This must be the best known unknown steam toy in the business! It is mentioned in Basil Harley's book "Toyshop Steam" with a photo but is stated to be of unknown make. It has been discussed by collectors in on-line forums and groups, and several examples have been found, but the maker is still unidentified. It's often referred to as "The Basil Harley Unknown".
It is a simple vertical engine of typical British manufacture. It has a single wick meths burner (I'm not sure if this is original). The boiler is 2 1/4" diameter x 2 1/2" high. It has a dummy chimney with no flue. There is a safety valve on the top of the boiler but no other fittings and no water level indication. Steam is fed directly to the back of the port face of a single acting oscillating cylinder, 9/32" bore x 5/8" stroke. The crank pin is fitted directly on the flywheel and appears to be cast in. The brass flywheel is 1 3/4" diameter. On the other end of the crankshaft is a 13/32" diameter pulley. The whole engine has been fully restored by a previous owner, repainted and a new reproduction safety valve fitted. At first, the engine worked well on compressed air but it ran poorly in steam. I suspect a problem with the burner because it kept running out of steam and there were no obvious major leaks. More recent runs have been ok on both air and steam, although it still runs better on air.| Make | Unknown |
| Model | Unknown |
| Made | Unknown |
| Description | Stationary |
| Cylinders | 1 |
| Cylinder Type | single acting |
| Piston Diam mm | 7 |
| Stroke mm | 16 |
| Valve Type | Oscillating Cylinder |
| Boiler Type | Vertical |
| Fuel | Meths |
| Mechanical Condition | Good |
| Cosmetic Condition | Good |
| Paintwork | Repainted |
| Packaging | |
| Purchased | 6/3/2017 |
| Purchase cost | £90 |
| Additional spend |