Chance to view rare engine at Ness Gardens

Aug 20 2008 by Sue McCann, Hoylake and West Kirby News

NESS Gardens once again will step back in time on Bank Holiday Monday and run its rare and ingenious device known as the Ness Gardens Vacuum Engine.

The engine was discovered in October 2006 in the loft, damaged and unusable.

At some stage a catastrophic mechanical failure had occurred – the connecting rod was bent at right angles, the fuel tank and push rod was rusted through and parts were missing.

The device came to light at Ness Gardens in 1905 when Arthur Bulley, who founded the gardens in 1878, bought an atmospheric engine to drive light machines, such as seed cleaning machines.

The engines are also known as flame gulpers, flame lickers or fire eating engines. This type of engine was devised by Henry Wood who filed a patent in 1758.

At Ness a team of dedicated volunteers decided to try to restore this special engine to see if it could be brought back to life. The work was completed in October 2006 when the repaired engine ran for the first time.

They will be on hand on Monday to give information and a little of the history of this specialised engine. Sessions will take place at hourly intervals from 11am-3pm.

The open air theatre season at Ness has been extended with the internationally renowned Illyria performing Pinocchio on Saturday and The Hound Of The Baskervilles on Saturday, September 6.