Austin Gas Turbine
Car
Austin
Sheerline Gas Turbine
Work on a gas turbine
engine was started in April 1952 in the East Research Longbridge.
Dr John Weaving led the team to look if it was feasible to produce
an engine that could be fitted into a car. At this time Rover had
demonstrated in March 1950 with Jet 1. These engines had an output
of 230bhp at 26,000 rpm which was fitted to the rear of a standard
P4 chassis.
Austin did not wish to be seen as not keeping up with modern
thinking. It was important to show the public that Austin did have
the technical expertise. One of the main components of a jet engine
is the compressor, so to build the first engines a compressor from
a Spitfire Merlin engine was used. From this design they produced
their own version, that would be more suitable for a car. In August
1954 after bench testing, and curing one of the main problems,
which was with the turbine blades that had to cope with the
centrifugal forces whilst spinning at 23,000 rpm, the engines
optimum speed, produced a power output of 125 hp.
The engine was installed in
an Austin Sheerline, as you can see from the pictures, it was
necessary to length the bonnet, mainly to accommodate the air
intake silencers at the front, which reduced the familiar jet
whistle. It was this noise when driven on the public roads that
often made heads look upwards expecting a jet aircraft to go over.
But inside the car the noise level was regarded as acceptable. The
grills on the bonnet are to let the heat from the engine to escape,
no problems with de-misting on this vehicle.
So how does it all work, air is drawn through the front grill and
compressed, then the compressed air is passed to the heat exchanger
where it is heated by the hot exhaust. This acts to reduce the
amount of fuel needed to be burnt to reach the required entry
temperature to the turbine. The hot gases then pass through the
power turbine and rotate the shaft that is coupled to a Hobbs
gearbox and onto the rear axle. The exhaust gas then pass through a
heat exchanger before been discharged to the atmosphere.
The Hobbs gearbox was an early type of automatic so when the input
shaft was turning at 600 RPM it would slowly move forward. TUR 1
was duly registered and ready for road test in August 1954. A few
anxious moments the first time out as you had to nurse the car
along, as it was slow to respond to the throttle pedal. It was
capable of about 70 mph but used to only do about, on average 4.5
miles to the gallon. One of the hazards of driving this car was
that if there was a slight leak of fuel or oil, because of the high
temperatures you could soon have a fire on your hands.
Leonard Lord
with Dr John Weaving
Austin needed to show the
Press and Public that it was at the forefront of developing cars of
the future. So it was decided to show how progress was developing
at the Austin Golden Jubilee (1905-1955) on Saturday July 9th 1955.
In the cavalcade the Austin Sheerline purred past, sadly this was a
publicity stunt. At low road speeds it had very little power so
much so that it was towed up the steep ramp from east works onto
the main road.
Just a couple of years later Dr Weaving had to recognise that gas
turbines were fine for aircraft but were impractical for cars, and
actually in the 1970s were tried again in a Leyland lorry but this
too was soon abandoned. The main problems was the amount of heat
generated which has to be dealt with. Noise is a big problem, to
get it down to an acceptable level for the passengers and the
general public. It consumed fuel (diesel) at an alarming rate, not
very eco friendly. The reason the engine was put in a Sheerline was
that it was the only vehicle that could accommodate an engine of
this size.
Next Chapter for the Gas
Turbine Team
Gas Turbine
Stationary Engine
As a great deal of
knowledge on gas turbines had been obtained under Dr Weaver
leadership, development was then turned to see if there was a
commercial use for the engine with modifications as a stand alone
unit. So the new engine which had a single-shaft axial flow
produced 250 bhp at 29,000 rpm. Its specific fuel consumption was
1.05 pints per bhp. It was decided that if coupled to a generator
it could be used to supply power for emergencies say in a Hospital
if power from the grid fails. Another use was to power a water pump
which again would be used in an emergency. In fact in this case by
having them on a trailer they could be taken where ever they were
needed. A demonstration to publicise the uses that this engine
could be used for was staged at the back of East Works. The
engine/gearbox attached to the inbuilt fuel tank as shown above was
priced in 1961 at £2,500 which in its day was cheaper than a diesel
engine producing 250 hp by about £500. It was a very expensive
engine to produce and although a fair number were sold, in the end
each engine produced was loosing money, so the project was
stopped.
Specification
Engine only, including
combustion chamber, ducting, exhaust ducts, gear-box auxiliaries,
and controls 900 lb. Standard oil tank (lighter tanks are available
for special applications) 3001b. Total engine weight 1,200lb. pump
(Sigmund) and coupling (100 lb.) 1,250 lb. Bed for engine and pump
420 lb. Complete pumping set on bed with priming system, oil
cooler, inlet and exhaust silencers, fuel tanks, suction spacer,
and delivery manifold 3,700 lb. Service items (batteries, 50
gallons fuel, 20 gallons oil) 750lb. Alternator (Crompton
Parkinson) and coupling 3,350 lb. Bed for engine and alternator 550
lb. Complete alternator set on bed with oil cooler. inlet and
exhaust silencers, fuel tank 5,60O lb. Service items (as for
pumping set) 750 lb. If coupled to a electric generator, power was
transmitted through a gearbox that reduced the RPM down to just
1,500. Heat and noise was now no longer a problem even if the
internal temperature would be around 800 deg
C.
The Team behind the
Project
(from car to stationary
engine)
Dr Weaving
showing the Gas Turbine on the test rig.
The Test Cells had been
used in the war to test Aero Engines
The opening of the
Electrical Engineers’ Exhibition at Earls Court on the 21st March
1961 was a particularly important day for a small group at
Longbridge, for it was then that years of hard work in the Research
and Development in East Works was to reveal to the World with the
announcement of the 250 Austin Gas turbine Engine.
This announcement was the culmination of 12 years of team effort.
during that time many people have been working on the
project.
It first of all started in 1949 with a total of six employees who
worked on making a gar turbine to be installed in a car.
The team of scientist and engineers were under the direction of
Austin Chief Gas Turbine Engineer, Dr John Harold Weaving, As an
Austin ex-apprentice he had obtain a London University B.Sc.
degree, and then moved on to Cambridge University to do research on
the internal-combustion engine. On returning to Longbridge in 1946
to be a superintendent in East Research. Not long after he was
joined by Mr J Barton M.Sc.Tech.
Mr Bradley, who was in charge of engine testing, test housings, and
equipment. He began an engineering apprentice with the Company in
1942 and later spent three and a half years at the National Gas
Turbine Establishment before starting gas turbine work at
Longbridge in 1949. He drove the gas turbine powered Austin
Sheerline at the Austin golden Jubilee in 1955 and demonstrated
that vehicle to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Other members of the team had also done an apprenticeship with
other companies in the BMC group. and gained various university
degrees.
One of the critical components of the engine is the compressor,
this was the responsibility of Dr Tonks who had started his
apprenticeship with the Nuffield Group.
In the early days there were just two fitters along with the
foreman Mr Charlie Hawkins who had worked in the South Experimental
Department for the last 12 years. the other two Mr Bradon Roberts
and Mr Peter McNally were still apprentices.
In
the early days work on the engineering drawings was done by three
to four draughtsmen on an ad-hoc bases. But in 1957 a small design
office was set up in East Research with six draughtsmen led by
Senior Design Engineer, Mr D Rickman who had experience of working
on gas turbines since 1949.
To machine the parts needed for the project, just one person did it
all Mr J Smith who continued on his own for three years. As the
project slowly moved from the development stage to production
stage, and getting ready to start making them for sale. It was time
to build the machine shop up, so a Mr Ned Harrison was brought in
to be Machine Shop foreman and the workforce slowly increased to
fourteen.
At the time of the announcement the total team had risen to 45
people.
A few examples of use this
engine was put to.
Gas Turbine
driving a Water Pump
Demonstration of the engine
driving a Water Pump
The pump is capable of
delivering 2,500 gal/min at a pressure of 100 lbs/sq which as shown
here can supply 8 hoses at full power. Although now fitted with an
Exhaust Silencer, it was still very noisy.
Gas Turbine
driving a Power Generator
(This 160 kw stand by
generator cost £2,500)
Mobile Power
Generator
Some Illustrations from the
Parts List
If you worked on producing
these engines or have further information, please contact
me.