Yet another compressor head: Kismet

[MattF]

Just wondered what make this one might be, as I'm assuming this one will be a badged up type too, (apologies for the poor angle pics, btw):

I'll get a better photo if necessary. Tried to get out of pulling this one out though, as it really is a heavy devil. It's about two foot high. This is the one which is going to be my primary unit eventually.

 

[tigler]

New one to me ! That motor looks too small to drive it though !

 

[MattF]

New one to me !

That honestly surprises me. I expected you being the one to identify it.

That motor looks too small to drive it though !

This is the motor which came with this beastie:

I can still remember the night I picked this up. To say I'd underestimated the size of the thing would be an understatement. T'was a fun hour or so stripping and loading it, and all on a hill which was steep enough to put a mountain side to shame.

 

[tigler]

It surprises me too !! Nice looking lump though, will be interested to discover what it is.
That motor looks more like it though !

 

[MattF]

Aye, that motor is a beast of a thing. I'll pull the head unit out and take some proper shots of it. Nearly gives me a hernia trying to shift that thing.

 

[rtbcomp]

It looks like a two stage unit, is one of the cylinders smaller (diameter) than the other?

The inlet will go to the larger cylinder and the output from the smaller one.

Is that pipe at the bottom the outlet? Funny place for it if so.

 

[tigler]

I think that second finned part is an aftercooler.

 

[rtbcomp]

That makes more sense

 

[MattF]

These pics should hopefully be a bit more helpful. I'd forgotten just how heavy this thing is, hence why I haven't moved it far, so apologies if the pics aren't great. That bit of white tissue in the first pic is the inlet.

 

[tigler]

Thats a really nice lump !! If you ever decide to part with it let me know !

 

[MattF]

You're down for first refusal on it.

Forgot to mention the measurements. It is just a gnats shy of 2' in height, and the width at the top is just under 11". That oil sight glass is missing the glass and top cover, so that'll be one thing I need to sort on it when I get round to restoring it. When I got it, the chap who owned it mentioned it made a knocking sound. Hopefully though, that'll have been the pulley which was causing it. It wasn't the original pulley, and had been bodged together from a plate and a oversize bore pulley, but the keyway in the pulley was wider, so there was some notable play between the pulley and shaft before the key engaged. I'm hoping, (not had it dismantled to check it internally yet), that was the cause of that knock. Can't feel any slop when rotating the crank by hand though, so fingers crossed. It was quite a mix and match. The tank, (I popped that back on Ebay), was an old Ben 50L or so horizontal affair. Tidy little, (and heavy), tank it was, but after shifting it out of the way so many times, finally decided to let it go. It would have been criminal to connect this thing back upto such a small tank. You can likely fair imagine how out of place a compressor and motor of that size looked on a tank of that size. It was the tank size which led to me underestimating the compressor and motor size originally. I thought the chap had messed up the measurements somewhere, so I 'compensated' the measurements accordingly. That was a big mistake on my part.

What would be the best stuff to use for gasket, when I get round to sorting this one? Going to give it a full strip down and see if owt needs sorting, and get it stripped, derusted and repainted.

On a slight deviation, I've whipped that Martonair filter off after I took the pictures, and realised for the first time that it's actually a solid brass head on that filter. That should look a lot better when it's stripped and polished up.

 

[rtbcomp]

I got some gasket material off Ebay to use on my fridge compressors, I'm sure I've enough spare for that job.

 

[MattF]

Ooh, that would be lovely if you have. Gaskets are always the one thing which I tend to whittle about more than anything else, incase I use the wrong stuff.

 

[tigler]

If not I have a supply.

 

[MattF]

Cheers chaps. I know I can't cock that part up now.

 

[graffian]

If your after gasket stuff one company I used to get stuff from was clough gaskets, they were local and when I recently went there they had moved, I was told to Yorkshire? They used to cut flange gaskets out big enough that I made Chrysler sump gaskets from their scrap.

I had one of those compressors, the pump was made[well badged?] Prestcold.
I think they were common enough at one time, one bloke I know had a couple of them, they were water cooled though and had what looked like a cast iron cistern mounted above them.

 

[rtbcomp]

Prestcold - That could be commercial refrigeration then, cold-rooms and such.

 

[eil]

Prestcold, think it was the Pressed Steel Co Ltd, Glasgow, or similar, used to be very big in the refrigeration compressor manufacturing field as well as other things.

 

[MattF]

If your after gasket stuff one company I used to get stuff from was clough gaskets, they were local and when I recently went there they had moved, I was told to Yorkshire? They used to cut flange gaskets out big enough that I made Chrysler sump gaskets from their scrap.

Now you mention it, I seem to recall we used to have a firm like that down near the football ground which did gaskets of some type. Not been round that industrial estate for a few years though, so not even sure if they're still there.

I had one of those compressors, the pump was made[well badged?] Prestcold.
I think they were common enough at one time, one bloke I know had a couple of them, they were water cooled though and had what looked like a cast iron cistern mounted above them.

You wouldn't happen to know a rough age, would you? Had a quick search online for Prestcold gear, and the only ones I've found upto just remind me of the little Wolseley stationary engine hoppers with their styling, but not seen any of this type of style.

 

[graffian]

Now you mention it, I seem to recall we used to have a firm like that down near the football ground which did gaskets of some type. Not been round that industrial estate for a few years though, so not even sure if they're still there.

They moved from Croydon, well the place with he train bridge
running over the high street in the last 10 years. Any of the blue
Klingercil stuff[C4000?] they use for steam gaskets will do you, I use
the stuff for any gaskets I make, never leaks.

You wouldn't happen to know a rough age, would you? Had a quick search online for Prestcold gear, and the only ones I've found upto just remind me of the little Wolseley stationary engine hoppers with their styling, but not seen any of this type of style.

The pump I had like that would have been maybe 20 years old in 1975, thats a guess.
The refrgeration prestcold pumps look different, they didn't have any fins,
I used a refrigeration pump to make my first compressor.
American Kellog pumps look pretty similar.