Who made this?

Although not exactly model engineering I was wondering if anyone can identify the manufacturer, and era, of the "toy" steam engine in the following pictures. It has no markings of any kind on it anywhere. I suspect it might be European as the pressure gauge is in bar not psi. The base is about 14" x 16" , the boiler is 3 1/4" dia by 9" long, the flywheel is 5" dia. with a 3/4" wide rim, and it is fired with a two burner vaporizing alcohol burner.

A fellow arrived at our club track site in Winnipeg one Sunday afternoon early summer of '89 wanting to sell a "Tich", a freelance horiz. mill engine ( about 1 1/2" bore and stroke and a 9" dia flywheel) and this steam engine. They had been owned by his grandfather who had built the Tich and mill engine. The consensus of those present was that he wanted too much for the Tich and mill engine but this one seemed reasonable so I bought it.

Edited By John Purdy on 31/07/2017 23:21:38

Edited By John Purdy on 31/07/2017 23:30:05

It looks very much like a Bing toy to me, if you trawl through this linked page you may well find the model.

**LINK**

The boilers not theirs but the speed governor looks like a Wilesco model.

Edited By Brian Ess on 31/07/2017 23:40:47

.

These guys I think.

Edited By Nick_G on 31/07/2017 23:44:53

Is it acceptable to strip these old machines back to bare metal and repaint them or should they be treated like antique furniture and violins ie. leave them alone and appreciate them as is ? Removing the original varnish from a violin is a huge no-no !

It's best to leave them as is, unless it is in such a bad condition that it is nearer junk than origional, probably the thing that would increase the value the most is if it has the origional box, this seems to almost double the value.

Ian S C

V8Eng

Thanks for the link. That fellow has quite the collection. Looking through the Bing section I did notice that there are a couple that look similar but I noted that there were numerous details on the horiz. engines that are very similar if not identical to mine. ( the steam dome with dead weight safety valve, the boiler drain cock, the corrugated black cyl. cladding, the fire hole door, the blue and red lined cast engine base, and others) So based on all the details that appear to be the same I think it is most probably a Bing. What era? 20's, 30's?

John

Makes my Mamod stationary engine look a bit pathetic!

Neil

The diamond shapes are I am told are a bit of a give away and it looks very Bing like, not at all sure about the little engine though, others might be right about Wilesco make, certainly a lot of similarities to that make on the engine.

Who knows what has happened to it since new? Mind you some of these models were made for many decades with little change.

I thought the the boiler looked most like this Bing one but with some small differences. **LINK**

Hello John.

You have a late Doll engine, probably made about 1934 or 1935. Peter Doll just happened to be Jewish in 1930's Germany. He died in a concentration camp, and his company was taken over by Fleischmann.

This engine has had the base repainted. The normal colour was a dark green with a logo ' D C ' near the fire hole door. It still has vaporisers fitted to the burner tubes.

My son identified the engine when he came over yesterday evening. We have a set of catalogues, three in all, as well as reprints of various manufacturers' catalogues. These at least make it possible to identify engines made in Germany, as they came in a vast range of designs and sizes.

Regards. Mike.