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Newsletter of the Cape Vintage Engine and Machinery Society. Number 13. May 2009.

Winter has hit the Cape and that

means it‘s ‗Winter Warm Up‘ time again, our 11

th. We will be holding it

on Saturday 11th July at Arthur‘s

farm ‗Tradewinds‘ as usual and the village of Franschhoek will be holding their ‗Bastille Day‘

celebrations on the same day to benefit from our overflow of visitors I suspect. I was looking at the Franschhoek Tourism website the other day. ―Highlights of the Bastille Festival include an engine and machinery display at local eccentric Arthur Wilding‘s farm ‗Tradewinds‘, Food & Wine Marquee, a French Film Festival, the Chef‘s & Waiters Race, Pêtanque, the Barrel Rolling competition and lots more!‖ There you have it, if you still have the energy for a bit of ―Hanky Pêtanque‖ after our show, you‘ll find it nearby.

It will be an ideal opportunity to celebrate the 100

th year of Lister

engine manufacture at the Winter

Warm Up, I know I‘ll make the effort to bring a couple, but it isn‘t a pre requisite, bring anything, running or not or just bring yourself. As in previous years, rain or shine, we always have a great time and it‘s not just for Cape Vintage Engine and Machinery Society members, if you belong to any other car, bike, tractor or likeminded preservation club or if you just like old machinery, come along, tell your mates, all welcome, no entry fee. We always have a braai fire going and a kettle for tea or coffee so no one will go hungry or thirsty. Looking forward to seeing you. Phil.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks again to everyone who

has contributed, especially Andy, Peter Noble, Ron Wiley and John McGregor and also to everyone who has contributed to the ‗Inbox‘ and John and David Menasce for their pictures. If I have omitted anyone please let me known so that my computer can be reprimanded.

Ron Wiley has sent us a very interesting article about the Australian 12

th National Historical

Machinery Association bi-annual rally which was held at Murray

Bridge (South Australia) recently. He also kindly sent me a copy of the official rally brochure. The brochure is a book consisting of 72 pages wherein every entry and details thereof are shown, i.e. Entry number, Brand, Description, HP, Exhibitor, and Club. Interestingly under the heading Exhibitor, husband and wife teams are noted. Is this because Australian wives are actively involved in the hobby or is it because they keep the home fires burning whilst the guys are buried

in the workshop? The quantity and range of entries is mind boggling and I would love to have been there. Maybe the next rally?

Pictures: it would be appreciated if pictures sent to us could be sent in JPEG format if possible. I have recently received pictures in various weird formats and have had problems downloading and opening them. If you can‘t, then send them anyway and we will do our best. Gordon.

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Phil Gray-Taylor ptaylor@worldonline.co.za Gordon Riley gkriley@telkomsa.net

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Jerry Evans has kindly archived all our previous issues of Cape Vintage Engine as well as Parafinalia which was produced by Andy Selfe between August 2000 and early 2005. In all Andy produced 28 issues, but unfortunately editions 5, 6 and 8 are missing. Please does anyone have a copy of these?

Jerry‘s link for the newsletter archive is:

<http://www.oldengine.org/members/evans/paraffinalia/index.htm> Andy’s Compagnes Drift Mill Restoration articles. To keep up to date one can find his (generally weekly) articles on the Sandstone website: http://www.sandstone-estates.com/interim/Compagnes_Drift_Mill_water_wheel/index.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From The Engine Shed.

Contacts

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A Trip To Swellendam. Page 2.

Australian National Rally. Pages 3 & 4.

The Century Run. Page 5.

My Other Hobby. Page 6.

Maluti Magic Weekend. Pages 7 & 8.

More About Tools. Page 8.

A Couple of Beautifully Restored Engines. Page 9

Seagull in Box. Page 9.

Long Memory. Page 10.

In Box. Pages 10,11,12.

What Was It. Page 12.

A Touch of Yesteryear, What Is It? Page 13.

Forthcoming Events. Page 13.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- A Trip to Swellendam to Inspect a Lister Blackstone Powered Generator. Andy Selfe. The purpose of today‘s trip to Swellendam was to inspect a Lister Blackstone-powered generator which is set up as a stand-by plant at a sawmill on Grootvadersbos beyond Buffeljags River and Zuurbraak, quite a distance inland, on the way to Heidelberg. Ronnie Crowther and I had arranged to have the engine started for us by Nick Selley and to meet the owner, Alex Anderson. In case you think the name is in Khoisan, think again! It‘s an acronym for all the first names in Alex‘s family!

The engine is in running condition and we hope that if it becomes available for preservation, Alex will join us in the Villiersdorp Club, and we can help him bring it to our Museum and set it up there as an interesting exhibit and stand-by plant at the same time, but that, like our arrangement with everything else in the museum, it would remain his property.

The Crossley engine we saved from Standard Roller Mills and restored and installed as a Club Project.

A view of our museum. More about Andy’s trip in the next newsletter. G. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contents

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The 12th

Australian National Rally. Ron Wiley. The 11

th National Rally was

held at Biloela, Queensland on the 20

th, 21

st & 22

nd of July 2007, five

local South Australian clubs won the bid to run the 12

th National

Rally at the National Historical Machinery Association AGM. The Fleurieu Antique Rural Machinery Society (FARMS) of which I am a member is one of those clubs, the site by the River Murray at Murray Bridge about 100 km east of Adelaide was perfect and compact.

It was an interest exercise setting up such a large rally and something most us will not be involved with again. The national rally is held in a different state or territory every two years, sooner or later the governing body the National Historical Machinery Association will have to look at how these rallies are setup and run

because of the growth in this interest in old machinery.

The rally was held on the 3

rd, 4

th & 5

th of April 2009, there

were over 700 engines over 200 tractors, around 100 cars, 20 traction engines (that mainly came from Victoria) and many sundry items connected with rural life and farming were on display. There were some paddle steamers but the low river due to the ongoing drought meant that many were unable to come down river. So much to see and do, also a time to catch up with old friends and make new ones. Inevitably if I went walk about someone would come looking for me, my friend Harward would say that I would be back later on, so he said I should now be called ―Lateron‖

There was a dinner for entrants on the Saturday night that was attended by over 600 people. The main thing was that everyone I spoke to had a good time and said the rally was well organized. We had 15,000 plus people who paid to come through the gates over the three days so it looks as if it will be a financial success as well.

Finally at the NHMA AGM held on the Friday night delegates from affiliated clubs voted that the next National Rally in 2011 will be held just south of Mandurah about 100km south of Perth the Western Australian Capital. When more details are available I will send this information Gordon and Phil, maybe some of you from South Africa would like to come?

This sight that greeted me each morning Hoppy Pop and behind him a 1920 269cc A traction engine driving a saw bench that as I set up my engine for the day. Villiers Mk.III with water-cooled cylinder. demonstrated how logs were cut into planks.

A 1919 20hp Ronaldson Tippet made at A row of early Ronnie’s. The sign on the water tank says it all Ballaarat, the company made stationary about this engine. engines from 1904 to 1971.

1910 Williams two-stroke engine 1930 Perry petrol/kero engine built in

A 1908 Campbell gas engine. built in Adelaide. Adelaide by Perry Engineering.

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A Blackstone oil engine built in 1919 A 4hp 1908 Capel type LCV oil engine. The blacksmiths shop. by Clutterbuck’s in Adelaide.

The paddle steamer Flender Hemmel. The paddle steamer Marion that took Moline tractor followed by a tow motor

visitors for trips up stream. in the grand parade.

A nice little model traction engine. Some of the Chamberlain tractors The local bus.

in the grand parade.

Some of the small wooden boats Just peddle away and excuses are on display. generated on the display at the top.

Practical exercise machine used

for cutting logs.

1911 2 cylinder Renault Runabout & 1910 Renault AX Cabriolet.

The sign on the water tank (pic 6)? Unknown Oil Engine 1893, 116 years old!

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The Century Run. Phil Gray-Taylor. Organised by the Triumph Motorcycle Owners Club and Cape Vintage Motorcycle Club, the run is for riders and their machines with a combined age of at least 100 years. This year it was held on Sunday 29

th March, starting at

Century City and ending at the Multi Motor Club in Parow. I was persuaded by Bruce Kirby of the TMOC to take part and my Son

Ryan came along for the ride on our BSA B40. I was riding our Royal Enfield, a 1954 model, so I just made the 100 year certificate. Mind you, between me, Ryan and the two bikes we have a combined age of 160! There must have been close to sixty bikes parked up at the start and by 10 a.m. we were off. There were three distances to choose from, 19, 34 and 86km. We

had opted for the 34km run which took us around the Durbanville Hills area. The run is open to anyone with an old bike and if you make the 100 years, you qualify for a certificate. We had a great run and will be there again next year. Now if I can find a bike from 1928, Ryan will also get a certificate!

Our bikes, 1962 BSA B40 and Parked up before the run. Royal Enfield V-twin with sidecar. 1954 Royal Enfield model S.

Norton twin cylinder.

Only two bikes did the 19km, Douglas in the background and this very nice Vincent engined push bike.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And with an almighty crack it came loose!

[The inlet valve cage, not the door frame!]

Phil using his delicate touch.

Some progress on my Tractor. G.

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My Other Hobby. John McGregor. Gordon has repeatedly asked me to furnish some information on my other hobby. Here is a little something for the newsletter. It is a small article about my great love of old buildings. Here are a few words:

It all started a few years ago with the farm in this picture. Someone told me that there was a very old farm in the Witsand /Port Beaufort district that might interest me. I was taken to the farm and what I saw was a fine old building that needed to be recorded forever.

Having walked around inside and photographing all the rooms, I became interested in its history. Through weeks and months of research, I found out that this farmhouse and its outbuildings were built by Jacob van Renen in 1796 on the farm Brakke Kuil

which was owned by his brother, Dirk Gysbert van Reenen. (Note that the two brothers spelt their surname differently).

In 1798 Lady Anne Barnard and her husband stayed with the van Renens for about four days in this house. Fortunately, Lady Anne described the house and surrounds beautifully in detail, therefore identifying the house without a doubt. During their visit, Jacob took them down to Witsand for a picnic and on their way back, stopped to visit Jacob's brother, Dirk Gysbert van Reenen on his

farm Renosterfontein (more about this farm in future newsletters). In 1799 Jacob left the farm and bought the farm Ganzekraal in the Darling district from the bankrupt Dutch East India Company, living there till his death.

Unfortunately, and with much sadness, we will be losing this farmhouse and its outbuildings to the elements. No one has lived in the house for many years, and decay is swiftly moving in. Next Newsletter: Dirk Gysbert van Reenen.

The farmhouse on the farm Brakkekuil.

Outbuilding on the farm Brakkekuil.

John has long been a member of our engine club and has restored quite a few engines. After receiving the above we asked John to tell us more about his other hobby. G.

You asked for some info about my photos and the future thereof.

Because of the lack of control in South Africa in regards to the protection of old buildings, I decided to photograph as many as I can so that I can keep a record of what they looked like before the loss of any of them through fire, alterations or demolition. I have a collection of a bit more than 2500 photos of old buildings (farms group and town group), bridges, passes etc. in my collection. My work is far from complete (it never

will be), as there are so many still to be photographed, especially out there in the faraway places in the mountains and countryside. One half of the above hobby is the preserving of the images of the buildings and the other half is to go out there and take the photographs myself. It is a very satisfying feeling after I have taken the photos. Last weekend I took photos of Vermaaklikheid, a ―village‖ near Witsand.

I also have a small collection of ―old photographs of old buildings.‖

This consists of old photographs taken from the internet, private collections and museums. Some of these photos go back to the late 1800‘s and early 1900‘s.

My future plans with the photos? I will be storing them on DVD, and they are available to anyone who would like to refer to a building. I might look at printing a coffee table book one day, but in the meantime I will just keep on with my task. John.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - I Am Often Asked What We DO in Koringberg (where?).

Meetings, Bloody Meetings!

Loitering Within Tent.

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Maluti Magic Weekend Feb/Mar 2009. Andy Selfe.

My Maluti Magic weekend adventure started about a year ago, when the Trustees of Sandstone Heritage

Trust asked me to ‗polish off‘ an already superb restoration on an International Harvester ‗bakkie‘ (pick-up/ute). The initial restoration had been done by Oom Jannie duToit and the story is covered in detail in http://www.sandstone-estates.com/interim/African_Odyssey_2008/index.html

Then my invitation came! Stunned, I looked at the calendar. I have been forced to miss a number of Sandstone functions; normally they fall in our apple picking time, which begins at the end of February. This was to be the weekend at the end of February, beginning of March. Would the fruit be early? Late? On time? I was watching the Maturity indexes carefully, but they remained vague. I asked around other growers of earlier fruit than Golden Delicious. All running a few days late!

With a week and a half to spare, I said, ‗If it‘s not too late, yes, please, can I come?‘ ‗Yes, but how about bringing the International bakkie up at the same time?‘ came the reply. That led to a flurry of activity mostly revolving around making and fitting a canvas canopy. Then we decided that the wine for the event should come from the Estate where the Water Mill which I‘m restoring, is situated. See http://www.sandstone-estates.com/interim/Compagnes_Drift_Mill_water_wheel/index.html That had to be hidden under the canvas cover.

Then I had to tie up all the loose ends at the workshop and farm, which included asking Pippa, my wife, to stay behind and open and close irrigation valves and feed the dogs!

The trip up over two days went fairly well, small breakdowns, mostly from vapour locks in the fuel lines. One potentially more serious problem came from a simple source; a faulty ignition warning lamp. As a result on the Thursday afternoon, the alternator was not charging and on Friday I woke to a nearly flat battery. It got me 1½km out of Richmond where I had spent the night and as a result, I had to be towed in and I lost three hours from my 4.30am start. However, I made a friend in the garage owner! I was on the farm by 4.30 pm, after an amusing incident at the petrol station in Ficksburg. A rather attractive lady stopped and asked if I was married. ‗Yes,‘ I said, ‗why?‘

‗Oh dear,‘ she said, ‗otherwise I would have married you for the bakkie!‘

No sooner on the farm than I found myself on a train, the full circuit, behind a Garratt, driven by Oom At deNecker As much as possible, everybody was given a job to do over the weekend. I was happy to choose to be in charge of the Eland 90 Armoured Car. I served in these ‗cars‘ about 40 years ago, so this would be a nostalgic experience for me!

At the appointed time, I reported to Jan Fouche and his son Francois for a refresher course, this being a Mk 7, our latest cars were Mk 3. It all came flooding back, the gear-change gate, keeping my thumbs

out of the spokes of the steering wheel; I even remembered my Fire Control Orders!

There followed a flurry of train rides, every time behind a different locomotive! Then meeting with Colonel Doyle of the School of Armour, who gave me more hints on driving, before he climbed into the Sherman tank and

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we all went off in a convoy towards the Lesotho border, on a Punitive Mission! I can hardly describe the excitement of driving the Eland close up behind the Sherman, so close that it was throwing up mud in my face (and movie camera lens!) Yes, somehow I was able to film the experience.

At one stage, we were treated to the sight of a lifetime, no less than three Narrow Gauge Garratt locomotives coupled up together and connected to a train! The sight and sound of 12 (!) steam engines pulling in unison up the hill towards Pandora is something I won‘t forget in a hurry!

Three Narrow Gauge Garratt Locomotives. Picture by Hannes Paling.

This is as much as I can do to record the experience of a lifetime. Thank you to all involved! And thank you, Nature, for being just a few days late! Andy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More About Tools. Gordon.

A while ago whilst battling to get rusted and partially rounded ½‖ nuts off a gantry that I was modifying, I unearthed a solitary Metrinch socket that just happened to fit. Using this I managed to remove the 16 nuts that had resisted my efforts with a normal socket. Being suitably impressed I decided to think about investing in a set of these sockets.

Purely by chance, about a week later whilst browsing through a hardware store in Vredenburg I came across a table laden with Metrinch spanner sets of all sorts. The tools had been used for a promotion, but had not sold and after prolonged haggling with the shop owner, I purchased rather

more than I am prepared to disclose (the lady who was with me and who shall be nameless, but who is also a club member, must shoulder a large portion of the blame. She also loves spanners and did some arm twisting).

Interestingly some of the extension bars in the socket sets had a ‗wobble‘ end similar to the Jonnesway ones discussed in the previous newsletter.

Shortly afterwards I acquired my 1941 Massey Harris tractor that is reputed to have stood under a tree for 20 years and have used the Metrinch spanners exclusively for removing the old and rusty imperial nuts and bolts on it. As a matter of

interest, in the process stripping the tractor, virtually every nut and bolt has come loose fairly easily and so far I have only broken two bolts out of the more than a hundred that I have removed. The nuts and bolts were all liberally sprayed with penetrating oil a while before stripping, but I have a feeling that the material used when the tractor was built was far superior to what we have now. In addition there have not been any rounded corners which must be due to the Metrinch design.

Whilst looking for Metrinch sockets, I found out that Gedore produce a similar profile - I think it is known as their C series.

Metrinch Ring/Set Spanner. Metrinch Sockets ¼’’, 3/8” & ½” drive.

‘Wobble’ extensions (Jonnesway).

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A Couple of Beautifully Restored Engines – Seen at Gerald Buitendach & Seps Engine Day (I think!).

Pics by John Menasce. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Seagull in a Box. Phil Gray-Taylor. For many years it was rumoured that during WW2 dozens of seagull outboard motors and inflatable boats had been buried on the D-Day beaches of France as a back up in case they were ever needed for another Dunkirk type evacuation. The Seagull outboard used was the type 102, made at the British Seagull factory in Poole, on the south coast of England. They were made in the thousands for the War effort, being used to power pontoons, barges and for bridge

building. The War Office design specification was for the engine to be capable of working non-stop for at least 24 hours at a time. History shows that the buried engines did indeed exist but were never needed during the War, more recently some have been discovered and liberated from the French dunes for more peaceful duties. My Seagull outboard in the box is a type 102. The paint on the box is old and faded but you can still make out the stencilled legend

‗British Seagull Outboard Engine Unit‘ and the serial ‗PGT 333 VT‘ One can also plainly make out the WD (War Department) and their ‗broad arrow‘ symbol with the date June 1944. Is there a possibility that my Seagull Outboard motor in the old and faded, weather-beaten box could be one of the motors discovered in the French dunes? Naah, I made the box a week before the Timour Hall Show in January this year. Looks good though hey?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An Early 2’ 0” Gauge Locomotive of The Rhodesian (Zimbabwe) Railways.

Tractive Force at 75% B.W. P. 3987 lb. Total Weight (F. W.O.) 20tons 4 Cwt. Manufacturers; Falcon Engine-Carriage Works 1897.

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Long Memory. Peter Noble.

In approximately 1958 the first combine harvester model that Ransomes, Simms & Jeffries (to give them their full title) produced was undergoing field trials prior to manufacture. They encountered a major problem with the engine in so much that sometimes under full load the engine would suddenly lose power and produce clouds of black smoke.

After checking all the obvious things like fuel pump, injectors, valve clearances, etc, they still had the problem. Close observation of the engine under load was difficult as it was situated between the driving wheels and underneath the threshing mechanism. In desperation they replaced the engine with a new one, but the problem was still with them which concentrated their minds on other external factors and eventually they discovered that a length of rubber hose which connected the pipe from the oil bath air cleaner to the inlet manifold was not strong enough and was going flat when the engine needed the maximum air flow.

At least 15 years later when we were using the Massey-Ferguson 500 combines and oil bath air cleaners were a thing of the past, I was visiting one of the outlying farms for which I was responsible, I noticed that the combine was operating in extremely dusty conditions. In the UK if you get a lot of rain once the grain crops have started to ripen, you get soil splash on the lower parts of the plant, the straw becomes brittle and breaks up more and worst of all a black sooty mould grows on the wheat ears. When all this goes into the combine the gray/black dust cloud is

extreme – all these conditions were part of that day‘s operation, plus there was no wind, so that the combine was invisible from a short distance away. All you saw was the slowly moving black/gray cloud of dust.

Late that evening my assistant from that farm rang

me in a very concerned state – just as they were about to knock off for the evening the combine suddenly lost engine power and produced clouds of black smoke. He and the driver were so concerned that they just stopped it and left it where it was and then contacted me. Although I had never thought of the Ransomes experience, it immediately came to mind and I was able to tell my assistant that probably the air filter cartridge was completely choked and that a good routine clean would put everything right. It was and it did. P.N.

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Sent to Andy. Your reference to bricks reminded me of Siggi Duvel's (our club treasurer) recipe for cooking guinea fowl.

a) Find a pot large enough to hold the guinea fowl AND a hard Coronation brick. b) Place brick and guinea fowl into pot, add vegetables and seasoning as required. c) Cover with water and bring to the boil. d) Boil for about 6 hours, topping up with water as needed. e) Remove from fire and remove brick from pot. f) Throw away contents of pot and eat the brick !! Jerry Evans, near Johannesburg in Sunny South

Africa.

I sent the following to Stuart Lawson: I have attached two pictures of a spanner I was given recently; one end is offset at 90° as if it was made for a special purpose? Note the snail motif, do you know of the maker?

Stuart‘s reply; Of course I do, says he modestly!! It is made by Thomas Smith and Sons, Saltley, Birmingham. Sometimes seen with TS&S markings. From the style I would say it is from 1900-1920. Ron Wiley.

Thank you for all the help and information! I really enjoyed reading all the newsletters. Karl van Dyk.

Thanks for the latest edition of the newsletter. Sue and Fred Harvey, England.

The Early Ransomes Combine.

In Box.

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I have done well lately with the engines I have been given, 4 Villiers, a Power-Pak cycle motor and the early

Honda stationary engine driving a pump. Wednesday I went to the post office to collect the mail, two letters and card to say there was a registered

parcel. I thought Margery had ordered something but found it was addressed to me from a Peter Scott. When I got back to the car I opened the package and found a cardboard box, I suppose you are expecting me to say there was another box inside the first one? Wrapped in tissue paper was a small glow plug model aircraft engine, the mystery deepens. There was no note with the engine and I have checked my records, I have not had any contact with a Peter Scott. From his address I got his phone number, I have called twice and left messages on the answering machine.

As you will see from the attached picture I have an O. S. MAX-1 15 glow plug engine, the following is what I found on the Internet about it: The first of a long line of O.S. 'MAX' engines, the MAX-1 29 and MAX-1 35 appeared in 1954, followed by the MAX-1 15 in 1955. In 1956, a MAX-1 15 powered model, flown by Ronald Draper, won the official (FAI) World Free Flight Championship held in England. This drew worldwide attention to O.S. engines and became the turning point that led, eventually, to O.S. prominence in the world market.

Displacement - 2.48cc, Bore - 15.2mm, Stroke - 13.7mm, Weight - 114g.

Well, there it is—as much as I can tell you about one of the forgotten classics of the model engine industry. It's a great pity that this design didn't achieve greater sales success—if it had, there'd be more of them around today! And it really is a lovely engine which would be a real treat to fly. But with these engines being as rare as they seem to be, I doubt that we'll see many of them in the air in the future. Still, an engine to remember and to really enjoy if you're ever lucky enough to acquire one! Ron Wiley.

The other day I came across a rather battered Victa engine in a scrapyard. I was interested in the fact that it had two spark plugs at right angles to each other. I contacted Phil and received the following reply: There should be an automatic decompressor in the side of the head where the second spark plug is. It is a popular dodge to remove this and fit an old spark plug when the decompressor is faulty. Gordon.

Regarding the ratchet rings, there's an unbranded type available through the Mica franchises with a very useful hinge just back from the ratcheting ring, and at the other end, a very robust open end spanner. You turn them over to go the other way, so there's no clumsy lever. I don't usually buy unbranded tools, but these are good. I have worn some out already (OK, spoiled them by expecting too much of them), but have gone back to get replacements, they are available separately. Andy Selfe.

Looking at Gordon's oil covers, you should have heard the mostly Afrikaans instructors in the Army trying to say 'huile', which was written on the pressure gauges of the (then) French Panhard Armoured Cars we had! In the true Afrikaans custom of pronouncing every letter, it came out as 'hay-luh', a far cry from the 'Ooooeeee' that would make some sense to a Frenchman! Andy Selfe.

Thank you very much for this edition - I must say I am getting hooked on to this subject. Steve, Simonstown.

Thank you for including us in the newsletter. So glad you are finding the product useful! Pieter Steenkamp, (of Steenvas fame), Lamberts Bay.

Thanks for copying me; I always enjoy reading your news letter. Some of the old engines bring back some great memories (Neil‘s Villiers collection). Phil Menasce.

Wow, you guys have excelled yourselves again. Congratulations. John Menasce.

To Andy: My name is Rod Clark and I am a vintage engine collector living in Blenheim New Zealand, I have just finished reading your most interesting newsletter on the web. I stumbled on it by accident while looking for information on a Dorman Petrol Engine that I am in the process of restoring. I have just received from a friend in England a copy of a Dorman Type 1AB handbook, but unfortunately it does not give any of the spec's for it e.g. HP, revs etc. If anybody wants a copy I could scan it and send it by email.

I am a member of the two clubs here in Blenheim and am the Newsletter Editor for the Tua Marina Vintage Traction & Machinery Club. We are a small club with about 40 members and like all clubs there is a small core group who are the active members. We recently held a Lister Rally here to celebrate 100 years since Lister made their first engine. It was very good and we had just on 100 Lister engines and others on show. One of the things we do is to exchange newsletters with other clubs, that way we get to hear what is going on

12

elsewhere. A lot of these I send and receive by Email and the ones that I receive by Email I print and take to our meetings as a lot of members do not have computers. Would you be interested in doing this? I guess that is about it for now, hope you get this and don‘t mind me contacting you. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Rod Clarke, Blenheim, New Zealand.

Andy to Rob. Thanks so much for the e-mail! Yes, of course we want to know what's going on down there and an exchange of newsletters will be great! I'm not sure which one you found, nor where, but that doesn't matter! In fact, if it was an old Paraffinalia, I stopped doing them a couple of years ago, it just became too much to handle. Since then it has been started, under another name, by two of my friends, Philip and Gordon, and I have copied them in on this mail. The more people who read it, the more feedback, and the more interesting both newsletters become.

Was your Lister rally the one that JT was at and helped (?) organise? Who did you get the Dorman info from? I'm trying to think of the name of my Dorman contact. I get mixed up with the Meadows man who's often writing in. Giive me a mo to think. I seem to remember that the 1AB was used on the Calfdozer.... Andy, Elgin in the Cape.

Ron to Rob. Andy Selfe forwarded your email to me. I run the Cooper register for Australia and with Dean Hatcher in Brisbane the Villiers Register. I have been writing articles for The Old Machinery Magazine (TOMM) for 10 years now and in issues 112 & 113 I wrote articles about an Aveling Barford Calf Dozer that belongs to a friend of mine. In trying to find information about the Dorman type 1AB engine, I contacted Patrick Knight and he put me in touch with Derek Jones the former head of R & D at Dorman‘s. I wrote about the engine in issue 112. Looking at the article again I can tell the following about it: 98.4mm bore by 104.7mm stroke = 797cc Compression ratio 5·5: 1. Wico-Pacy impulse magneto type AG08BZ. Zenith 30VES carby. Tappet clearance 0·006‖ for inlet and exhaust. 9·5bhp @ 1,700 rpm. In the Calf Dozer engine the inlet manifold has a butterfly controlled by the governor, the butterfly in the carby is cable operated and when closed brings the engine back to a tickover. Open the carby throttle and governor takes over to run the engine at 1,700 rpm. I hope this is of help to you? Ron Wiley, Victor Harbor, South

Australia.

Ron to Andy. You must have had a helping of brains, the wonder head filler, fancy you remembering I wrote about the Aveling Barford Calf Dozer and its Dorman engine five years ago. As you will see I have copied you on my note to Rob. I am sure Gordon & Phil will want to contact Rob. Ron Wiley.

And now for something weird and wonderful; I have been sent photos in the mail of the All Australia Sentinel Moto-Cultor. I have scanned one picture showing it with the water-cooled Mk.VIII-C. No prefix or S/N has been found on the engine but the conrod has VILLIERS VIIIC – VID stamped on one side and PAT 207157 – 25 on the other. I have an 8-C with the same conrod so I think engine dates from say 1925 to the early 1930‘s.

Because of the design of the machine it does not have a Villiers Flywheel magneto but a gear driven magneto. I suspect The Sentinel Engineering Works made the water-cooled cylinder? The good news is that the engine runs and the owner Graeme Campbell tells me it will be restored at a later date. Vary interesting to say the least? It is apparently a beast to handle. Ron Wiley.

Hi Phil...I really enjoyed your resourcefulness in that Seagull article. Well done!! Tony Beckett. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has a 1/8‖ ‗gas‘ thread in the centre and a taper reamer, a screw driver tip, and 1/8‖ gas taper and parallel tap on the outside point. It may have been a bit unfair for farmers to guess what the tool was used for, as it was essentially for ‗town‘ gas pipe work. Leith Paxton. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Could someone please advise where saucer type and brass cup type welsh plugs may be purchased in South Africa and also for an Allis Chalmers ‗B‘ 1946 :- a set of pistons, rings and sleeves.

Contact Douw at hsdelange@vodamail.co.za

What Was It?

Wanted.

13

Size is similar to average pocket knife with a 40mm blade and brass hilt, the handle is spring loaded like tweezers having half circular ends and serrated jaws.

Dated 1913. Submitted by David Menasce. Phil. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following is a preliminary list of events as given to us and we cannot guarantee the accuracy thereof. Please check with the relevant organizers before making arrangements to attend any event. If any errors are found it would be appreciated if we could be notified so that corrections can be made for the next newsletter. Note: The Piket Tractor and Implement Club Engine Day has been postponed due fact that it clashes with other events. No new date has been decided on yet. June - Saterdag 20 Villiersdorp engine day at the museum.

July - Saturday 11 Cape Vintage Engine and Machinery Society’s Winter Warm Up at Arthur’s Place near Franschoek. (Franschoek’s Bastille Festival 11 & 12 July)

Saturday 25 Swartland Veterane Klub Ploegdag 2009 (see below for contact details). August – 7, 8 Villiersdorp Expo (Friday & Saturday).

16,17 Aurora Agricultural Show. 22,23 Heidelberg Show. September – 20,21 Bokkeveld Veteran Week – Ceres.

27 Whales and Wheels – Hermanus. 30 to 4 October Spring Show – Robertson.

Oktober – 9,10,11 Malmesbury Show. 24,25 Wheels Festival, Worcester. November – 22 Museum Day at Stettyn (Villiersdorp). December – 6 Veteran Harvest Day at Goudmyn (Paul Smit‘s farm, Moorreesburg). Swartland Veterane Klub - Ploegdag 25July.

Enquiries: Linda Carstens 084 887 7843 or Cassie Carstens 082 859 2939. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------

Forthcoming Events

A Touch of Yesteryear. What is it?