Perry Oil Engine

[Nick]

What can anyone tell me about the Perry Oil Engine? I noticed a restored gray one in the Murray Bridge pics. It's heavily influenced by the F&J N kerosene engine.

[Eric Schulz]

Perry Engineering Co was based in Adelaide, South Australia. A large engineering firm, they bought the James Martin foundry, Gawler, South Australia, in 1915, which is unrelated to James Martin, Sydney. It was at this factory that the Clutterbuck and this Perry engine was built.
There were other engines as well. An Associated-style was, I believe, built at the Adelaide factory, as well as a radiator-cooled vertical during the second world war and then a copy of the Lister D, but larger.

Eric

[Patrick M Livingstone]

Here are some examples of the Perry made engines that Eric has refered to:

[Eric Schulz]

Thanks, Patrick, for the pictures. Photobucket wouldn't work for me, so I couldn't post this pic. This is the same engine as in the Murray Bridge images, just on different transport.
An interesting feature of this engine is the double set of timing gears. Valve gear on one side, magneto drive on the other. Was this used by F&J as well?

Eric

[Patrick M Livingstone]

It looks so much like a Fuller & Johnson K but is still very different. The crankcase, cylinder and flywheels are different to the F&J as is how the carby is mounted. I have not seen a F&J with the magneto on the other side of the engine. Below is a picture of my 7hp F&J to compare with the Perry.

[Mozart.1756]

Here is video of the Perry engine that I video at Lake Goldsmith last november (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTKIXAzqgpg)

[Patrick M Livingstone]

Taking a closer look the Perry is a little more like a N Kero F&J. The carby is mounted in a similar way & the air preheat is similar.

[Nick]

Heaps of good info here thanks guys! F&J never used a mag setup like what the Perry has and none of their horizontal engines were sparkplug until 1924. Here's a pic of what Perry Engineering copied.



I guess immitation is the most sincere for of flattery. At least Perry chose a superior engine to base theirs on.