# Petter or Bolinder?



## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Attachment taken at low tide on the Berwickshire coast of a ship engine from either one of two shipwrecked schooners Scandinavian and British late 19th century. 
Grateful for more expert advice on the engine's manufacturer.


----------



## A.D.FROST (Sep 1, 2008)

It must be a Bolinder.Peter did not build engines of this size with individual cylinders(cylinder block)Goggle Bolinder and you will find similar photos(Images)


----------



## johnvvc (Feb 8, 2008)

*Bolinder engines...*

http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/marine/bolinder.htm

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=B...mZ06DOAhUMDcAKHfJFAm4QsAQIPw&biw=1024&bih=646

My apologies if you've seen these before, there appears to be lots of information on Bolinder engines on the 'net.


----------



## sternchallis (Nov 15, 2015)

Came across one of these in a wooden Danish fishing boat called a'Snibbie' out of Hull in the late 60's early 70's. Single cylinder job, started by swinging on a large flat leather drive belt to the cargo winch which had the loose pulley arrangement. The exhaust was a piece of 12" pipe that used to blow smoke rings when it was running and you could count the revs. Also a blowlamp job onto the hot bulb to start it. Must have been pretty efficient at the the time,slow revving, no reduction gearbox and a course pitched prop. Good for pulling the nets when full of fish. They had a 3 man crew, lived in the bow, tiny wheelhouse. 
Other similar vessels had L6 Gardeners.


----------



## Robert Hilton (Feb 13, 2011)

Reminds me of various Spanish fishing vessels in about 1960. All heated the cylinder head with blowlamps, some fixed in place and some used smaller blowlamps to start larger ones. The engines were mostly Bolinder or Volung. Did some have hand pumped compressed air start?

I particularly remember a small vessel of about 30ft. After preheating the cylinder head a piece of steel bar was put into a hole in the flywheel. The flywheel was then turned back and forth bouncing on the compression until there was enough impetus to overcome the compression in the right direction. Then the engine would start.


----------



## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

Was hoping it was a Petter Yeovil who were responsible for the first "oil" driven car (horseless carriage) in the UK but think I'll have to settle for Bolinder and the Danish schooner "Magicienne" that came to grief on a voyage from Blyth to the Faroes with a cargo of salt..


----------



## jg grant (Nov 22, 2007)

I was born and brought up just a few miles up the coast from these two wrecks. They are RN XT midget submarines built by Vickers Armstrong and powered by Gardener diesels. I think they were used as targets by the RAF at one stage but don't know when.


----------



## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

The RN XT midget subs I think are lying in Aberlady Bay East Lothian jg. This wreck in #1 thumbnail is Pease Bay Berwickshire..


----------



## jg grant (Nov 22, 2007)

Oops sorry mate. Apologies but no harm done.


----------



## R651400 (Jun 18, 2005)

None at all..


----------



## internalfire (Feb 4, 2014)

A.D.FROST said:


> It must be a Bolinder.Peter did not build engines of this size with individual cylinders(cylinder block)


Petter built engines up to VN8M (8 cylinder semidiesel) which were considerably bigger than this engine and had individual cylinders. However, the reed valve plates were always circular. The later Atomic full diesel engines also had individual cylinders and were made up to 6 cylinders and 75hp per cylinder but the design is different to the photo. There are plenty of Scandinavian manufacturers though, Bolnes, Seffle etc as well as Bolinder.

All the old Petter factory drawings and records have been digitised and are on the museum website along with Paxman/Fowler/Brush, around 2,000,000 images at the moment!
Click for TZ6 Petter Marine Engine drawing
Paul


----------



## jg grant (Nov 22, 2007)

Hi #8. I took the trouble, a bit late, to enlarge your picture. Quite clearly not a sub. Your name popped up on the Dolphin site today so you appear to have lived in the Edinburgh area like myself. Regards .


----------



## vickentallen (Oct 12, 2007)

Could be a Danish , Grenae (spelling) we had one, 120hp, in a Baltic Trading ketch on the West coast late 60s


----------



## jg grant (Nov 22, 2007)

I have two names for these wrecks,( I think).
Magicienne and Elizabeth.


----------



## Bill Morrison (May 25, 2013)

I have come across this advert. Initially I would have gone for a Bolinder now not sure at all!


----------



## Chillytoes (Dec 9, 2006)

The old floating dock at Newcastle (NSW) had three hot bulb engines which were used to pump up the air bottles for starting the main Worthington generators. I can't remember what make they were, but I assume they were British.


----------



## chadburn (Jun 2, 2008)

Although the engine concerned could be termed a "non runner" the Bolinders had a very distinctive exhaust note.


----------



## Bill Morrison (May 25, 2013)

I found this by chance. The exhaust beat is what you remember most.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi0EV_0YSFM


----------

