Råoljemotorer

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 09/24/2016 at 16:46 • Filed to: Hot bulb engine, Thames Trader, Norrtälje

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You what?

Rawoilmotors, or crude oil engines, or as we call them hot bulb engines. So called because they would run on crude oil or just about any other combustible liquid and because ignition involved a hot bulb, a sort of pre combustion chamber. When I say anything, I mean just about anything. Diesel? Paraffin? Used engine oil? Fish oil, if you used the engine to run a trawler? Creosote? Palm oil, if you had palm trees? They were all good.

Hot bulb engines would always start once you got the bulb hot enough and would keep running almost forever so they were popular in cold climates and remote places, which is why on my hols in Stockholm I found myself by chance in an industrial museum dedicated to the Pythagoras engine works which made them for much of the 20th century. It closed in 1979 and remained like one huge potential barn find until a group of enthusiasts persuaded the local town council to make it into a museum.

They made their engines (and other products) entirely by hand with craftsmen machining parts like this crankshaft

and this piston and rod from cast iron blanks on a lathe

The business never became big enough to be able to invest and compete with more automated rivals and so it disappeared together with several dozen other makers throughout Sweden.

The museum’s other claim to fame is this running but not over restored Ford Thames Trader which they take around to classic and vintage shows. Interestingly it’s LHD despite being made well before !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

So there you have it. Well worth a visit for the mechanically inclined who find themselves in Norrtälje.

gmctavish needs more space > Cé hé sin 09/24/2016 at 16:55

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This is excellent

Cé hé sin > gmctavish needs more space 09/24/2016 at 17:03

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Some more pics (not mine)

jimz > Cé hé sin 09/24/2016 at 17:22

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when I was at Chrysler, we had an employee car show in the parking lot. one of the millwrights brought his hit-or-miss industrial engine which he had restored and was running for show.

tapzz > Cé hé sin 09/24/2016 at 19:16

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For some reason I’ve never been able to fathom, Swedish cars seem to have always been LHD- there’s not even such a thing as an RHD Volvo PV444 or PV544.

‘Proper’ French or Italian cars (Lancias, Delages etc.), on the other hand, were RHD well into the fifties despite them never really driving on the wrong side of the road...

Cé hé sin > tapzz 09/24/2016 at 19:26

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I think the Swedes were anticipating a switch to driving on the right for decades and bought lhd as a consequence. They voted against change by a large majority in the 50s but the government later went ahead regardless, regarding referenda as non binding (Brexit anyone?)

Buses though were rhd with left hand doors and so the government subsidised their conversion where practicable, otherwise they were exported to various African and other countries where they continued on the left.

As for Delahaye and co, I think the original thinking was that on luxury cars the chauffeur would drive nearest the kerb so as to be ready to open the door for his lord or lady and so rhd became associated with luxury.

tapzz > Cé hé sin 09/24/2016 at 21:14

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I’ve also heard the argument that it’s easier to be on the nearside on narrow roads and mountain passes- particularly for more sporting cars. It all seems a bit post-facto rationalisation, though...

Never knew that there was a referendum in Sweden about changing the driving side. Goes to show what a terrible instrument a referendum is.

Cé hé sin > tapzz 09/25/2016 at 05:32

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An overwhelming Nej!

Cé hé sin > jimz 09/25/2016 at 05:34

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Yes, I saw a collection of those at a show one summer. I had to ask Mr Google to find out why they seemed to be misfiring so often!