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Miniature Engine Fun! Check Out This Running Model Of A 1906 Bruce MacBeth 100hp Four Cylinder

Mar 24, 2021Brian LohnesBangShift XL, XL VideosComments Off on Miniature Engine Fun! Check Out This Running Model Of A 1906 Bruce MacBeth 100hp Four Cylinder

The Bruce-MacBeth engine company isn’t exactly a name on the tips of the tongues of gearheads and hot rodders across the world but they were a successful outfit that operated for about a half a century before being swallowed up by a larger entity. Their business was large engines, like the kinds that have ladders and platforms for the mechanics to stand on and work and this engine is a version of their 1906, 100hp model. Engines like these ran plants, generators, massive air compressors, etc. You know how much we love the miniature engine scene and this one impressed us because it is liquid cooled.

Yes, the dude built his own water pump, his own radiator, and had the cool idea to use a computer fan as the means to move the air through the radiator. The added element of this engine being water cooled is interesting to us because we’re trying to remember the last time we saw a miniature engine that not only had a cooling system but also needed it to function as well.

Like all of these miniature engines, the fact that it was 100% scratch built at home by a guy with (obviously) amazing skills makes it great. He got the plans out of a magazine and then went from there. Nothing cooler than that. There isn’t a “tiny rocker arm depot” or a “flywheel helpers” store to run off to when you need a part. You figure out what it is and then you make it. End of story. Perhaps the neatest element to this is the centrifugal governor that you will see spinning around on the engine. It was geared to run off the crank and it would keep the (in real life) massive engine from over revving and blowing up.

These things were splash oiled and for the time of their construction considered some of the best stationary engines out there. Today Ford makes a three cylinder that has a block capable of fitting inside a standard 8×11 sheet of paper that produces over 120hp. In true form, this engine would have weighed 10 tons, likely more. An amazing little version of an engine that powered lots of factories in its day!