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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Ransome Sims & Jeffries type R with Sturmey Archer engine

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Hi, I'm a newbie in search of info.I have in my possession a beast of a mower  it's a Ransome Sims & Jeffries type R with  Sturmey Archer engine air cooled with a fan.Any info as to the mowers age, engine age value etc.I've searched the net and can't find any pics.or info on it.So any help gratefully received.Will post pics.next week.

 

 

Clive1997 Wed, 12/10/2016

Hello

Welcome to the club forum, a bit of a beast, from information I have it could be as early as 1932. I have passed the numbers to a colleague who will let me have more accurate information, which I will provide you with.

As to value, probably not much, the larger the mower the lower the price tends to be due to logistics, would probably be hard to push it to £100!

The engine is probably original, mowers of that era & size usually had Blackburne of Sturmey Archer engines.

I will get back top you shortly.

johnanorth Wed, 12/10/2016

Thanks Clive, for your welcome and your info.I was beginning to give up hope! Will wait with interest anything further you can find out.

wristpin Wed, 12/10/2016

Not my scene or area of expertise but I'm amazed at the similarity of construction between the Ransomes illustrated and a Z series Dennis. Which came first? 

Clive1997 Thu, 13/10/2016

I have established that the last machine of this model ie 5A 36in was sold in May 1946 being No.0724, yours being No.438 we can assume is quite a bit earlier as not many would have been sold during WW2 1939-45. 

The numbering system used by Ransomes did NOT start at 0 for each model, unfortunately the records do not show a start date or the first number, so its difficult to establish how many of your particular model were produced. That said your machine is quite similar to the 36in shown in the Ransomes 1932 catalogue just a slightly different exhaust configuration.

In the early 1930's Ransomes smaller machines for example the Mk5 16in & Mk 6 20in were selling at the rate of approx 200 a year, although I would assume the larger machines would have sold at a much lower rate. 

To sum up I can only suggest your mower was made perhaps between 1932 & 1937?. If anyone out there knows of another it would be interesting to have the details.

Hope that helps & I will keep the information, should anything else turn up.

johnanorth Thu, 13/10/2016

Thanks again Clive,  you're a mine of information. I, and everyone thats seen the mower say they have never seen another like it.I was wondering whether you, or anyone else out there can offer any info. on the  S.A engine as I understand they stopped making their own engines and had them made for them.Any info on size who, where and when made would be appreciated.

Clive1997 Thu, 13/10/2016

This link if you have not seen it gives a bit of info, especially the fact that the name SA name was used by Ransomes but the engines being made by someone else, possibly themselves? http://www.sturmey-archerheritage.com/index.php?page=history&type=nonbi…

Subsequent to above I have just found reference to the 36in R type having a 600cc Ransomes engine so this may be what you have but with the SA name!

Will keep digging & hope some others may be able to add something.

Clive1997 Sun, 16/10/2016

Thanks Seb, any numbers for those machines?

Picked up a Mk5 16in today 1933ish (Horseshoe Tank) , bit rough & in Red!!

Seb Sun, 16/10/2016

no sadly I don't have the numbers, they are just pictures I have saved from eBay.

The MK5 sounds good, which engine has it got?

johnanorth Mon, 17/10/2016

Thanks to all the members for their interest, comments and pics.most illuminating.I now have a winter project,. to get the 'Beast' up and running.If any more info.pics or comments they will be gratefully received.Best regards to all John

Mowtown Tue, 01/11/2016

There does not seem to be a lot of info available in one place on the Sturmey Archer engines, maybe it warrants a dedicated topic, but perhaps the following may help (or confuse).

I read somewhere that when Sturmey Archer stopped production of engines in 1936, the manufacturing rights for the gearbox was taken over by Norton, whilst those for the engine were obtained by Ransomes, Simms & Jefferies who then produced them in Ipswich, as they were already used in their MG Crawlers and Mowers.

This resulted in engine documentation and user Working and Maintenance Instruction Guides for these machines and SA engines later finding their way into the extensive Ransomes Archive held by the Ipswich Transport Museum, presumable at about the time when Textron took over the company. (01473 715666) www.ipswichtransportmuseum.co.uk

One of interest held in the ITM Archive is Reference: IPSTM2/2001A.1 which is a Catalogue of wearing parts for Ransomes and Sturmey Archer four-stroke engines (publication 15933G) used on Ransomes motor mowers and MG2 tractors.

Other material is held at Reading University Rural History Centre, who quoted in correspondence that the 16” was made between 1932-1934 with s/n’s A3350-A3717 (my Mk5 is A3589).

I have a copy of the Instructions for Working of Ransomes mowers which lists Sturmey Archer engines fitted –

16” 198cc  60mm bore, 70mm stroke.

20” 248cc  60mm   “     88          “

24” 348cc  71mm   “     88          “

I do not know if these were for engines made by SA or Ransomes, but measurements are in cc, so this may suggest later, as another list shown on advertising material for the de-luxe model dated 1932 and 1935 (before SA stopped production) is given in horsepower –

16” 1½hp  53mm bore,  79mm stroke.

20” 3 hp    69mm   “      79         “

Other sizes were produced for motorcycles, some even made in Germany.

The classic motorcycle forum has a topic on the Sturmey Archer 600cc SV engine.

www.classic motorcycle forum.com/index.php?topic=1088.0

This includes my input (Mowtown) on 11 Oct 2010, which is incorporated above.

I found a web site with a free instruction guide for the MG5 crawler which includes some SA engine info –

http://openpdf.com/ebook/ransomes-mg-pdf.html

file name Ransomes%20%MG5%20cultivator.pdf     Search: working maintenance instructions.

It may be that other OLC members know of documentation dedicated to the SA engines.

From a past search of “Ransomes Sturmey Archer” I kept a note of someone else who was going to restore a Type R 36” in Weston-super-Mare also asking for information.  This was back in 2009 so may be out of date, but you could try contacting him –

tcp at skrep.myzen.co.uk  (was typed “at” rather than @).

I hope that some of my rambling helps.

johnanorth Thu, 03/11/2016

Thanks for the comprehensive info. Mowtown,the wealth of information available on here continues to amaze me, I will try and follow your leads, once again , thank you,regards John