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A TURNER-MEISSE REBUILD
By Dennis Wedgwood
Up to now I
have hesitated to write about this beast as at times I have despaired
of getting operational. I am therefore glad to tell you that at
Onslow Park Rally near Shrewsbury in August I made 2 or 3 trips
of at least 200 yards length!
I acquired the
car as a pile of bits in the 1960s from Ralph Delves of Talke near
Stoke-on-Trent. After storage for many years, restoration began
about six years ago. The engine number is 217. A similar car in
the Black Country museum (still owned by the builders Turner), that
The Veteran Car Club has dated as 1904, has a number more than 400
- presumably, my 10hp car is a 1903 model.
Two thousand
has been the year of the steam generator - God willing 2001 will
see me on the road with a suitable body fitted. The Atlas Foundry
in Shrewsbury has made the generator and I am most grateful to Edmund
Davies and his craftsmen who have done a super job. The most frustrating
part of the restoration has been the burner (why are you not surprised?)
for although I had dimensions of the mixing and burner tubes, my
reference stated that 1200 "small" holes pierced the burner and
that the jet was about" 1/16th of an inch. It did not mention the
venturi.
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The photo (right)
shows the burner with the tubes resting on the cover of the mixing
chamber that has been removed. The wide tube is the mixing tube
into which a single jet (currently 1 .4mm diameter) projects vaporized
fuel. The seven smaller tubes are blind-ended and are fed from the
mixing chamber. Their upper surfaces are pierced by 1200 x 2mm holes
through which the fuel/air mixture emerges in a mat of flame below
the generator tubes (we hope!).
Unlike the Stanley
and later White burners that take all the air through the venturi,
the Turner burner is open below so that secondary combustion air
enters between the burner tubes. A consequence of this is that the
mixture entering is relatively rich, the venturi I am using is just
over 0.75 inch diameter. After taking advice from John Goold, Les
Nelson and Bob Dyke (my thanks to you all), I finally got the burner
to behave after a depressing month of environmental pollution, bush
fires, deafening blow-backs, burnt fingers and the embarrassing
nuisance of re-drilling all 1200 holes. The only thing I did not
do was set the garage on fire as I did all my pyrotechnics out-
side after being told by John "when you fire 'im up 'e'll scare
the s*** out of you!" All I can say is "You were right, John". However,
I now have a mat of blue flame so I am hopeful that the burner will
prove reliable.
Dennis
Wedgewood had a great day when he took his Turner Meisse out
for its first public steam at Onslow Park Steam Rally, perhaps
after saying a prayer! Photographs
from Diana Goddard |
A few words
about the Turner system are appropriate since it operates on different
principle to the Stanley and with considerably less refinement than
the White. Basically, the power unit uses a true flash-boiler and
is very similar to the Pearson- Cox with 4 double grids of zigzag
tube totalling 150ft of steel tubing in 16 layers. The engine is
a three cylinder single-acting unit with sliding camshafts. In neutral,
the exhaust valves are open to allow coasting without braking effect
but the steam valves are closed, as there is no regulator. Power
is "controlled" by varying the feed water rate while the generator
tubes are kept hot by the more or less constant output from the
burner. Since feed water + flash boiler = steam to engine, this
could produce exciting moments in modern traffic! Actually, there
is a "panic button", a pedal operating a throttle cutting off steam
to the engine, further pressure applies a transmission brake. This
device is not yet working, (see "garage" below). There is no thermostat
or even a pyrometer, though contemporary reports say Turners go
best when the steam pipe is dull red - just like a Sentinel, eh
John?
Starting procedure
involves heating the generator for 5 minutes. Water is then pumped
by hand into the hot tubes, the valve lever shifted to start and
we are off! Water feed is then continued by a mechanical pump driven
off the half-shaft. One controls the feed rate by varying the pressure
on the by-pass valve via a lever on the steering column. Transmission
is through spur-gear reduction to a differential and half-shafts,
each of which has a sprocket for twin chain-drive to the rear wheels.
There is an engine- driven air pump to pressurise the fuel tank,
a feed-water-heater and condenser returning some of the exhaust
to the water tank as condensate. The control of steam pressure and
temperature is entirely manual, not for me the luxury of "un petit
cheval" as described by Anthony Bever in the January Journal ("tres
elegant") but I have had my share of sooty mushrooms in the spout
of the mantelpiece - "formidable, mon brave!"
On return from
Onslow Park I got the car stuck on the slope in front of my garage
- not a sign of movement, even at 8OOpsi. I discovered eventually
that the camshaft was limited in travel to give a maximum cut-off
of 50%. When I adjusted this to 80%, I shot towards the garage with
startling acceleration. Owing to the high seating position it dawned
on me during my short journey that my head was above the level of
the lintel so I ducked smartly as I went. With the prospect of approaching
the far wall at inappropriate speed and decelerating by the only
means available, I threw the engine into reverse - and I was outside
the garage in a flash! Enough, this could be the start of a Hoffnung
and the barrel story, the end of which must wait until another time.
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