Stockport Gas Engine Works
Part of Richard Hornsby and Sons and formerly J. E. H. Andrew and Co
Note 1 (see images)
Sesimbra's Council Museum (Portugal) [1] [2] are restoring an old mill, aiming at the creation of a new branch of this museum that relates, among other, with the rural life. This mill's powerplant is a Hornsby-Stockport suction gas-producer engine.
This engine was produced in Stockport in 1908, and sold to Portugal nine years later. It was registered there in 1917 to start working on the grain mill.
In the 1960's it was converted to function on propane gas and in the early 1970's it was replaced by German electric motors.
In 1993, following the company's failure, it was moved to a local school for mechanics lessons. Unfortunately it sat out in the open for some 17 years without use, until obtained for restoration in 2010 and taken back to the mill. The engine was rusted up, the piston seized to the cylinder, the camshaft would not turn, valves stuck, and so on. Today everything on the Stockport engine runs smoothly, but unfortunately missing the producer-gas apparatus. The work was carried out by Mr. Francisco Moura, the person in charge of maintaining and operating a 1900 French steam engine at an old nearby gunpowder factory. [3]