Austin Gas Turbine Car

Gas-Turbine-Car
Austin Sheerline Gas Turbine

Work on a gas turbine engine was started in April 1952 in the East Research building which was were the aero engines use to be tested after been built in the underground tunnels. Dr John Weaving lead the team which looked to see if it was feasible to produce an engine for fitting into a car. At this time Rover had demonstrated in March 1950 with Jet 1 that they though it was the way to go. There engine which had a output of 230bhp at 26,00rpm was fitted to the rear of a standard P4 chassis. Austin did not want 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 on the first engines built a compressor from a Spitfire Merlin engine were used. From this design they produced there own version that would be more suitable. So 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, power output produced was 125 hp.


TUR-1-(A)



The engine was installed in a Austin Sheerline and as you can see from the pictures the bonnet was lengthen to accommodate the air intake silencers at the front, this 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. Inside the car the noise level was regarded as been 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, well air is drawn through the front grill and compressed, this compressed air is then passed to the heat exchanger, this reduces the compressed air temperature so making it more dense. This air then moves to the combustion chamber were fuel is initial ignited, (once ignited the combustion is self perpetuating). 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 soon hand a fire on your hands.

TUR-1-(B)
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 a engine of this size.



Next Chapter for the Gas Turbine Team


Gas-Turbine-adv

Gas-Turbine-250HP
Gas Turbine Stationary Engine


250-HP-Gas-Turbine


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


Gas-Turbine-Components



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)

250-Gas-Turbine-on-Test-Rig
Dr Weaving showing the Gas Turbine on the test rig.
The Test Cells had been used in the war to test the 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-Water-Pump
Gas Turbine driving a Water Pump

Gas-Turbine-Water-Pump A
Demonstration of 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 10 hoses at full power. Although it is now fitted with an Exhaust Silencer, it was still very noisy.



Gas-Turbine-Power-Generator
Gas Turbine driving a Power Generator
(This 160 kw stand by generator cost £2,500)

Mobile-Gas-Turbine-Generator
Mobile Power Generator



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please contact me.