Summary

Single-cylinder, horizontal, four-stroke, water-cooled stationary petrol engine, believed to be made by the Rosebery Engine Works of Sydney, New South Wales, about 1930, to a design based on an American Fuller & Johnson petrol "farm pump engine" of the 1920s. It is coupled by a flat belt to a "Sturtevant" No.2 model centrifugal fan, made by B.F. Sturtevant, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. This engine and fan was restored to operable condition by staff and volunteers at the Scienceworks Engineering Workshop.

The Rosebery Engine Works in Sydney were established in 1919 by the engineering firm Buzacott & Co whose origins dated back to 1858. By 1927, the Rosebery Works claimed to be "the most modern manufacturing plant in Australia" and was producing a range of small stationary engines designed to power a variety of equipment such as pumps, generators, saws and milking machines. This two-horsepower horizontal petrol engine was used at the Sands Hill Brass Foundry in Williamstown, where the fan provided blast air for a small cupola furnace.

Physical Description

Single-cylinder horizontal four-stroke stationary petrol engine, circa 1920, flat-belt coupled to a "Sturtevant" centrifugal fan. 3-inch (75mm) bore x 4-inch (100mm) stroke. Mounted on two wooden beams on a channel steel frame. Open-crank type, with hopper-cooling,"Wilco" magneto spark-ignition, sight-feed cylinder oiler, twin straight-spoked flywheels and belt-pulley.

Significance

This engine is of a fairly standard hopper-cooled design, typical of the post First World-War period and was probably either made in the United States or locally as a copy of an American design. Engines like this were widely used in a number of Victorian manufacturing and farming industries, where they could be found driving any number of different machines from water pumps to electricity generators, fans, shearing plant, hay balers, grain elevators and saw-benches.

It was used to provide blast air to a cupola furnace at the Sands Hill foundry, a small local firm, which over a number of decades has supplied non-ferrous castings to Victoria's engineering industry. Major customers of the firm included the Victorian Railways and John Danks & Son.

The engine was restored by staff and volunteers in the engineering workshop for use in the "Vintage Machinery Day" displays as part of the "Working Machinery Program" at Scienceworks. The application of this engine to drive a blast fan is not only historically authentic, but also unusual and provides ideal opportunities for a unique working exhibit with interactive potential.

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