The Jowett Blitz Fire pump Trailer

[Keith Andrews]

Last we where watching the National Geographic Program on TV.
"Great Beitish Machines" (or inventions??) "1940s" episode
They guy washetting into the Fire Servive during the Blitz...they didnt have enough fire engines for all the volunteers, so made portable fire pumps on a trailer....not as powerfull as a Dennis fire engine but still very effective, 250 gal /min
Powered by light weight jowett car engines..... they never said or showed clearly engouh if it was a flat 2 or flat 4
They then comandered the Autin 12 taxis because they had a tow bar, wherebuilt naroow to negoiate the city streets AND the taxi drivers because they had "The Konowledge" (Since the late 1800s to be a taxi driver one need to have "the lnowledge" know every noke and cranny of the city) if a street was blocked by rumble or bomb crater they still knew the quickest way to get to the bombed building.

Later on Austin massproduced fireengines designed to carry the crew under a shrapinel proof roof (unlike the taxi cloth roof) compartments to put gear /hoses etc and tow the Jowett powered water pumps....the basic forrunner of the modern British Fire Engine.

[TedAllen]

Interesting stuff, Keith.
My late stepfather, 100 last May, drove a Leyland Merryweather Pump Escape during the war. Based in Manchester during our Blitz, he recalls being sent to London, together with units from cities all over the country. Must have been one hell of a journey on A roads, through ' non bypassed ' villages and towns......and the blackout to add to the fun.
He stayed in the service after the war, joining the AFS and driving a ' Bikini ' unit.
This was an appliance carrying floating pumps, which would be launched into a river or lake near the fire and proceed to suck the contents out to supplement any hydrants being used.

I don't know what drove the pumps, possibly some old Jowett motors, but I suspect they were more like the pumps you see on building and road works sites.

The three Jowett generators I once owned were magneto powered twins with handle starting and no mounting point for a starter motor.

[Keith Andrews]

Nat geo program was talking about London....and they had an actual working pumps, it was a mid grey.
Im supprised that I have never read anything abut jowett engines being used like this, and considering the the pumps where here made in great numbers to, even after the move from using taxis to the Ausin massproduced 6 cyinder fire engines.

[Leo Bolter]

Here's some "screen grabs" of the Jowett engined powered fire pump that was featured on the National Geographic TV program (Britains Greatest Machines - 1940s) as mentioned by Keith A . . . The engine definitely looks very similar to a CA/B Bradford to me.


The Trailer


The flywheel housing,manifold and head can be seen in this image.


The crank-handle is evident here and also the lifting handles to move the pump off the trailer . . . (4 good strong men required?). Judging by the starting handle's positioning where there's insufficient room to swing it, the pump would need to be removed from the trailer to use it! There must have been times when the whole trailer could not be positioned near enough to the water supply/fire I would imagine.


Better view of a head and tappet/valve spring covers.

I'll see if I can grab a short video clip of the most relevant section of the program and post it here soon.

EDITED: Wednesday 29 September 2010.
The Video's are posted. See immediately below

Best regards to all.
Leo.

[Leo Bolter]

Hello all.

Here's a couple of links to the video clip that I promised above.
The first is a really cut down version, while the second contains the whole segment of the program pertaining to Jowett Fire Pumps and their deployment during the Blitz on London.

These are both of the same "cut-down" video clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QATqjvuyV0 = YouTube quality . . . .
http://60.234.149.204/Leo/Forum_Files/J ... ort%29.mp4 = High Quality (1.1Mb)

These are both of the same "full feature" video clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_2n4TYDPvk = YouTube quality . . . .
http://60.234.149.204/Leo/Forum_Files/J ... e_Pump.mp4 = High Quality (9.1Mb)

I hope you enjoy these . . .
Leo.

[Peter Holden]

These fire pumps were not manufactured by Jowett.

During the war Jowetts manufactured a vast range of products for the war effort ranging from ammunition, armoured fighting vehicle components, air ministry ground equipment, air frame components, guns and weapons, aero engine components, machine tools, and finally Jowett engines.

The latter included Jowett engined generator sets as well as air cooled generator sets. The most significant item is the number of engines that were produced.
• 1762 - 2 cylinder engines and equivalent spares
• 50 - 4 cylinder engines and equivalent spares

These fire pumps were manufactured by a company in the new forest in Hampshire. Sorry but I have forgotten there name but they no longer exist. I have tried, some time ago now, to get some further information but have failed miserably. They were designed to run at 120psi. This is the same as the Coventry climax engined fire pumps that most people are acquainted with. This was the ministry specification.

As far as I am aware there are two in existence, although I have seen a couple of frames minus bits. The one as shown on the TV programme and one held locally to me. I with ‘my partner in crime’, Martin Benning, have been playing with that one. The attached photograph shows the pump at a steam fair at GWR last year, before we had it going on the day. We hope to get it there next weekend as well. The photo shows it without the cover. The large tank is petrol and the smaller tank is the closed cooling water tank. No radiator. A small amount of water from the fire pump passes thought the closed water tank and an oil bathe to keep the engine cool. Apparently this is common practice for fire pumps. The engine is pre-war and not Bradford with high compression heads. Not flat as the car heads of the same year. This engine is dated 1940.



The yellow bag is over the magneto as it was chucking it down when this photo was taken.

PS. You do need 4 people to carry it. It's heavy!!

[Chris Spencer]

The Coventry Climax engine that Peter mentions also has very strong links to the UK motor industry, this was an all alloy 4 cylinder engine of just under a 1000cc and could be highly tuned ( Yes I know some anorak will start quoting the correct cc / displacement / stroke / firing order etc ) - this engine was designed to power the pump but went on to drive the rear engined / rear wheel drive Hillman Imp / Singer Chamois in the 60's & 70's and the smaller engined range of the Talbot Sunbeam in the 80's besides thousands of forklifts and industrial lifting machines.

[ian Howell]

I thinks that's right! When I was an apprentice marine engineer in the early 1960's, another of my group, Martin Lanfear, later a senior engineer with the Milk Marketing Board I think, had previously worked for Keith Shellenberg(burg?) on racing engines and we 'scrounged' from a scrapyard in Merseyside an ex-lifeboat Coventry Climax engine.

Martin worked on it and got it ready to run when another group found it and started it up with the big ends not torqued up - disaster!

These engines - suitably modified and tuned - were apparently used in some Lola racing cars, but I believe they were originally produced as a lightweight engine for the 'Godiva' fire pumps, which were intended to be man-portable and may also have been carried on the 'Green Goddess' fire engines.

None of the engines pictured hereabouts look anything much like mine - apart from the 'flat twin' engine of course.
Nothing to do with Jowetts of course, just another thread!

[Robin Fairservice]

Was the Hampshire Comany called Arun Enginnering Co? My WP instruction Handbook has a typed list of spares that would have been supplied with the engine, and has this company name at the top of the page.

[Keith Andrews]

What sort of volume/pressure/head did these pumps produce?

Some years ago we where in Aussie...Adelade, and met up for dinner a couple (please forgive me, cant rem there name) of the jowett ppl who lived the hills behind Adelade.
Besides a collection of jupiters they had a static bradford engine that pumped water up to the house from a bore....and a spare on stand by if it broke down...plug and go swap lol

[Robin Fairservice]

That sounds like Tim Kelly's collection.

[chieftain]

Hi,
I am new to this forum but, after seeing this thread, thought I would join and let you know of my pump set.

I have one of these pump sets which I have had for some time. It was completely stripped and in boxes when I acquired it but I have been rebuilding/restoring it over the last few months. I have now reached the stage where it will start and run well but I haven't tried pumping anything yet. I don't have the trailer etc. just the pump set which has had a barrow axle and short legs added to make it wheelable.
The suction hoses that came with it are perished and split and of no use apart from salvaging the couplings and I have not managed to find any replacements yet. I will also need a suitable length of delivery hose as well.
The top cover has a brass instruction plate attached to it which proclaims it is a 'Guardian Mark 1 Pumper' made by Forest protection Engineers, Parkstone, Dorset, England. I haven't been able to find anything out about this firm.
If there is any interest I will post some pictures of it,

regards,

Phil

[Forumadmin]

Post away. We are always interested about anything Jowett.

[ian Howell]

It just MIGHT be worth a visit to your local fire station. There might be someone with enough interest to suggest sources for hoses etc. I wonder if they are still the same fittings on modern hoses?

I wonder if they might have some hose bits that work but might not be acceptable for 'real' use?

It costs nothing to ask, and you never know! Also there is a stromg collectors movement for all sorts of fire extinguishing devices

[chieftain]

Thanks Ian for the suggestions.
I think the 'quick release' couplings are the same as more modern ones but the large threaded fitting on the pump inlet is larger than the modern equivalent.
I do have several fittings, I just need to find some of the correctly sized hose.
I'm just in the middle of painting up a replacement top cover then I'll take some decent photos and post them,
thanks,
Phil