Model Traction Engine

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30390, 14 March 1964, Page 19

Model Traction Engine

Thought to be toe only one of its kind in toe world, this scale model traction engine was recently completed by an Ashburton engineer. Mr Hugh Rainey put hundreds of hours of work into toe job in the last two years. Built to one-eighth size scale the model is a miniature of Mr Rainey’s 1914 three-speed single-cylinder Burrell. The model weighs a little more than half a ton compared with the 14 tons of toe large Burrell which is

capable of a speed of 14 miles an hour. Mr Rainey does not know yet how fast the smaller one can travel. No castings were used in its manufacture and all toe parts were fabricated by Mr Rainey in his Cass street workshop. No plans were available and measurements had to be scaled direct from the original machine. The crankshaft was cut from five-inch round steel and toe steel .cylinder contains a cast iron sleeve. The big Burrell is of eight horsepower and toe model is about one horse-power. It has a wire rope drum and takes sixteen gallons of water. It has already had steam up and is complete except for the final painting. Each back wheel weighs more than one hundredweight The boiler was built to boiler code specifications. Mr

Rainey said one of toe biggest jobs was toe construction of jigs for toe parts. One jig took five hours to make and toe part itself only took an hour and a half. Visitors from many parts of New Zealand have called at the workshop to see the model. Several Australian visitors have also called and the engineering department of Canterbury University has also shown an interest. The first public showing of the model will be in about 1 two weeks’ time when the

patron of the Ashburton Steam and Model Engineering Club (Mr J. H. Grigg) will introduce it to those interested.