Savage Traction Engines

A pause in thrashing for the photographer to record No 138 at work with a thrashing machine. Note the drive chain has been disconnected and annular gear on the inside of the rear wheel which is driven by a cog on the end of the second shaft. JOHN SPARROW COLLECTION

No doubt this photograph of No 291 was taken after the day’s thrashing. Notice the heavy type of governor has been replaced with a Pickering. DAVID BLISS COLLECTION

Savage’s are best known for the many sets of Gallopers that have survived into preservation. However, Frederick Savage started his business manufacturing agricultural machinery in King’s Lynn in1853. Repair work dominated the order books a er the Second World War and the company finally closed in 1973. e business started as a small workshop repairing and making simple farm tools. It was not long before small steam engines were built, with many being supplied for marine purposes. By the end of the 1850s the first portable engines were being built which were soon followed by traction engines. As the popularity of Savage’s products increased, larger premises were needed and in 1873 a large site was acquired whereupon the St Nicholas Ironworks was built, complete with its own foundry.

Typical of the early period of traction engine development, the drive from the cranksha to the rear wheels was via a chain. Various refinements were made to the design but the biggest improvement was the adoption of all gear transmission. By the 1870s two distinct types of traction engine were being produced: the ‘Agriculturist’ and the ‘Sandringham’. e ‘Agriculturist’ could be used as a ploughing engine using the annular space around each of the rear wheels as a winding drum and as a general purpose traction engine. e rear of the engine had to be jacked up so the winding drums could operate using a system of anchors and a plough. It continued in production until 1884. Other attempts at cultivation equipment were the Darby Digger but the successes of Fowler’s double engine system were well established by this time. e ‘Sandringham’ class was a more conventional general-purpose engine and was their most successful design. Various modifications were made including the use of a very slow speed gear. is might not seem important but manoeuvring a thrashing machine in the confined space of a farmyard with a single cylinder engine is very difficult and the extra slow speed gave the driver so much more control. e demand for fairground equipment was so great that the company started to move away from producing agricultural equipment with traction engine

No 364 is shown when out of use. The valve chest on this engine is on the flywheel side but there are examples with it on the gear side.

What appears to be the end of a long working life of over 50 years for No 388. Looking behind the flywheel can be seen the two sections of the hornplate rivetted together.

production gradually coming to an end. e identity of the first photograph is somewhat problematic. It could be either No 124, 129, 143 or 149 as all four of these engines were 8nhp chain drive engines supplied to Barford & Perkins of Peterborough. Most of these engines were re-sold to customers who not only bought the engine but also Barford & Perkins ploughing equipment. e engine in the photograph was re-sold to Samuel Wright of Barrowden, Rutland, who was already an established thrashing contractor using portable engines but there is no record of him owning ploughing equipment. Whilst Wright and some of his men were pushing a thrashing machine into a barn, it rolled backwards crushing Wright against the front of the engine and he later died of his injuries.

Another chain drive engine but with steering from the footplate is 8nhp No 138 which was purchased by omas Martin of Littleport near Ely in 1875. ere was an overlap in production of the steering position in front of the smokebox to that of the usual arrangement with steering from the footplate and both types were available in 1875. e general arrangement is much the same with the cranksha placed next to the chimney although the flywheel is now on the nearside. e wheels are made of wrought iron with spokes rivetted to a T-ring, an improvement on the earlier cast iron wheels.

John Maskell of Cottenham near Cambridge took delivery of No 157 in 1876. Again, this is an 8nhp engine but it is fitted with cast iron wheels and the steering is in front of the smokebox. ese early designs were all single speed and when driving a thrashing machine, the drive chain had to be disconnected. e final drive from a cog on the end of the second sha to an annular gear inside the rear wheel must have caused problems with mud and stones being regularly caught in the gears. When on the road sharp corners had to be negotiated by taking one of the driving wheels out of gear.

Most engines supplied by Savages were 8nhp. No 291 le the works in 1883 for omas Emblin under steam to be driven the 15 miles to Tydd St Giles.

No 157 at work at Cottenham in 1905. The engine is fitted with an ‘inching gear’, which is a toothed gear on the inside of the flywheel.

This photograph of No 614 clearly shows Savage’s patent slow-speed third gear. When the lever is raised vertically and locked into position, the lowspeed gear is engaged.

e engine eventually passed to omas Emblin’s son Ernest and worked for the family until it was joined by a Clayton & Shuttleworth which was purchased new in 1907. Both engines were sold in 1947 to Eric Ladbrook, a scrap metal dealer of Holbeach, Lincolnshire. Although many engines were being scrapped at this time, there was little profi t to be made when cutting up an engine. When the cost of gas, wages and transport are taken into consideration, the scrap metal dealer would be lucky to make a profi t of £5.

No 364 was delivered to Frederick Stratton of Swaff am, Norfolk in 1885 and named Perfection. is was a ‘Sandringham’ class rated at 8nhp with a cylinder of eight and fi ve-eighths inch bore with a 12 inch stroke and is described as having a ‘light pattern’ cylinder which is the same size as the 7nhp engines. e boiler pressure was limited to 120psi with the hornplates made in four pieces, no doubt to avoid infringing the Aveling Patent. By the early 1920s the engine had been sold to Herbert Loveday of Old Buckenham, Norfolk. For some years it was out of use and early in the 1950s it was scrapped.

In 1886 William Rust of Buxton Lamas, Norfolk, took delivery of No 388, a 7nhp engine. By 1902 the business was being run by sons, James and Robert Rust. Over the years a number of Savage engines were owned. No 528 a 7nhp engine was purchased new in 1891, No 808 another 7nhp was new in 1903 with No 728 built in 1898 named Enterprise purchased secondhand in 1914 and fi nally 7nhp No 463 built in 1889 was acquired in 1944. A er the war the traction engines were replaced with Field Marshall tractors which in 1947 were used to tow the now redundant engines to John Slender’s yard at North Walsham where they were eventually scrapped.

Savage No 614 was supplied new to the well-known South Wales showman John Studt. It was a 7nhp single crank compound named Shamrock and had an annular compound cylinder. ree piston rods were fi tted - two for the low-pressure cylinder and one for the high pressure - all working on a common crosshead. is was a very complicated arrangement and only three engines of this type were built. No 614 was not a success and was soon sold. e new owner was also dissatisfi ed and the engine was returned to King’s Lynn where the compound cylinder was removed and replaced with a conventional single cylinder. e engine was purchased by Richard Drake of Sutton near Ely for use in his contract thrashing and forage business, already the owner of fi ve Savage engines. In 1935 the engine was purchased by Fred Darby & Sons, also of Sutton and worked for them into the 1940s and was scrapped in 1954.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century there were a number of traction engine builders such as Dodman, Tuxford and Holmes who built a few engines and then quietly disappeared. However, Savages did fare better as they gradually concentrated their business on the production of fairground rides. For a short time they produced a few steam tractors and steam wagons but these were little more than experiments. ree Savage traction engines survive: a 7nhp ‘Sandringham’ and two replica chain engines which were built in 1975. ■