Stationary Engines

[willedoo]

I've never had much to do with Norton Villiers engines but I saw this one on FB Marketplace and didn't know they were made in Ballarat. It looks very similar to an old BSA stationary engine I have in the shed.

 

[facthunter]

Norton and Villiers only got together later in the game. It ended up as NVT Norton Villiers Triumph.  Villiers made Two strokes for ages and to fit many bike makes. DOT James. Excelsior UK.. JAP, BSA made a lot of such engines and Thornycroft and Lister made bigger ones "diesels" Nev

[willedoo]

A neighbour of mine had a Francis-Barnett 2 stroke bike and I'm fairly sure it was a Villiers engine. I can't remember what year it became NVT. I bought my Commando mid 1972 and I thought it was just Norton Villiers then, but I could be wrong, it might have had Triumph in it by then.

[onetrack]

I never knew that Villiers set up in Ballarat, either - but the website below gives us the entire history of the operation. Villiers moved into Ballarat because the Australian Govt placed tariffs on imported engines to protect local manufacturers.

So Frank Farrer, the head of Villiers, decided it was viable to set up in Australia and not only meet the sizeable Australian demand for their products, but to export their products to NZ, the Pacific, and SE Asia.

Interestingly, "New Australians" (European refugees from the devastation of WW2) made up a sizeable proportion of the Ballarat workforce.

 

https://salterbros.com.au/villiers-australia/

 

Stationary engines appear to be their mainstay in the 1950's, it looks like motorbikes were a secondary product.

 

I love the photo of the old semi with 1300 Villiers engines on board, being pulled by the Dodge Power Giant - get a look at the 44 gallon drum for a fuel tank!

The old Dodge petrol V8's weren't exactly fuel misers! I owned a '62 Inter R190, it was powered by the (Red Diamond) RD-406 engine. Despite being only a 6 cyl, it did 2mpg empty, and 1mpg loaded, pulling my low-loader and Cat D6C's around!

Most trucks of this era had a fuel drum tray behind the cabin - you always carried 2 or 3 drums of super petrol with you! I think the original IH fuel tank was 20 gallons, what were IH engineers thinking?

[pmccarthy]

I was living in Ballarat when NV stopped making engines and shut down the factory. They had earlier absorbed another large Ballarat company, Ronaldson and Tippett. John Tippett told me he had travelled to England during the war to arrange manufacture of a portable generator for the military, which was quite successful.

[onetrack]

I was quite surprised to see "Ballaarat" written multiple times on the Salter Bros website. I've never seen this spelling before, but apparently it was the original spelling of Ballarat, and used right up until recent times.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Ballaarat

[pmccarthy]

Ballaarat was still the official name a few years ago. Balla arat (pronounced as two words), is a Wathaurong name signifying a camping or resting place, balla meaning elbow, or reclining on the elbow.

[willedoo]

15 hours ago, onetrack said:

I love the photo of the old semi with 1300 Villiers engines on board, being pulled by the Dodge Power Giant - get a look at the 44 gallon drum for a fuel tank!

The old Dodge petrol V8's weren't exactly fuel misers! I owned a '62 Inter R190, it was powered by the (Red Diamond) RD-406 engine. Despite being only a 6 cyl, it did 2mpg empty, and 1mpg loaded, pulling my low-loader and Cat D6C's around!

Most trucks of this era had a fuel drum tray behind the cabin - you always carried 2 or 3 drums of super petrol with you! I think the original IH fuel tank was 20 gallons, what were IH engineers thinking?

Petrol trucks seem a lifetime ago now. Then again, it almost is. In the early 70's I drove an AB series IH semi with a V8 petrol engine carting freight up from Brisbane. All the company's trucks were petrol except for one, a diesel Commer body truck. Petrol must have been relatively cheap back then.

[willedoo]

I see in that Salter Bros. link that in 1971 NV bought the manufacturing rights of Wisconsin engines. We had a Wisconsin on a grain auger years ago. I looked up some models and photos and my best guess is it was a 12.5 HP AGND model.

[nomadpete]

50 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

Ballaarat was still the official name a few years ago. Balla arat (pronounced as two words), is a Wathaurong name signifying a camping or resting place, balla meaning elbow, or reclining on the elbow.

Thank heavens, at least that's one place that we don't have to re-name.

[spacesailor]

Only if they demand the original name & pronunciation to be used.

spacesailor

[facthunter]

The Place of the Eureka Stockade.  Freeze the walls off a Bark Humpy in winter.. Nev

[onetrack]

You're not wrong there, Nev. Never come across a place so cold. What is it about the town that makes it so cold? Alpine winds? The altitude?

[rgmwa]

5 hours ago, facthunter said:

The Place of the Eureka Stockade.  Freeze the walls off a Bark Humpy in winter.. Nev

The Place of the Eureka Stockade.  Freeze the walls off a Bark Humpy in winter..  summer..

[facthunter]

Bit like Goulburn. Exposed to southerly winds and enough altitude. I've had Ice and snow on the tank of my bike in January.. Nev

[facthunter]

I suppose the real reason is we are not far from Tassie.   Nev

[Marty_d]

There's places colder than here. Canberra has way colder days in winter.

[nomadpete]

I reckon Guyra is the coldest place I've been.

 

It used to be common for trucks to slide off the highway there - due to black ice.

[facthunter]

That happens just east of Bright.  Nev

[willedoo]

That NV engine in the OP sold within the day. He had $120 on it. Said it was in good condition, turned over but not running.

 

Just a question about those older engines. If you run them on unleaded do you need an additive or are they ok with straight fuel?

[facthunter]

I don't think they are very fussy about the fuel used. They usually only have a dipper on the conrod. The really old ones often only an oil dripper and a cast iron Piston.. Larger stationary engines were two stroke and used Hot bulb Ignition  heated with a large blowlamp prior to start up and a fuel injector which was also used to start it. Flywheel was about 18 feet diameter and these things were used in sawmills. I've seen one operating in the Dorrigo when I was young. (in the 60's).  Nev

[facthunter]

  Those types of Hot bulb engines were used in Trawlers pre 1900.They will run on crude oil. 

  The airship motors were diesels  Beardmore I think.  Nev

[old man emu]

51 minutes ago, willedoo said:

If you run them on unleaded do you need an additive or are they ok with straight fuel?

I think the rough rule of thumb is that if you come off leaded onto unleaded, you have to watch that the exhaust valve seat doesn't burn. 

[facthunter]

It's NOT a race car engine.  The seat in the block may require an insert eventually but it will be ok till then.  Nev

[pmccarthy]

Do paper aeroplanes have stationery engines?