Ruston Hornsby AP

This is my AP, a 4hp version restored 10 years ago and still looking great. It was delivered to agent Isiah Grasby's Barton on Humber workshop in November 1926 and was later sold on to Greenwoods a London based company who operated a tile works at the nearby village of Barrow on Humber. As far as I know it was used to pump water out of the clay workings for most of it's working life. The tileworks closed down in the late 1960's and by this time the usual lack of maintenance had resulted in a wrecked engine, it was rescued by the owner of Bartons only engineering works who regularly repaired the tile works machines and narrow gauge railway loco's. By this time vandals had had a go at the AP removing the brassware,fuel tank, magneto and had attacked the hopper top and con-rod with a hammer, the final blow came as it was being moved back to the shop when one of the fork lift tines hit the side shaft near the governor housing bending the shaft over to around 30 degrees out of line!!
It lay in the shop for many years until I heard about it in 2000 when I purchased it straight away. Ahead lay many months of restoration including several jobs which were way out of my league, for example, the hopper was half full of solid limescale(how the engine ran without any cooling water I really don't know), this resulted in a liner which was full of holes! The old one was pushed out using a hydraulic press which had to be loaded to 25 tons before the liner began to move with a resounding bang! A new liner was made from a large piece of meehanite cast iron and was machined to fit a newly bored out hole in the base and the piston which was slightly oval, was skimmed to suit the new bore with new rings filed to suit.
The hopper top was rebuilt using plastic metal and has over the years been virtually as good as the original casting. The con-rod was straightened out using a bit of heat and a hide hammer, however the side shaft took a great deal of work to sort out, thankfully the shaft bracket and governor housing were not broken and eventually I was able to get it running virtually true.
The missing fuel tank, tap and oilers were all supplied by Frank Gelder of Howden in Yorkshire and he also rolled the beads in the remade crank guard. Some of the smaller parts which needed replacing included new cam followers and a brass carb top. Finally a replacement magneto was found and the engine has for the last 10 years run like a sewing machine and brings a smile to my face every time I start it, I reckon it's good for at least another 80 years!!

HI...sorry don't know your surname..

that is a cracking engine indeed...

you should be very proud of it....its a show winner for shore..

well done,keep up the good work....

regards.....mike..

Thanks very much for your comments Mike. There is no doubt that restoring and running the AP has brought me a great deal of satisfaction over the years, but this would not be possible if R&H had not designed such a nice looking and well built engine in the first place.
When I became interested in stationary engines 20 years ago I always wanted an AP, I'm so pleased one eventually came my way.
Frank.