The Farmer’s Friend
Hindley & Sons, based in Bourton, Dorset, specialized in stationary steam engines and later expanded into gas engines and boilers. The company exhibited engines at agricultural shows from 1876 onwards, offering small engines ranging from 1 to 10 horsepower, and later producing larger vertical high-speed gas engines of 12–225 bhp
The model I have created is based upon this image taken from a Hindley advertising catalogue
Video of the engine mounted upon a motorised pottery whirler.
A detailed view of the engine rotating on a powered turntable.
Engine running note the smoke and sparks from the boiler.
Many of Hindley’s steam engines had their speed regulated by Pickering governors. Thomas R. Pickering, patented this design in 1862, centrifugal balls acted against leaf springs rather than gravity. This governor is straightforward in construction, featuring weights that are accurately arranged ensuring effective speed control .
Three eccentrics controlled this Hindley steam engine, with the inner two the direction of rotation could be changed.
The third eccentric drove a water pump ensuring the boiler never ran dry.
Cylinder details and front view of engine showing reversing mechanism, no constructional details of a Hindley engine could be found.
The engine on the model is designed around a Stuart ‘A’ frame.
The Pickering governor is driven from the crankshaft by a circular belt
The flywheel on the model is four inches in diameter and was machined from a solid blank of steel.
A mirror is placed beneath the boiler to reveal the constructional details of the fire box
The four wheels are all 4 ¼ inches in diameter. I asked a friend working on the North Sea oil pipe-line if he could help and supply steel to make these wheels.
Amazed when he arrived with a 12inch length of thick wall steel tubing from which all the wheels are made.
Tractor type seat used when the engine was being hauled between farms.