Can anyone assist with info on douglas engines - Ive just purchased one and would like to know more .It's a flat twin .and i'm told that they where often used in generator sets. I did try to use the database on internal fire - but alas it wont let me anymore!!! thanks Julian
Sounds like a T35 engine.
I have a manual here which I borrowed and promised to scan - thanks for reminding me, I really need to get a round tuit.
Send me an email at crn(at)netunix.com and I will let you have a copy of the scans.
Wouldn't be this beasty would it
All the Douglas flat twin stationary and industrial engines were derived from their motorcycle units (though the WWII (F)T35 actually appeared as a stationary unit first) starting with the 'original' 2 3/4 hp unit which saw service in WWI. Ebay item appears similar to the mid 1920's 'EW' ( see
BTW, pretty fair price IMHO and should sound good with that 'waffle box' exhaust!
Nick H
Would you believe it - a complete truck for sale!
It does not look like an FT35 and indeed the number given is FT4212 which would indicate that it is a 420cc engine rather than a 350. Odd items do occasionally turn up on ebay but I have never seen one of those before.
Hmmm - and the engine looks to be the same as the one sold on ebay Uk. That gives us an approximate dating of around 1925.
ref my douglas - not that one ! mine is similar - but the valves are enclosed , the inlet ports are lower and the starting handle fits on the front, it was on e bay last week - magneto needs looking at and it has low crompression on one side - i supect that the valves are stuck, The engine is nearly complete but i need to make a cooling ducting and pipe up the o.p guage.
Anyone going to Aldborough this coming week end?
"jagojules" wrote (snip)
Let's have a pic (or link to ebay item No.) then so we have at least half a chance of appearing to know what we are talking about ;-)
Nick H
If you mean the one in East Yorks, we will be there both days, will have Bamford Tulip top, 4HP Horizontal and a an EV with us.
Regards
Andy M
sorry - having trouble posting from my machine - but listing was
320248712728 I am told that at Aldborough (East Yorks) there will be an auction on the saturday - hopefully I might find some bits for it Julian
Definitely an FT35. I will be scanning the manual today, interruptions permitting.
wrote
Quite right, sorry for the red herring!
The FT35 was indeed used for various generator driving duties and formed the basis of Douglas' post war motorcycle range starting with the T35 MKI. It was famously illustrated in a magazine Ad. powering radar equipment at the Great pyramid in Giza on the occasion of a meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt during WWII.
Something which has always intrigued me is which came first; was Douglas already developing the engine for its post-war motorcycle range and pressed it into service for stationary duties or vice-versa? Either way, I'll bet an injection of government money was jolly useful in expediting the process!
Nick H
I think your red herring answers the question.
The most likely explanation is that the end of the war left substantial numbers of FT engines coming off the line and the best way to use up the surplus was to put them in bikes. The FT series was in production as early as 1925 as the slightly larger FT42 (420cc) used in the pallet truck listed on EBay in Australia. The FT35 (350cc) was not used in motorbikes until after WW2, so this is clearly a case of using an existing industrial engine to fill the post WW2 demand for motorbikes. The FT series had a long production run from the 1920s into the early 1950s when the SV series industrial engines were introduced. The FT35 variant had been in production for many years before WW2 as is the case with almost all of the engines pressed into service for war use. AFAIK very few, if any, new small engines were introduced during the war, all manufacturers were too busy churning out what was available.
Pre-WW2 Douglas motorbikes were horizontal twins but used engines which bore little resemblace to the FT series although there must have been some parts commonality so the FT series was primarily an industrial engine.
wrote
Must admit I thought that the overhead valve FT35 only appeared during or immediately prior to the war - the earlier FT stationary/industrial units were side valve jobs and by and large derived from 'cooking' models in the motorcycle range.
If the FT35 was designed 'ab initio' as a stationary unit, I reckon it must have been done with at least half an eye on future motorcycle use. The key thing is that when it was on the drawing board, enough 'meat' was left in the basic design to enable a two or theefold increase in power without altering certain key dimensional relationships. For instance, I can't see the otherwise admirable Norman T300 being amenable to the same treatment. It certainly wouldn't have been the only time an ostensibly military requirement was fulfilled with more than a passing thought to civilian use - Heathrow airport for instance!
Nick H
I've got one of these sans right angle starting drive, dammit! I've also got a show model of a rather streamlined ali headed version - chrome plated nuts & all.
The T35's may well have been designed with later motorcycle use in mind but I understand that only pistons, barrels & conn rods directly interchange.
They were in use at Bristol Siddeley Engines in the '60's when I was there & the works fleet also included very similar beasts (forward control) with Lister engines driving the front wheel.
regards,
Kim Siddorn
"Kim Siddorn" wrote (snip)
What about those shapely rocker covers? Heads are certainly different as the exhaust ports point in a different direction and I would imagine the valves are smaller. Crankcase obviously nothing like m/c type and crankshaft probably has different ends. Suprised at the pistons - I would have expected the se ones to be less domed to lower cr, and equally so that some valvegear parts do not interchange. But, as I have observed before, it can still be the 'same' engine without necessarily sharing a single componant.
Nick H
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