHP portable steam engine made in 1909. I don't know when the engine was pulled out of service as the boiler is in a very poor state of repair with lots of tubes blocked off and it has obviously not worked for many years as even the crankshaft won't turn any longer.
UK News Patrick Knight sends a report on the Pioneer Tractor Special Display at the Great Dorset Steam Fair 2002. For various reasons, primarily working on one of the Kelsey Publishing stands, my time at the Great Dorset Steam Fair 2002 was spent in the area set-aside for the special display of pioneer tractors. This meant that I was unable to see, and report on, the show in general. Knowing that this Newsletter is primarily engine oriented I will keep things fairly short. I must first of all say that Robert Coles, organiser of the Pioneer Tractor Display certainly pulled out all the stops this year; the sight of around 100 pre-1930 tractors in one field was certainly worth seeing. I very much doubt if such a sight will ever be repeated. The tractors on display ranging in size from a 1901 Ivel through to a massive four-cylinder Marshall Colonial, in fact there was just about something for everyone with an interest in early tractors. For me, however, as a stationary engine enthusiast, the star of the show was the 1897 Hornsby Tractor with its 20hp Hornsby Akroyd single-cylinder paraffin engine. One of only two Hornsby oil tractors built, the restoration of this tractor has been chronicled in various preservation magazines so I will not repeat it here. See above:
Michael Key who has retired from the Stamford Rural History museum, has contacted Koos Naudé in Carolina,
Mpumalanga (the old Eastern Transvaal) to say he's planning to visit
South Africa for the Wings, Wheels and Whistles show next April at Sandstone
Estates. He also wants to see as much as possible of the country, particularly
in connection with the old iron of Blackstone, the company where he worked.
Koos has been appointed to organise his itinerary, and Michael has expressed
an interest in visiting the Stutterheim and Bathurst museums in the Eastern
Cape. If anybody can help with travel and accomodation preferably in their
own homes at around that time, please contact Koos janaude@netactive.co.za or me. Michael edits a quarterly publication
called The Blackstone Collection, (Subscriptions for four issues are £10
in UK and Europe, £12 for the Rest of the World, including postage.),
and he is happy to receive requests for information about Blackstone products,
and will do his best to answer them. michaelstamford@aol.com 3 Medina Close,
Didcot, Oxon, OX11 7QR. See above right for the colours
on the crest of a Stamford Mill:Peter Forbes from Rushden, Northants, contacted me recently asking whether I still had information from my time (long ago!) at CAV in Acton, to add to the wealth of information he has on his website, http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel . I took the opportunity of sending him what I had found out, and tried to work out, in connection with the early production codes stamped on the fuel injection equipment, as an aid to dating the engine it's fitted to. Please visit the site, and if you're not distracted by all the other interesting information, look up as above, with /CAVDates.htm at the end, and see whether you can confirm, or shoot holes in the chart!
Charlie & Nicolas from Great Buckmans Farm from Malvern were put on to us by Denis Usher in Hermanus. They say: We are restoring a 1956 Farmall Super BM. It seems that most of these were sent for export because they are rare here in the UK. We would like to try and set up a register of these tractors worldwide. We believe there may be a number of these tractors in SA. Could you please advise any Super BM owners of our plans? They may contact us through this e-mail address : greatbuckmansfarm@btinternet.com or contact me.
Patrick Knight has this to say about the rally season in the UK:
Not much else happening here at present
save the usual end of season Bring & Buy / Auction Sales where one enthusiast
sells his junk to another then goes out and buys more for himself. :-)
Australian News. Rob Laurent has nearly finished his book on Southern Cross engines. He's hoping it'll be out for Christmas, check with him on www.blueflyer.com.au
Patrick Knight wrote to say that somebody has sent in a letter
to Stationary Engine Magazine, part of which states: ...the collection
contains a Southern Cross YD like that restored by Andy Selfe of SA.
(Fame at last! Ed) It is at the "Historical Engine Display", New Cascade
Road, Norfolk Island, NZ (Tel & Fax - 6723 22638) Rob Laurent's
comments: "Exciting to hear there might be another
YD - and in Norfolk Island of all places. I don't know why their address
is given as NZ as this place is a part of Australia. I've phoned them but
haven't got anything more than a fax tone. I'll try again. We used to send
the worst convicts to Norfolk Island back in the 19th century. The place
had a very bad reputation for cruelty. Now it survives on revenue from tourism.
You might have heard of the Norfolk Pine which comes from the island.
It'll be interesting to learn the serial number of this engine and find
some of its history." Only 60 of these engines were made, the
one I have restored is the only one sent to South Africa, and until now,
none of the others had turned up.
Disturbing news was sent in by Patrick
Knight from Ron Keech at the Gunnedah Rural Museum,
which is featured in the Knight-Macaire Video 'Engines Down Under'. He reports
that certain parts were stolen on the night of Sunday 25th August, from
a Tangye and a Ronaldson Tippet.
The Tangye,
a 19 hp, Serial No N27237B is missing its fuel tank, hot bulb, governors,
rocker arms, oilers, oil caps, and fuel metering system. (Serial Numbers
are stamped on many Tangye parts, so watch for them, please!) The Ronaldson Tippet, 16 hp. Serial No 9942, its piston,
rings, conrod, bearings, and rocker arms. This is clearly a specialist
theft, by or for somebody busy with one of those engines. The museum houses
the only other Clayton & Shuttleworth Trusty 'fixed' engine apart from
ours, the two with the Timms family are both portables. "Engine
theft is a big problem in Australia at this moment, and it is growing daily.....
Our engines are not the only ones to suffer this fate in recent times. It
appears as though there is a ring operating, and it could also be 'special
order' jobs."
Japanese News: (Yes! That's right!) In a copy of Ignitor News, the monthly magazine of the Christchurch (NZ) Historic Machinery Club, which Gordon Hayes sends me regularly, I picked up the address of Bill Young who lives at Narita, 10 minutes away from Tokyo International Airport. He has over 100 engines, in various states of restoration. His current project is a National N, which has many parts missing. We're hoping that it's similar to Arthur Wilding's National, which he bought from Deryck Noakes in the Eastern Cape, who restored it after Arthur bought it (!!) and before he left the country (sad loss!). If so, we'll photograph Arthur's engine from all angles for him.
Japanese News: (Yes! That's right!) In a copy of Ignitor News, the monthly magazine of the Christchurch (NZ) Historic Machinery Club, which Gordon Hayes sends me regularly, I picked up the address of Bill Young who lives at Narita, 10 minutes away from Tokyo International Airport. He has over 100 engines, in various states of restoration. His current project is a National N, which has many parts missing. We're hoping that it's similar to Arthur Wilding's National, which he bought from Deryck Noakes in the Eastern Cape, who restored it after Arthur bought it (!!) and before he left the country (sad loss!). If so, we'll photograph Arthur's engine from all angles for him.
Contact Bill wmyoung@juno.ocn.ne.jp
New Zealand News: Ian Gillon sent us a copy of the newsletter from his club, the New Zealand Vintage Machinery Club Inc. (Canterbury) . I lost no time contacting the Editors, Derek & Lois Hubbard, and now we are exchanging newsletters! (This one has a long way to go to catch up with theirs!)
USA News: Dusty M Erickson from Arizona, who has the register of Mietz & Weiss engines, also has a growing collection of engines of that marque. He sent in this picture, saying: Here's a pic of the trailer set up I'm working on setting up for the show
season. I need to anchor all the engines down yet, and run exhaust piping, etc. Its a 26 foot flat deck showing my 6 h.p. / 12 h.p. / 18 h.p. Mietz & Weiss engines. He went on to say that he's been lucky enough to lay his hands on some spares...The parts in question (that I now own) are from a Mietz 1½hp. It just so happens that I have a very incomplete carcass of a 1½ hp engine. From the list of stuff that is coming I should be able to make one complete engine in running condition. An exciting day for me to be awarded this bid.
New Members: (Don't worry, we're a no rules, no subs Society, membership only involves reading this newsletter!) Bill Young is mentioned above (Japanese News). Michael Key is mentioned under UK news. I'm always as excited about finding a new enthusiast as I am about a new (old) engine, especially when they are young. Henry Hastie must be our youngest member at 18 months, and he loves to help his grandfather Ron Wiley (our Cooper /Stewart /Chicago Flexible Shaft /Sunbeam expert) in Victor Harbour, South Australia in his garage. When the time comes for young Henry to go home, he makes a big fuss! Here he is trying to start Ron's Stover! Charlie & Nicolas from Malvern, Worcester, sent in a request under UK news. Derek and Lois Hubbard are the Magazine Editors of the New Zealand Vintage News, mentioned above. Chris Versveld from Bonnievale introduced himself at the Robertson Show. He wanted a photo of the Ruston HR's, as he said he was brought up with one at his home near Darling. Also at the show, I met Keith Johnstone, from Annandale Farm, just outside Bonnievale, where he houses his collection of British Motor Bikes, and historic machine tools, and he has recently turned his attention to Stationary Engines..... While parking up the Ruston Portable Boiler at Peregrine Farm Stall in preparation for the engine show there, I met Hugh Mayes from Daventry, Northants UK. He says his interest in Stationary Engines is mostly in connection with lamp start Bolinders as fitted to Canal Boats. He has a business hiring out canal boats, and it's good to hear that these old workhorses are still earning a living!
For sale/Available: I collected a 1965 Sisson's compound Instructional Engine recently from Fraser Howell, who's moving to Knysna to a smaller home. See Right: This split-crank 'College' engine is in exceptionally good order, but some parts are missing, for instance the variable cut-off slide valves, although the outer slides are there. One connecting rod was also damaged in an accident while it was being moved several years ago. It is available to somebody who has the facilities, time and money to complete it, and is at present here in Elgin. It must weigh in excess of a tonne. Interested parties can contact Fraser direct at howell@worldonline.co.za or me.
What's on:
2nd & 3rd November 2002
Engine show at Peregrine Farm Stall on the N2 (Garden Route) here
in Elgin. This is to add variety to the Elgin Festival, which grew out of
the old Rose Show. The Rose show itself is at a new venue at Applewood School,
not far from Peregrine this year. Being my local show, I'll flesh out the
show with a few engines and machines, but please come along on either day,
with or without your toys, and keep me company! There's plenty for the rest
of the family to do!
3rd November 2002. Blairgowrie
Collectors Toy Fair, please contact Don Ravenscroft on (011) 787 2696
or 072 229 7977.
30th November 2002. Another Old Time Harvest Day at Brakfontein, near Riversdale, on the farm of Emile Cronjé. 028 713 2892
30th November 2002. Another Old Time Harvest Day at Brakfontein, near Riversdale, on the farm of Emile Cronjé. 028 713 2892