23 Byron Avenue Margate, Kent CT9 1TU
I saw Charles Wendel, ‘The Reflector,’ at the Tatton
1000 engine rally here in the UK recently, and I promised him a
shot of my latest project.
The Termatt and Monahan Company is believed to have come into
being in about 1910, with a series of engines starting with 1, 2,
4, and 6 HP sizes. By 1914, 9 and 12 HP sizes were added to the
range on trucks.
Here in England these little 1 HP size engines are rare, with
their distinctive arched base or crankcase, although I know of at
least five examples. I bought my engine from a dear friend here in
Kent who had it in his garden shed for nearly 40 years. I found
that the governor weight and arm were missing as was the exhaust
box. I was most fortunate in obtaining the parts required from the
famous Alyn Foundry in the northeast of England. Mr. Graham R.
Corry, the proprietor, also does various other castings for most of
the popular British and American makes, as well as casting sets for
scale Gardner engines; a vertical open crank, plus a horizontal
engine called the RLE; plus a very easily constructed Robinson hot
air engine also in scale.
My T&M, when found, had a high tension magneto fitted, an
EIC magneto, a very well known magneto company which generally
supplied them to the early motorcycle trade. It was originally
fitted to the top right hand side of the hopper on a bracket, and
chain driven from the crank. As this style of fitting was
unsightly, I refitted the magneto on its original mounting plate
under the arched base. And again, used the chain drive. When new,
the range of T&M engines were generally fitted with battery and
coil ignition, but some engines could be supplied with magneto as
an extra fitting.
I’m told that if the rocker arm bracket, which operates the
exhaust valve, is fitted to the head with two fixing bolts and has
a small flange on either side, to hold it in the correct place, it
is an earlier style engine. The later ones had one fixing bolt and
a steel pin to do the same job, i.e. to steady the bracket.
Perhaps a few dimensions might be in order here. The 1 HP
T&M has a 215/16 inch bore with a 3 inch stroke and a 1 inch
crank throw. The flywheels are 15 inches in diameter with a two
inch face.
Through the pages of GEM, I have been in correspondence with a
chap in Canada who owns a complete 2 HP T&M. His engine is much
larger than mine as one would expect. It has 25 inch flywheels and
a 2 inch face. This engine also has the motif T&M with a circle
around it cast into both sides of the hopper, whereas my engine
does not have this particular feature and there is no engine plate
or serial number.
The T&M marque would also appear to have many parts which
are common to the Gray Engine Company of Detroit, Michigan. Amongst
some of the parts are the governor and the carby, but it is not
thought that either firm was connected in any way. Further
information of the Termatt and Monahan Company can be found in Mr.
Wendel’s yellow book, page 509.
