I was looking for a video of a 1896 Benz motorcar, to go along with Bryce’s pictures of one at the Cohort. That led me to this monster, which has temporarily usurped the little Benz. It’s a 1903 De La Vergne Engine Works industrial engine, with a 26 inch bore and 38 inch stroke, which adds up to the number in the headline. At full 160 rpm chat, it applies 4100 ft. lbs of torque against whatever tries unsuccessfully to stop its mammoth flywheel. Pay not attention to the video graphic that says it’s running at 52 rpm in the video; he forgot that it’s a four cycle engine, so it’s actually running at 104 rpm, but sadly with no load. If you’ve ever heard one of these big motors actually working hard at full speed, it you won’t forget it soon. Oh, and here’s the pictures of the Benz:
Bryce had this to say about the Benz one-cylinder running: Heard a 1896 Benz running and revved up; my tired little Briggs and Stratton sounds smooth compared (to it) and (it has) less smoke.
It had already been ten years since Karl Benz built his first motorcar, so this has the benefits of many refinements, no doubt. And just for comparison, I did find a video of a reproduction of his 1886 motortrike being fired up:
The early version seems smoother the one I listened to ran well but as the operator said they knew nothing about balancing then and once revved up the whole vehicle shakes and shudders its only got a 2 speed transmission but apparently top gear is too fast for the brakes and steering. Two of these landed in NZ new and both survive the other one was found complete in a barn somewhere.
Love the big stationary engine a guy I know nearby has several though not on that scale he has smaller more portable stuff and old farm tractors.
An engine like that one cylinder stationary beast makes me want to grunt like Tim Allen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V9YZ7C88iU “MORE POWER!”
Betcha can’t find a car to put it in, either!
Imagine if you can that you’ve never seen a car of any kind. Only steam, stationary engines and locomotives. This little machine must have seemed miraculous.
Once upon a time this was it there were no cars My grandfather told me of when he walked the byways of England in 1904 and seeing a motor car was an event.
I’ve always loved those stationary engine exhibits you get at farm shows. There’s always a couple endlessly recycling water through a pump or running a few lightbulbs. Love the ones that only have a power cycle when the governer says they need it – chuff, chuff, chuff, chuff, chuff, thwa-dack BANG, chuff, chuff, chuff…..
An old aquaintance of mine used to restore them. They’re pretty robust engineering, and really hard to kill.
Yikes that’s big, the closest thing I’ve seen to that running is an Acadia make n’ break marine engine or the 1953 2 cylinder, 2 stroke Armstrong Siddeley AS2 stationary Diesel used to power my late uncle’s circular sawmill.
Ahhh…nothing like watching big things that move in the morning!
Seeing that beast run reminds me of the S.S. Admiral – a beautiful streamlined sidewheeler that used to run excursions out of St. Louis. It was a real steam-powered boat (actually built on a barge) and I used to hang out on the first deck where all the kiddie rides and arcade games and ice cream stands were located – those and all the machinery! It had two massive driver arms that turned the paddle wheels and those things were almost 20 ft. long. I used to watch those things for minutes on end. They were painted candy stripe red and white. One named “Popeye” and the other “Wimpy”. At least one is preserved at the National Museum of Transport in Kirkwood, MO.
There were places where various pieces of boiler machinery and piping were exposed from below deck and for a kid who liked this stuff – well – it was a wonderland of sorts, but also many forbidden places that weren’t accessible but I watched from a distance.
Stationary engines have always fascinated me and I still want one, however big or small!
I’ll try to find the pics I took of a Benz Velo here in Australia – it didn’t have the brass guard covering the crank & conrod. I’d agree that it wasn’t perfectly smooth but not excessively shaky.
On the other hand the single cylinder 10.7 litre Lanz Bulldog tractors need decent wheel chocks to keep them in one spot when idling.
You’ve go to give Benz’s wife a lot of credit for driving that thing cross-country to visit her relatives.