The Blackstone Kerosene Engine.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 6, 2 April 1906, Page 151

The Blackstone Kerosene Engine.

This engine has made quite a name for itself in England from its economical consumption of oil and large power developed. At the last great trial of oil engines held at Edinburgh by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, where engines by the seven leading makers competed, the Blackstone gave the best results for consumption of oil and power given off. ( *At the Royal Society's Show in 1904, the Blackstone received the only award made to oil engines. There are thousands of users of the Blackstone oil engine in all parts of the world, and a very large number of these write in praise of the engine. The results obtained in the colony have been on a par with those m England ; one user lapses into poetry, and says — " The Blackstone is my name ; Day and night I'm just the same ; Keep me oiled and clean me well, I'll do my work without a spell." Another says, " They are splendid engines, and my putting it together without a book and getting it to start without trouble has given me a good

opinion of them." Another writes that he " Shore 12,900 sheep, and used only 425. worth of kerosene." In Jts construction the Blackstone embodies the highest type of British workmanship ; everything is strong, simple and durable. The user is attracted by the simplicity and get-at-ableness of all the parts, and, above all, by the low consumption of oil. The engineer approves of the regularity and adaptability w r ith which the governor acts, the ease with which in ten minutes every valve and seat in the engine can be taken out, and examined or cleaned, and the splendid absence of vibration of the whole engine attained by the use of balanced cranks. The sole agents for New Zealand, Messrs. Andrews & Beaven, report that the demand m New Zealand is for two classes of these engines — viz., the portable engine used chiefly for chaff cut ting, driving shearing machines, and general work on the farm. A considerable number also have been purchased by contractors who find them well adapted for use in districts where the roads are too soft or bad for traction engines. The other class of engine generally sold is the one for a concrete bed, these are going to dairy farmers for working milking machines, to squatters for driving shearing machines, to farmers for working chaffcutters. corn-crushers, saw benches, to builders for working saw benches, lifts, etc., to carpenters for planing machines, and to blacksmiths for working blowing fans, lathes, and drilling machines. Blackstone's are making a large display at the Exhibition, where, m addition to the above, they will show a pumping engine for which they expect a large sale. We show an illustration of the Blackstone on the cover of this issue.

A soft steel toothless circular saw is now the means frequently employed for cutting hard steel armour and high-speed tool steel. The disc revolves at a very high speed, the cncumferential velocity required exceeding at least a mile a minute, and it advances through an armour plate at an appreciable rate but with little loss in its own diameter. " A great part of the edge of the disc appears to be enveloped in sparks or fire ; there is much noise, and a fine display of fireworks." Should, however, the speed of the saw fall much below 50ft per second the steel cuts the disc, and the saw is ineffective. No explanation of the phenomenon of soft steel cutting hard steel has yet been found, but it is pointed out by a contemporary that as the use of such discs is increasing, the investigation of their action' might repay the trouble and time spent on research.