Austin 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.
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.
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
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 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
driving a Water Pump
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
driving a Power Generator
(This 160 kw stand by
generator cost £2,500)
Mobile Power
Generator
If you worked on producing these engines or have further
information, please contact
me.