Crossley Otto Engine

Описание: Crossley Otto Engine
This Crossley Otto engine was dug out of the ground of a farm in Krowera, Victoria, in 1970 by Peter Uren, who thought it was a water pump at the time, as the front view was covered down in the ground. He was 15-years-old and had started work as an apprentice in Melbourne, Victoria, so when he left his dad’s farm (next door to where he had found the engine) to travel back to work in Melbourne, he took the engine with him, where he pulled it apart and put all the parts aside, retaining everything. This is why all these years later, the engine is 95% original.
It was shipped to Melbourne around 28th November 1887, and from Melbourne, it went to Wonthaggi. At the time, the Victorian government owned Wonthaggi and the mines around it - they had purpose-built Wonthaggi to mine for the coal they needed to supply the steam trains. So, the engine back in those days would have been owned by the town and the government and would have been a necessity, as electricity was only just getting thought of. As the years went by, the Crossley Otto was eventually relocated to a farm in Krowera, which is where it was found by Peter when his dad purchased the farm next door.
The Crossley Otto’s set-up is similar to a steam engine in using a slide-valve arrangement, however, it differs where the ignition system requires the transfer of a naked flame into the engine – if the flame goes out, the engine stops. The slide-valve arrangement runs on the hydrogen bottle only, whereas the main engine runs on LPG gas from an accompanying portable LPG gas bottle. Once it gets going, if you can’t hear the popping noise, then it’s not running properly.
So, after pulling it apart in the 1970s, Peter finally got it running in 1999. Since that time, the only main things that have required attention is the piston which has been modified a little and the liner has been replaced with a new one.